Amethyst Guardian Birthday Box

This is a gift for my niece's first birthday that I have been working on for quite a while. It may not be the most appropriate gift for a one year old but I hope that she will grow up with it and love it until she is an adult too. It's filled with a lot of symbolism - she was born in the year of the (water) dragon hence the little beastie. I have also made violets, her birth flower and have included amethysts as little 'flower buds', her birthstone. According to the research I've done, her colours are turquoise and silver and a lot of the things associated with her birth are purple so I have tried to make them the main colours. Her star sign is Aquarius but I couldn't really find anywhere appropriate to put the symbol so hopefully the colours will be enough of a representation. I even included a little ginger gem which the dragon's tail is wrapped around becuase she's a sweet little ginger thing

I have tried to make it a magical old box, it even includes a secret hiding place - the biggest stone inside opens and reveals a spot for her to put her most precious things. The little white/yellow beads in the moss glow in the dark, as do the spots on the mushrooms. I hope it brings her as much joy as what went into making it.

I bought a plain wood box off ebay and cut grooves in it to try and make it look like it was made up of various bits of wood, I aged it with acrylic paints. All the bits are made from polymer clay, apart from the amethysts which are real stones and the little organe/purple gem is a Swarovski crystal.