St. Patrick's Day Artifact

When I created Christmas relics for the family last December, one special person was missing from the list, my niece Devin. Her planned present became a long and crooked road of creative challenges that is a story best told another time. I decided to just give up and push that idea to Christmas 2011.

But, I still owed Devin something for 2010.

My Mom's annual St. Patrick's Day family dinner gathering was the perfect opportunity to give Devin a very belated gift. Especially inspired by the theme with a very personal tooth touch!

I hid this tiny, old wooden box in the living room for her to find...

Once found and opened, she discovered this inside...

The tooth is one of Devin's own recently lost baby teeth. She gave to me (with permission from her mother and a note of explanation for the Tooth Fairy) to make something spooky for Halloween, such as putting it in a jar and calling it a troll tooth.

A terrific idea, but I thought a fun surprise tweaking the concept as a gift for her on St. Patrick's day.

The box, which felt somewhat Celtic, is one I've had on my shelves for years. Before this, it held unique coins I have. I thought niece Devin was more important than a NYC subway token, a Canadian coin, four unused arcade tokens and a penny pressed flat with some unreadable logo from Disneyland.

The tooth pillow is a blob of Crayola Model Magic wrapped in a swatch of green fabric. I stuffed it inside and formed the indent for the tooth with a simple press from a finger tip. The label is computer typed, then printed, cut out, aged with coffee and glued on once dry.

Historical fact: The village of Tuamgraney is home to what is believed to be one of Ireland's oldest living oak trees, estimated at over a 1000 years old.