Shadow Boxes are My New Scrapbooks

Once upon a time, I scrapbooked everything.  Pictures, tickets, school work, hospital bracelets. All the paraphernalia that came with life's events, big and small. And then suddenly - poof! - my time to select papers and buttons and stickers disappeared. Yet all the stuff of memories remained. And piled up. And I kept saying, "I'm gonna get back to scrapbooking."

In the meantime, I've found another solution, at least for some of the stuff.  I'm putting the physical remembrances from our events in shadowboxes.  It's easy, it makes a nice display in any room, and you can add to it. No glue or stickers required, unless you really want to add all that extra.

Shadowboxes come in different sizes and configurations.  Most have a picture mat inside so you can include a picture on the back "wall" and then put the associated stuff in front.  I picked these up at Michael's craft store (on sale!)

What can you put in a shadowbox? Anything from any important or memorable event.  You can be real extra fancy and add embellishments and doo-dads around the frame, if you'd like.  I might get to that, eventually.

Swimming ribbons. This box has a slot on top so more can be added easily.

Sorority Box. Conference nametag, event tickets, committee badges. I'm going to put in my membership cards, too.

Ticket box. Movies, Broadway, concerts.  A tennis tournament.  A Metro ticket from Obama's inauguration. Dinner menu from our anniversary celebration

New baby? Consider a baby picture with memories from those first fleeting weeks - hospital band and bassinet nametag, a picture with the grandparents, a silver rattle or first pair of socks.

School?  Along with a picture from the first day of school, add a school nametag, pencils, an art project. For the graduate, include a picture from Kindergarten and their senior photo, the tassle from their cap.

Sports?  Post a team photo and winning ribbons and awards. Add goggles for your swimmer or pretty ribbons for cheerleaders or gymnasts.

Vacation?  Include your favorite photo and memorabilia - seashells, postcards, matchbooks, tickets, brochures.

And - I had a brainstorm while working on this post - these would make really cute gifts! How about a picture of the mom-to-be and let guests fill it with notes or giftcards? She could use it for the baby's things (see above) in a few months.  Or for the high school grad heading off to college - fill it with cash and giftcards.  For the birthday boy or girl - include a photo and some of their favorite things.

Be creative and share any ideas you have in the comments below.

Join the conversation on Facebook: Just Piddlin' with Frances

Photo challenge - Day 20: 9 o'clock

Hair supplies - time for new twists

Photo Challenge - Day 18 & 19: be happy!

Day 18: Something fun

Attaching to the zip-line.

Day 19: Smile!

Is this the most famous smile in the world?

Photo Challenge - Day 17: something I made

Photo Challenge - Day 16: Flowers

Flowers at the Whole Foods market.

Its never too late - join the photo challenge on my FaceBook page at Just Piddlin' with Frances.

Photo challenge - Day 15: something Green

I've become addicted to making and wearing shawls in the spring/summer.  Although I don't like the word  "shawl" because it sounds like an old-lady word, right?  You envision someone's grandmother with her glasses on the end of her nose, rocking in her chair, with her shawl wrapped around her shoulders to keep off the cold and keep her from the risk of getting pneumonia, no disrespect to old ladies.  Anyway, this is my latest shawl.

And feel free to suggest a less old-lady-ish word.

Photo Challenge - Day 14: something sweet

Chocolate cake.  With chocolate frosting.  And hazelnuts.  What else needs to be said?

Photo challenge - Day 13: Mother's Day

A couple of years ago, I joined this triathlon training group at my gym.  From there, I've kept swimming, biking, and running on my regular workout rotation.  I've run a few 5Ks and enjoy the challenge of not being the last one to finish, not passing out during the race, and improving my time.  Last year, I found the  Mother's Day race in a local park, and ran that.  This year, a good friend said that of her goals was to train for and run in a 5K, so I invited her to join me for this one. 

It was a great morning for a run.  They hadn't re-landscaped since last year, so there was still a big hill in the beginning and end, but I did run further up it this year than last, so that's some improvement.  We both finished with good personal times and had a fun morning to further strengthening our friendship.

Happy Mother's Day!

Photo Challenge - Day 12: a reflection

Like me new tattoo?  Notice the bird?  He's flying upside-down.  This is why 7-year olds aren't allowed to be tattoo artists.

Photo challenge - Day 11: a door

In school, as a kid, I hated the Tennis unit in gym.  Hitting that little yellow ball way over that net was just about impossible.  Even with my best friend being a great tennis player, still no interest.  But I picked it up a few years ago and, on most days, I really like it.  Other days, I am ready to quit and sell everything - racket, balls, shoes, bag.

Photo Challenge - Day 10: Smile!

Okay, so one thing I realized today - I don't think I smile that much.  Laugh?  Yes.  Its as if I'm going all the way or not at all - I'm laughing or - what? - what face am I making the rest of the day?  Maybe I should work on that so people will have something nice to say about me - "she always has a smile on her face".

There were a few things today that did make me smile, though.  Most of them I don't have a photo, but I'll share them anyway.

• Mammogram - okay, there was a photo, but I'm not sharing that, but it was all good.  (Ladies - don't forget to get your mammograms - regularly or early or often - or whatever is relevant to your health situation)
• Lunch with my parents and my brother - pleasant surprise!  Parents think he needs a haircut, he looks alright to me.
• Son took the trash out and girls cleaned the kitchen - good jobs everybody.  Gender-specific chores - yeah, I know.

Lastly - red velvet cupcakes, fresh from the oven - yummmm!

Hoping that they will last until they get frosted.

Photo challenge - Day 6: My window "garden"

I love those houses with beautiful flower gardens along the front walkway or a perfectly nurtured garden in the backyard, with space to sit and sip a glass of sweet tea and enjoy the outdoors, with a light scent of flowers.  But I am notoriously a terrible gardener.  My husband buys my fresh cut flowers and silk plants, and the few houseplants I have depend on my mother's visits for their livelihood.  But that doesn't stop me from going to the garden store, Home Depot, or wherever to buy live plants for my house.

Come spring, I always buy a few pots of herbs and, if I feel daring, a cherry tomato plant.  As long as the plants survive, I enjoy my little garden harvest.  Fresh basil with slices of mozzarella cheese and tomatoes, also all great ingredients for a grown-up grilled cheese sandwich.  Oregano for a tomato sauce or season chicken.  A mint plant - mojitos, anyone?

So far, I've picked up basil and parsley (the one on the right, already browning), but have yet to replant them into something prettier.

The plant in the middle belongs to my son.  Its a Venus fly trap that he picked out at the Flower Mart; I guess this is what I get for making a boy spend a beautiful Saturday wandering through aisles of flowers.  Apparently, as I found out that afternoon, ever since he saw his cousin's performance in "Little Shop of Horrors", he's been researching man-eating plants and wanting to get one.  Hopefully, this one will only eat the bugs that come in when someone leaves the door open and all the children will remain safe.  

Photo Challenge - Day 4: the sky

This one is in two parts, two photos, a little tweak on the rules.  The photos of the sky bookends my day.

I started out early in the morning, taking my oldest daughter on a high school visit.  I can hardly believe that we're already considering high schools!  Not only the "where did all the years go" part of parenting, but I also feel like now that she's in middle school, we're in the countdown to when she will leave us.  And then after her, everyone else will begin their departures.  And not in a good way.  At this point, I can't imagine what my home will be like when my children slowly start to fly away from the nest.  And I panic, wondering if I will have have prepared them well for that big, real world out there.  Will they know how to manage their money and get a mortgage?  Will the girls know how to do their hair and apply their make-up?  Will they be good drivers and remember to go vote?  Will they floss and brush their straightened-by-braces teeth?  There's so much you have to know as an adult.  I'm not sure if we can get it all in.

At the end of the day, we were in D.C.  My second daughter is in a music performance at the National Cathedral, tonight was the final, on-site rehearsal.  Getting my kids to their various practices and activities is a logistical puzzle and there are days when I really wonder, "what the heck am I thinking?"  Then the final event comes, whatever it may be - a sports event, or for her, always a stage performance.  I watch her stand in front of hundreds of people and sing, or dance, or, her favorite, walk down the runway, and I am in absolute amazement.  She is so confident and secure in her talents, and it just amazes me every time I see her perform, how in this way, she is so different from me.

In general, they are all confident little people, already believing that they can do whatever they want to do - be a fashion designer, a movie producer, an Olympic athlete.  And I feel better, just for a little while, thinking that when it is time for them to leave the nest, they will be ready to soar.

Photo Challenge - Day 2: breakfast & 3:something you wore

For my 31-Day Photo Challenge - Day 2 was "breakfast".

 My breakfast is most always pretty simple.  Coffee is a constant, usually in this mug or my cheetah mug.  The morning just doesn't seem right if I have to use another mug.  Which would be because both are in the dishwasher or one is in the washer and the other is left next to whatever chair I was reading in yesterday.  Yeah, bad, I know.  Naan bread was the other half of my breakfast, lightly toasted.  I stopped short of buttering it.

Day 3 was "something you wore".
 Swimming has become a favorite workout since I started triathlon training last year.  Believe me, it is so relaxing.  Its physically soothing to move through the water, and it helps clear your mind.  Its impossible to multi-task while swimming, all you can do is swim, and if you want to, think.  Or just count laps and breathe.

Join in on the photo fun on my FaceBook page - Just Piddlin' with Frances.

Craft Challenge - Project #6: Photo Transfer

When I grow up, I would love to be a photographer, either wildlife or travel, or both.  In the meantime, I have easily a couple hundred, okay thousand, pictures stuck on my computer, on memory cards, and piled up on my desk waiting to be displayed in my photo gallery.  And every now and then I get the notion to do something with them.  I would love to frame and hang all of my favorites, but I think my husband would not like our home to be wallpapered in random photos, so I choose carefully.

Window boxes; churros and coffee

Recently, I came across instructions on how to transfer a photo using gel medium onto canvas on another blog, A Beautiful Mess.  Wow - photography and a reason to wander through the craft store?  I immediately put it on my crafts-to-do list.  I used some photos from last summer's vacation, and now that I've got some practice in, I'd like to try it again with pictures of the kids.  I've got some ideas rumbling through my head.

The stuff you'll need:

- canvas - get these at your local craft store like Michael's or ACMoore
- gel medium - wandering thru the paint section was mindblogging; I used Liquidex Gel Medium
- paintbrush
- photos printed or copied on regular paper (not photographic paper) - the blog instructions say to use a laser copy, my husband informed me after the fact, that we have an inkjet printer, so I'm not sure how that affected the project.
- water in a spray bottle


How to (adapted from the original blog instructions):
1. Prepare the photo - this was one of those "trial and error" finds of doing the project.  Trim away all the white area around the picture, I would even recommend trimming just inside the border of the photo - I will do that when I do this project again.  Removing the paper that doesn't have ink on it is almost impossible.

2. Paint the gel medium onto the canvas, covering the surface.  If the picture is smaller than the canvas, you only need to cover enough area for the size of the picture.

3.  Place the photo face down onto the gel medium.  Gently rub the back to press the paper into the medium.

4. Let it dry - a couple hours or overnight.

5.  When the paper and medium are dry, spray lightly with water.

6.  Gently rub the paper away, the ink will remain on the canvas.

7.  Cover the picture with another layer of the gel medium for protection.

8.  Enjoy!