Me & My Shaddow

I don’t know about you, but there are “things”, such as a book or a particular toy of the kids that really remind me of a particular trip or event in my life. Even a type of beer or drink, a specific card game (UNO, anyone?), or accessory (like my favorite beach hat).

On one particular trip to St. George when mini #2 was just a baby, he played with a starfish-type shell (please don’t be intimidated by my very technical terms here) day in and day out in the sand. And don’t get too excited because I didn’t find it on the beach, but I’d bought some large, pretty shells for them to touch and play with (Want to be a hero to your kids? Buy some of these huge shells and throw them in the sand when they’re not looking and help them “find” the pretty shells on the beach! HA!). Anyway, when I think of that trip, I always just think of the shells because he was so infatuated with them. So when it came time to frame a few of my favorite pictures for our playroom, I found the perfect picture of mini #2, putting the shell in his mouth. I adore this picture, but I wanted to frame it so it would be even more memorable to me. Enter today’s crafty creative project…

It’s really very simple. All you really have to do is take any photo such as I have here, purchase a shadowbox type frame from your local frame or craft store, a matte (I sometimes like to off-set my pictures), and whatever “prop” or memory you want to include with your photo. This shell was so large that I had to sand it down a bit, but you can see how I propped the exact shell he has in the picture, in the frame and off-set the picture. Another one of my favorites is this one of preppy puppy in full action in her element, playing ball at the beach. I simply cut the ball with a serrated knife and added it into the frame to imbed that moment into my memory. And it doesn’t have to be larger, bulkier items like this. Airline tickets from a special trip, concert tickets to the concert you got engaged at, a wooden block of your baby’s with a photo of him playing with the block, etc… You can pretty much do whatever you want to make that memory even more special to you. I've got a few of these paired up with some colorful and beautiful frames that are made from recovered old wooden boats, so they blend in just perfect. A few of these go a long way, when interspersed with some other similar style frames and photo's. As you know, I’m not a scrapbooker (read: hate scrapbooking) so for me, this is a fun way for me to incorporate a few memorable things into my frames, which really look great in the playroom (which happens to be the most casual room in the house).

Now, I’ve said it a million times before and I’ll say it again. If you are so lucky to have a Hobby Lobby in your area, just go straight there and don’t even bother going anywhere else. Best selection of frames hands down, and you can quote me on that (not to mention they always have an online coupon and loads of various size options that other places just don’t carry). But if you don’t happen to have a Hobby Lobby, then you can check out your local frame shop, Michael’s, JoAnn’s, or A.C. Moore as well. If you still aren’t finding what you like, then my absolute favorite frame and album accessories are from Exposures. You can NOT go wrong when you purchase from Exposures. Classic all the way, and worth every single penny.