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I am a photography fanatic. I love taking pictures, tweaking pictures, and finding the beauty in every day items

Monday, April 14, 2008

Shadow Boxes

Who doesn't love the look of shadow boxes? I love how simple and creative they can be. There are so many things you can use them for. I used some for Lucy's room to help tie in the tropical theme that I was going for. All you need is some...

Shadow Boxes
Back ground paper (scrapbooking paper)
Hot Glue Gun
Objects to Glue In (I used star fishes)

First take out the back of one of the shadow boxes and lay it onto your scrapbooking paper that you have picked for the back ground. Trace, then cut out.

Then take you items (starfishes) and glue them onto the paper in a nice layout. Once you have them glued and dried to the paper, glue the paper to the backs of the shadow boxes. If you want to, you can even fill the shadow boxes part way with sand to help give a more fun beachy look.

I bought the shadow boxes over at IKEA and got the starfishes and scrapbooking paper from Joanne's. Shadow boxes can run any where from $3 (IKEA) to $20, but it really depends on where you buy them and what size you are looking for. I believe the starfishes cost about $2.99 per bag; make sure you buy a bag that doesn't have broken pieces since they can be fragile. I used the same starfishes for my shadow boxes as I did for Lucy's wood letters, to help tie them together.

But, you can have all sorts of fun with these boxes. You can get a larger sized frame and place the outfit that you brought your baby home from the hospital in or their first day of school. You can even place some of your child's favorite toys in them... well their OLD favorite toys that they don't play with anymore.... you don't want the kids crying and screaming that they can't play with they beloved doll and why is she on the wall! You don't have to stick with children's rooms either. Every time we go on vacation we save things from the trip; maps, hotel keys, ticket stubs, cheesy souvenirs. You can take those items and place them in a box nicely arranged. Then over the years you will have this wonderful wall of memories that will have cherished items from every family trip that you have taken together.

So comb through you old family memories and heirlooms. Find ones that are in need of showing and place them in a shadow box to be displayed!

31 comments:

  1. I love the shadow box look! I've made these before using things I've found outside, like weird seeds and stuff. They looked pretty cool until they dried up and died. I need to get some more stuff.

    You've probably played this game before, but in case you haven't, I tagged you. Details are on my latest post. Feel free to ignore me if you don't want to play. :)

    Have a great day!

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  2. Seriously....you are CRAZY creative. I love these boxes. I am going to make some for my boys' rooms when I come back to Canada. And maybe their bathroom, too.

    I might even try to encourage them to work on the project with me :)

    Heidi

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  3. These are so cool! I would love to see a picture of Lucy's room all decorated!

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  4. Those are an awesome idea. I may consider something like that for some of my son's trophy buckles.

    Your so creative. I secretly am jealous! ;-)

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  5. Cool beans! Something I can do! I have been wanting to do something like this with a picture of my babies when we bring them home from the hospital and their hospital bracelet.

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  6. Very cool idea. I've been wanting to try one with the outfits that each of the kids came home from the hospital in when they were babies. Of course I still haven't gotten around to that yet. Maybe this post will inspire me and I'll actually do it.

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  7. You are so talented, girl. How about I just pay you to make me some of these? I like the ocean ones since I live across from the beach! Thanks for the idea.

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  8. Great idea for decorating and for keepsakes you don't know how to display. Love it! Thanks for the how-to and where to get the stuff.

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  9. I second Beth's comment...when can we see Lucy's room all decorated???

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  10. I would love to show lucy's room, but I need to finish it. Since we moved about 6 weeks ago or so...i still haevn't gotten her room back to where it is. Plus... her room right now is my mom's art room and I am trying to find a way to make it look nursery without disturbing my mom's stuff. So soon I will post pictures of before and after :)

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  11. These are precious! I am going to have to add this to my list of crafty projects to tackle. Thank you for the idea!

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  12. I love shadow boxes. Very pretty!

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  13. You are just too creative! i love your posts! I only wish I had time to do stuff like this! Between potty training, cooking a baby and doping my son up with motrin from ALL of his teeth trying to come in at once, I don't have much time for these kinds of things!

    And BTW, I looooove Lucy's name! I'm looking for a name like this for #3, but we just can't figure one out that we agree on. Any suggestions?

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  14. Great job!! we love shadow boxes!! The starfish look fabulous! have a wonderful day!

    blessings,
    kari & kijsa

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  15. Tag!! You're it!!

    I love those shadow boxes too.

    http://mommastantrum.blogspot.com/2008/04/five-more.html

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  16. That's so funny what you said about putting toys in a shadow box. I can just see it if I put some of my son's trains in shadow boxes and hung them out of reach. Talk about a tantrum! HA! Cool craft idea...

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  17. Those are cute! I was just telling my husband I wanted to get some shadow boxes - spooky.

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  18. Sounds like a fun idea. You must be very creative, like my sister. I'm afraid mine would look like a bunch of stuff I threw in a box and put on the wall. I can ust hear my kids. "Mom, what is THIS?" But yours with the starfish look lovely.

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  19. I love them, I really should make one sometime!

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  20. These are darling! Now I want to go to the craft store. I always want to go to the craft store after reading your blog. =)

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  21. Love your shadow boxes!

    I totally did some of my grandfather who served on the island of Attu during WWII. I love it, and it is one of the things I would for sure grab in a fire.

    Love yours with the starfish. Cute idea for kiddo's room.

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  22. Those are so cute! I'm impressed!

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  23. They do look pretty. I never had those before but wanted to try them. Maybe sometime soon I'll get around to it.

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  24. Love the idea! I will deffinatley have to start doing this for our family trips, we have a bag of maps, hotel keys, souveniers, etc. and I didn't know what to do with them until now. Thanks!

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  25. I love those. They are beautiful.

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  26. Yes - I love shadow boxes and those you made are really, really cute!!

    Nice to see you today - have a good evening - Kellan

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  27. I love shadow boxes, I use them in a bathroom to display shell collections that were collecting dust on a shelf !

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  28. i absolutely love this idea! it is so cute! i have been trying to think of cute fun things i can do in the boys room! thanks for the idea!

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  29. Adorable. Creative. Crafty. Thrifty. Darling.

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