Comments on: Creating Memory Shadowboxes

By: barbara

barbara — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:32:44 +0000

When my mother died 4 1/2 years ago, I purchased several shadow box frames to make memory boxes for my brothers, my sister and myself. Every time I started to work on them, I became so emotional that I could not continue. I still don’t know whether I can do them, but I feel that it is time to do it. Thanks for reminding me of them and maybe it is time for me to bite the bullet and make a serious start.

By: Mary Emma Allen

Mary Emma Allen — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:40:51 +0000

Leslie and Eileen, thanks for sharing your shadow box ideas and letting us know how you saved treasured memories this way. Doing this with other family members can be lots of fun, too.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:13:33 +0000

When our son was about 8, I made a shadow box with mementos of our family. More than 30 years later, I still treasure it and have it on display. I included a lock of my hair and our son’s, my husband’s fraternity pin, his Army insignia, a heart, pieces of a program from the NYC Ballet, and several photos. There’s a piece of an envelope that my DH sent while he was away serving our country. It has an 8 cent stamp with President Eisenhower on it. Long time ago …

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:43:10 +0000

My sister and I made a fairly large (30 inches x 18 inches) shadow box when our Mother retired from nursing. When we helped her clean out her office, we found a drawer full of plaques, certificates, and awards she’d earned. We copied them and shrunk them down to serve as wallpaper for the shadow box. Some of the dimensional items I remember most are a bottle of white shoe polish and a pair of white shoelaces (she polished her shoes every night), Her hospital ID badge, her nursing school graduation photo, a mortar and pestle, a large brass aspirin, a syrings, photos of past and current patients, an origami representation of her no-longer-worn nursing cap, and a lot of plastic IV tubing that wound in and around all of these items. We had a blast putting it together and everyone who came to my Mother’s retirement party loved it.