Dad’s Shadow Box

Good morning Friends!

As promised late last year, this blog will give you some background on the many heirlooms I’ve made for my family over the years.

Every year at Christmas, my sisters and I wracked our brains trying to choose the perfect gift for Dad. We wanted to get him something that would be a surprise, truly personal, and wouldn’t duplicate an item he’d bought for himself just the week before! Most years we settled on a Lowe’s gift card, but sometimes we hit the nail on the head. 2005 was one of those years.

Mona Collage 300 Throughout my childhood, I loved digging through boxes in attics and closets. And I loved the stories behind each item that I discovered: Dad as manager of the high school basketball team, his 4H ribbons, his typing pin for accomplishing 40wpm—although in later years he used the 2-finger-hunt-and-peck method, the Ds on his report card that we were warned to never mimic, his class ring, tassel, and graduation announcement, the photos of his paint horse, Silver, etc.

In 2005 I decided to pull out all of Dad’s memorabilia that was hidden away in those assorted boxes. My sisters and I worked for days constructing a shadow box, using an old frame (also found in grandpa’s attic) and a black foam-board cut to fit then glued together. We pinned Dad’s letterman’s sweater to the board and pinned the other items to the sweater. Using fabric left over from my daughter’s wedding, I made a padded frame for Dad’s senior picture and satin pillows to hold some of the smaller pins and rings. The lightning-bolt pillow represents his basketball team — the Lizton Blazers.

Lizton SB_300On Christmas morning, we presented his gift. Dad cherished the shadow box for the rest of his life, proudly displaying it in his den. It now hangs in my sister’s dining room and will be passed on to future generations along with the stories and memories each item holds.

It’s been nice chatting with you all for a few minutes, and I look forward to hearing from you soon—Over the Back Fence. Tell me your ideas about turning your memories into keepsakes. I’d love to help!

~Mona~

 

6 thoughts on “Dad’s Shadow Box”

  1. Beautiful story Mona! I just wanted to add…
    In the picture, you will notice that there are dried flowers on the outside of the original shadow box. These were added after Dad’s funeral bouquet from us, containing 3 flowers, one symbolizing each of us. Mona’s creations are always evolving and growing and changing, to add to the history and memories that we cherish!

    Love you!

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  2. Very cool, Mona! I have had a number of friends who have had ‘memory quilts’ and the like made (no, I wasn’t the one doing that!); I think it’s a fabulous idea. Kudos for stepping out and doing it!

    Reply
    • Thank you Lisa! Have you subscribed to my blog? I plan to give the background stories for all of the items displayed on this site.

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