Mother's Day Creation

Now that Gramma has received her package, it's safe to share with you the shadowbox I made for her gift.  I'm REALLY excited about this project!!

My mom has long been the caregiver of our family photos--both sides, too!  On a recent visit, she brought out quite a few to share with us.  We missed them when packing for her return trip, so I had the bright idea to have them all scanned and put in electronic format.  Had that done by Harbor Scrapbooking (MARVELOUS LADIES...I'd trust 'em with my life!!).  While we were sorting through the pics that they were going to scan, we stumbled upon a letter, written by my grandfather (now passed) to my mother.  The letter accompanied the original of a photo of my mom with her mother (also passed), wearing dresses made by my grandmother.  Grandfather's letter talks about how Grandma loved her children and delighted she was to be a mom.  My mom is 1 in the photo and my grandmother, 21.  Also in the stack of pics was a shot of just my mom, taken at the same time.  I got to thinking that these items needed to be displayed together.  So here we go...

Straight on view.

This one shows the colors a little better.

My Wendy Vecchi Art Parts arrived just in time, so I covered a flower with a paper that was sprinkled with little blue flowers--like Grandpa described the dress fabric. I scanned Grandpa's letter, then printed it on vellum to give it a parchment type texture.  The kids helped by inking the edges of everything and picking out the ribbons and other embellishments.  (Ben has a GREAT eye for layering the flowers!  Abbey picked the ribbons.  It was Matthew who suggested the bow on the Art Parts flower stem.)   We played with the arrangement, then layered 'em into the shadow box with a whole lotta foam pop dots.

On of my favorite parts of this creation?  The deal I got on the now repurposed frame!  I went looking for a largish shadow box, but found that they were rather pricey.  For Mom, no problem.  But then I noticed that the pre-framed artwork at JoAnn's all clearanced at 75% off.  Found a few candidates...and ended up with this one ($7.50).  Took about 10 minutes to pull everything apart and cover the old background.  Previously the clearance rack UGLY seashell print nightmare...now a lovely (if I do say so myself!) personal Mother's Day presink. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!