I have been making these memory boxes for each of our trips for the last four years. I love that they hold a little piece of history, making it easy to walk down memory lane while keeping all of those memories picked up and in one spot. This is the fourth memory box I have made and easily my favorite. You can’t beat a Harry Potter one. You can find the one I made for our New York City Trip here , our beach trip here and our Disneyland trip here.
Since this box represents our first ever trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter I stuck with Gryffindor colors and vinyl lighting bolts. My 8-year-old argued that the box should be blue and bronze since she is a Ravenclaw, but since I’m a Gryffindor, my house won out.
For this project you will need:
- a flat wood box with a latch
- burgundy and yellow paint
- masking tape
- a photo from your trip
- a Cricut
- Cricut Tools
- black vinyl
- Mod Podge
- foam brush
- Memorabilia from your latest trip
Paint your entire box yellow, including the bottom and the sides. You could paint the box in any of the other house colors if you wanted but I am sticking with Gryffindor. Since yellow is going to be easier to paint over than the burgundy, we used it as our base color.
Cover the top and sides of your box with masking tape strips. Use the tape as a guide to know how far apart to place the stripes.
Paint over the box again with red and then allow the box to dry completely. Peel the masking tape off the box giving you your Gryffindor stripes.
Find a photo from your trip that kind of symbolizes the trip. For our picture, I used one of our family in front of Hogwarts. Print a copy of the photo that is about 3.5×5 in size. 4×6 pictures take up just a little too much of the lid and you don’t want to cover up your paint job. Add a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of your photo and secure it down to the middle of the box. Add a thin coat of Mod Podge over top of the photo to seal it to the box.
I make a lot of Doctor Who and Harry Potter projects and one of the questions I get asked the most is how I make them without cartridges. The answer? You don’t need cartridges anymore! You can upload your own images and make just about anything you want. I make my own Harry Potter stuff all the time from my own images. It is really easy, here’s how to do it.
Hit the green new project button in the right hand corner of the New Cricut Design Space. You can either hit the images button and search for a lighting bolt that you like, and hit insert image in the bottom right corner or you can find one your like online and upload it to Cricut Design Space. For this project, find a lighting bolt you like right click on the Lighting Bolt image below, save as and then upload it to Cricut Design Space by hitting the upload button (bottom button on the left hand side). The following screen will pop up, hit the upload image button.
You can either drag and drop your file on the next screen or search for it on your computer.
Select what kind of image it is. This lighting bolt is a Simple Image.
Erase any parts of the image you don’t want in the cut image and then insert it into your art board. Voila! You have your own design, no cartridges needed!
Cut the lighting bolts out of black vinyl, peel them off of the backing and then stick them on your box to add another level of Harry Potter geekdom to your vacation memories.
Once your memory box is finished fill it with ticket stubs, park maps, photos and anything else you brought home from your trip. This trip is one of the first trips we have taken where not everything I brought home fit in the box, but honestly? I bought full wizard robes, I couldn’t expect them to fit.
Have you been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? What did you bring home with you?
Theresa says
What a unique idea this vacation memory box is! I love the lightning you added to it.
Joanna @ Everyday Made Fresh says
We are huge Harry Potter fans and would totally make this to keep our vacation memories! I hope to make it to Universal and visit soon!
Amanda Dorich says
I love this idea! I usually make photo books of our trips but this would allow me to save even more items!!
Karen Morse says
This is such a wicked awesome idea! I love HP and it’s nice to be able to do something like this. If it’s for pictures, then I’d probably store pictures from a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Terri Steffes says
Once again, I am loving your crafts. This is a tremendous idea for keeping all those momentos from your vacation or trip. Thanks for sharing.
Cassie Tucker says
This is a cool idea to remember a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Also, proper house choice! Gryffindor is thee house I was sorted into on Pottermore, lol
Heather says
We visited Universal Studios over spring break and my eight year old daughter had the best time. She would love a memory box like this!
Journa Ramirez says
Woah! You’re making all Harry Potter fans happy. This idea is sooo cool. I want to make one. -Potterheard here!
Angela Tolsma says
Your memory box looks awesome! I love that your house, Gryffindor won out! It’s a great way to keep everything in one spot.
Kita Bryant says
That is a great idea. My kids would love to make one.
Blythe Alpern says
I’ve never been to the Wizardly World but I have seen vlogs about it. Although I’ve never read the books or seen the movie, it does look like so much fun. And love how you’ve captured the feeling with this box.
Cindy Ingalls says
What a cute idea. I used to love memory boxes when I was kid. This is a fun craft to do with your kids and to have for years to come.
Caitlin says
How cool is this?! I have some enormous Harry Potter fans in my life and they would go absolutely CRAZY over this. This would be such a fun craft!
Shannon Gurnee says
My son loves Harry Potter and would be all over this box! I’m gonna have to check this out and try it with my family!
Rebecca says
This is such an adorable project! I could totally picture doing this with my nephew although he may be interested in changing the motif from Harry Potter to StarWars. I love the concept!
Rimsha says
As a major Harry Potter fan, I absolutely LOVE this! My little sister is also obsessed with the series. Definitely going to get her to make something like this 🙂
Krystle Cook says
We are huge Harry Potter fans and this is so cute. I am going to have to make one of these with my kiddos.