Marketplace: A Baker’s Dozen New Keepsake Boxes

July 10, 2026 Bernadette

I discovered that one of my cousins worked for a cigar shop and asked him about cigar boxes, showing him a few of the ones I had on hand. “Well, if you need some just let me know!” he said. And then in three deliveries he collected three dozen!

I finally had the time and space to make the first set of them, replacing the popular designs and adding a couple new ones. Below is “Paws for Reflection,” a painting I was commissioned to do for the Animal Rescue League in the 1990s who sold limited edition prints of it as a fundraiser. People have been asking for more tabbies, and while I do have Stanley and Mariposa they wanted to see more stripes, so I added this one to the tiles last year, and this year to the keepsakes. You can read more about the painting here.

"Paws for Reflection" keepsake box — “Paws for Reflection” keepsake box

This group of keepsake boxes is another batch of wooden boxes—where most of my keepsake boxes have been made from very well-loved vintage cardboard cigar boxes, most of these boxes were only used to display in the store and are made of various woods instead of cardboard. These boxes are a little less florid in their traditional decoration, so I stayed with that and my embellishments are more subdued this time.

These aren’t quite finished. I still have to cover some of the cigar-oriented text on the outside and give them a final coat of varnish to let them dry—as we’re having rainy days!—to pack them for the market this weekend. Next week I’ll photograph them top, sides and inside and add them to my website. But I couldn’t wait to share them here!

I prefer to make many at once, as I did the nesting keepsakes earlier this year, and I have a few cardboard cigar boxes that I’ll be using for other artwork later, and later still the small maiche boxes with daily sketches on them. I like to see them Making the boxes takes up a lot of space in my work area whether I do one or a dozen so I pull out all the paints and embellishments and washi tapes and ribbon and old jewelry and have some fun. I know that many people purchase these as remembrance keepsakes for their own cats so keep that in mind while I make them.

I’ve always tried to have a big selection of feline colors and patterns and fur types and in some cases I have have multiple choices—lots of black cats out there and in my collection, but also white cats. I have several paintings of Sally, and this year, seeing that cats and flowers or even outdoor scenes are eyecatching and popular, I decided to change Sally’s keepsake design to this painting which was one of a commissioned set of four landscape paintings, but the woman loved her white cat and wanted me to work one in there somewhere.

I spent some time in a little rearranging in my upstairs and basement studios and added an actual computer to the basement, the old one I used in the kitchen, and my Canon inkjet printer, so that I don’t have to carry the boxes upstairs and measure and print and so on, then carry it all back down—it used to be that I would run up and down two flights of stairs all day long to get these done! Now all I have to do is get myself down there with my art on a flash drive and I can work for hours. Though I may miss the exercise of running up and down the steps all day, I won’t miss the extra couple of hours it takes me because of that!

What do you do with a keepsake box?

Use them to store your kitty’s keepsakes or your own, or jewelry or office items and much more. Many people use them to keep their kitty’s cremains. Give them as a gift or use them as gift boxes.

And don’t forget that I often have other handmade gifts using the same artwork, like Votive Lamps. They make wonderful gift pairings to celebrate a kitty who looks like the art, or to memorialize one. This grouping of “Peaches and Peonies” items is from a few years ago, but I make these types of gift items one way or another each year. This is an old photo of these items with Peaches and Peonies but I still have them all in different sizes.

Peaches gift grouping: cigar box keepsake, small round keepsake, small votive lamp and tile.

Order a Keepsake Box, or Two—when I get them up there!

All keepsake boxes are $25.00 each including shipping, handling and taxes.

Don’t forget, each one is unique, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.

You can find them my Keepsake Boxes page on Portraits of Animals.

Marketplace

Mewsette models my keepsake boxes in May 2023.

Mewsette made her debut as a new-product model for my latest keepsake boxes on May 25, 2023. I wish we’d been able to see her talents grow, but I’m oh-so-glad she made herself available for this one opportunity. She actually came over while I was trying to work things out and hopped up on the wicker loveseat, always curious and interactive. I guess she’d watched Mimi enough times!

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop” .

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!

Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.