My Ancestor's Armoire is Now a Story-Box!

by TheLastLeafGardener

Anyone who reads TLLG's HT posts knows that in addition to my entries re my urban garden and the birds which visit it; and my occasional entries about happenings in New York City, I've written about whimsical characters which visit my indoor succulent garden as well as an armoire that I have in the main living area of my studio apartment.
The armoire I'm referring to belonged to my grandparent's ancestors but during the entire time that I was growing up, it sat, neglected in a corner of my grandparents' basement as seen below.

re purposed antique armoire, christmas decorations, easter decorations, organizing, repurposing upcycling, seasonal holiday decor, storage ideas, thanksgiving decorations

By 1987, both of my grandparents had died, and in the mid-nineties, I found a way to have the "abandoned" armoire brought to my fifth floor walk-up in NYC.

But it was not until October of 2013, that I came to use the top portion of the armoire as a story-box by placing Halloween characters inside and subsequently creating storylines for them, which can be seen in the image below, an image which was included in hometalk entry in 2013.*

[* http://www.hometalk.com/diy/halloween-decor-indoors-mostly-2412379]

I then added small strips of LED lights to the inside of the armoire. After Halloween passed, I switched the Halloween figurines for ones that reflected Thanksgiving, and when that season passed, I placed Christmas characters inside as seen below.

This image of a 2013 Christmas scene was featured in part one of a five part series here on HT. **

The series focused on the use of characters in Christmas decor.

[** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/christmas-decor-using-a-cast-of-characters-part-one-2676835]

In any event, for the holidays to come after Christmas, including ones honoring the new year, Valentine's Day, and Saint Patrick's Day, whimsical characters continued to visit my storty-box and inspire my narratives.for a number of venues.

By Easter time, word was out in the whimsical character community, that my story-box was the place to be if one wanted to be included in narratives; and Easter characters of all shapes and sizes came for a visit as seen below, in an image you might recall from one of my previous HT entries. ***

[ *** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/craft/holiday-crafts/thinking-out-of-the-basket-the-easter-basket-or-easter-decor-treats-3530373]

It's been said."if you build it, they will come," and come they did for all of the holidays that follow Easter, including the Fourth of July!

And soon it was the anniversary of the Halloween characters that had first inspired me and this time they brought along a few more friends as seen below in an image that was included in an October 2014 HT post. ****

[ **** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/craft/holiday-crafts/halloween-figurine-display-5413805]

After Halloween, the Thanksgiving figurines returned, but were still camera shy, and I respected their wishes to not have their picture taken.

But the Christmas characters are back for the 2014 season, as you can see in the pictures below.

There are fourteen new faces who have come to visit the guys and gals who came last year.

Allow me to introduce them to you:

1. Santa With a Lantern

2. Tall Boy Angel

3. Ms. Skeptic

4. Shorty Santa Shows Off His New Candy Cane

5. Jack-Out-Of-The-Box

6. Santa Checks His List TWICE

7. Rolly-Poly Snowman

8-9. Snowball Identical Twins

10-11. Fraternal Twins in Snowsuits

12-13. Fraternal Twins in Santa Costumes

14. Santa With a Snowman Wand

And fyi, for those of you, who like yours truly wants to know what happened to folks, I've provided an update on the whereabouts of the 2013 Christmas characters that, have for now, left the armoire. The info is below the following picture.

1. The red-capped snow-person is now in the home of a neighbor who had admired the figurine. The neighbor is the one took me to and from my eye surgery this past November.

2. The tree is now in my kitchenette.

3. This boy (an identical twin) seen here caroling has joined other songsters to sing around my Advent wreath. (You might recognize this from my last entry here on HT).*****

4. The snowman is one of the folks conducting the Advent wreath characters.*****

5. This boy (an identical twin) seen here caroling has traveled to Illinois to spend time with my mother.

6. The snowman is also one of the folks conducting the Advent wreath characters. (You might recognize this from my last entry here on HT).*****

7-8. These carolers were singing around my Advent wreath (You might recognize this from my last entry here on HT).*****

But, as of this entry, both of them have had accidents and are no longer able to participate in festivities!

9. This caroler was also involved in that accident and her injury can be seen in the picture below.

[***** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/christmas/how-d-it-get-to-be-so-late-so-soon-5982089]

But her situation has been remedied as seen in the image directly below.

I'm sharing this particular fate with you, dear reader, in the event that any of figurines suffer the same fate and you need a remedy.

Meanwhile as for the whereabouts of the other 2013 Christmas "armoire" characters, the little girl (indicated by the number 10) has also joined other songsters to sing around my Advent wreath. (You might recognize this from my last entry here on HT).*****

While the little girl has left the armoire to sing around the advent wreath, Mr. and Mrs. Claus have taken the gingerbread twins with them. They re all in my succulent garden at this time as seen in the picture below.

[***** http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/christmas/how-d-it-get-to-be-so-late-so-soon-5982089]

This view of my succulent garden during the pre Christmas season is only a partial view. However, if you look carefully, you can see Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the gingerbread fraternal twins. Mr. Moon_In-The_Man, flanked by the vino sisters is in the back and an array of succulents and animals are surrounding them.

Meanwhile, back in the armoire, all is well with the Christmas characters as you can see below.

And that's the story of my story-box armoire as of this posting. The top portion provides the space for the characters participating in a given story, while the bottom portion provides homes for the characters when they are uninvolved in a particular season

The logistics of this can be seen below.

My characters seem to enjoy being a part of my stories, and as for the armoire, it enjoys being out of a musty basement and instead living in the UWS of NYC!

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Made in paraDIY on Dec 19, 2018

Wonderfull vitrine telling stories for kids and adults too.I was wondering where you found all your toy figures?

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4 of 8 comments

Swan Road Designs on Dec 11, 2014
You mention many noteworthy events but you didn't include Mardi Gras. Think of all the fun you could have building a "story" for that.

1 Reply
- TheLastLeafGardener on Dec 20, 2014
  @Swan Road Designs Thanks for the suggestion. I may try doing that in 2015!
  
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Sheryl Johnson on Jan 18, 2015
What fun!! I think this is a tremendous therapy idea! I have dealt with depression and anxiety issues for many years. I do take medication but, as any other sufferer can attest, there are still those difficult days to deal with. I can just imagine the shopping for a collection, trips to flea markets, setting up the stories... Usually all a depressed person really needs is a purpose to invest themselves in. Thank you for the wonderful idea!!

1 Reply
- TheLastLeafGardener on Jan 20, 2015
  @Sheryl Johnson Sorry to hear about your struggles with anxiety and depression. I found that volunteer work is a good cure as is visiting someone in a hospital or nursing home. What I had hoped to achieve by writing about my whimsical "friends" was to be considered for a writing position for the artists who created them OR for the stores that sold them. But alas I could never find the right connection for access to those people. Writing about the characters did help free me up to persevere in my book project, "WORDS IN OUR BEAK" @ https://www.facebook.com/TheLastLeafGardener/posts/735006416548734
  
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