Just in {a} case

Mary sent me so many wonderful things in our Halloween swap that I worried if my package would live up. I centered my gift around this old salesman's case I found at Relics, one that just so happened to have the right pop of Halloween orange and room inside to tuck little goodies. I tore up some dictionary pages for packing paper and lined the bottom with a piece of sheet music that also just happened to be the perfect size.

Like me, Mary likes numbers and typography and old game pieces. I altered this box of old dominoes a bit, covering the lid with book pages and scrapbook paper and creating a little 3D bow with paper and ribbon. I like the heartfelt plea found on the bottom of the box.

I wrapped most little things with book pages or music, some with pieces of an old newspaper I found at STD from July 1976, a month before I was born. The engraving of the Poe quote I framed is from Deb Dusenberry's beautiful Curious Sofa in KC, so I tucked one of her business cards under the bow of that package.

Mary mentioned she likes children's books, and I particularly liked the pictures in this one.

I filled a tiny box with some anagram game tiles, a spool of orange thread and a sweet little orange glass button and made another 3D bow on top.

I altered these old photos with just some glitter masks and hats and a button or two. The little mirror is an advertising item from a beauty shop. I tucked in a few other old photos and pieces of sheet music, some numbers, a muffin tin of black and white buttons, a candle and matches and two old clock bodies.

Mary and I both love words and literature, so I used a couple of spooky quotes from a play I teach, Shakespeare's Macbeth: "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes" and "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble," both from Act IV, Scene 1.

I didn't send along my black Halloween kitty Maya Angelou, but she sure took to curling up inside Mary's case any time I left it open on my worktable. I hope the items made it to Mary intact and brought her a little vintage Halloween happiness in faraway Fargo.