Compendium of Curiosities Challenge - NYC Configurations Box

As I mentioned a few posts ago, July is my designated "Get 'er done" month, so I grabbed a Configurations Box I've been stashing, the mementos from our New York City trip (a year and half ago), and got busy.

This sure timed out perfectly since the  Studio L3 Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week is Configurations Boxes! You can find some helpful tips on making a configurations box in Tim Holtz's book A Compendium of Curiosities II on pages 33 & 34.

Configurations Boxes are great for all those little doodads you pick up when you're on a trip and don't know what to do with when you get home. For me, I knew I was going to make this box before we went, so I was constantly on the look-out for small souvenirs during the trip.

The Lost & Found paper stash was perfect for this box. I used it exclusively throughout, along with the new Commute Tissue Tape. Perfect!

Mini numerals suspended by stapling them to filmstrip ribbon. Here I painted mine with Pool paint dabber, then distressed the edges with Walnut Stain.

We went during the month of March (Spring Break). Brrr, it was freezing!

I got the old blocks from a local antique store (remember, Lisa?), and although we didn't actually go to the Statue of Liberty, I felt that she really needed to have a place in this box.

My daughter was thrilled to learn that the Nintendo World Store was right near Times Square where we stayed, and the week we were there was the official unveiling of the Nintendo 3DS, so she got to try it out firsthand. The place was packed!

The apple was from my local craft store. One of those miniature foam ones. I sawed it in half and glued it to the back of this cubby hole.

This hanging frame was off of a Hallmark photo display piece I've been holding on to for a long time. To make it hang, I weaved the chain through two jump rings then attached them to a word stick (after drilling a second hole in the word stick) then glued the word stick flat to the lid of this cubby. It was a little tricky, but it worked.

We went to the top of the Empire State Building and then went to Grand Central Station. See the cityscape in the foreground of this cubby? (click on the photo if you can't see it) It's a stamp from Tim's "City Central" set, stamped with Staz-on ink onto clear acetate, then glued to the front lip of this cubby.

We also visited the World Trade Center Memorial. Those blue things you see are little tags we wore while in the museum. It was an emotional experience touring this memorial. They have tissue boxes positioned all around for good reason.

Of course we couldn't miss a trip to Chinatown where we picked up this mink Buddha figurine.

Seeing Phantom of the Opera in New York City has always been a dream of mine, and we were lucky to get very good seats ahead of our trip for the show. While there, we were delighted to find that Daniel Radcliffe was starring in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, so we managed to get tickets for that show too.

I made mini playbills from both shows by scanning the actual ones and shrinking them down in PhotoShop, then created a few more pages joined at the spine and then added some foam tape to pop up the pages on the right side a bit. 

I hope this encourages you to GET SOMETHING DONE with month. Just grab an unfinished project and commit to get it done! Once you start, it's hard to stop until it's complete.

Thanks for coming by today. Now I'm off to check out all the other Configurations creations over at Studio L3. Be sure you check them out too. Great inspiration!