$1 Shadowbox

One of my favorite ways to decorate is to use items with meaning. Anyone who knows me well knows how much my family means to me. When my grandfather passed away 2 years ago it rocked my little world. Dad had given me some old pictures of Papaw and I wanted to display them in a big way, so I could see it every day and be reminded of where I came from and who I'm living on for. I used a large blank wall in my living room to hang not only the picture of Papaw, but also collection of family photos.



1. This picture was taken at our wedding and included all of our immediate family plus my three sets of grandparents
2. My favorite wedding picture
3. Our little family on Thanksgiving 2010
4. Papaw and his 5 kids the last time they were all together before he passed away
5. Papaw in the navy, year 1944
6. My mom, her two brothers (one has passed away since then) and Mamaw
7. Jordan's family at his younger brother's wedding
8. Jordan's family at Christmas 2008

I have a collection of small sentimental items I want to start adding to the wall. The first of which is the shadowbox in the upper left hand corner. It displays one of the bullet shells that was fired at Papaw's military funeral. I had been searching for a shadowbox that was small enough to blend into the other collection of photos. I found this one at the thrift store for a dollar. It was yellow with a butterfly picture in the center.

(These are my thrift store finds for the week)



I took the box apart, spray painted the frame white, and from there I got ghetto creative. I wanted the bullet shell to be on a white fabric cushioned back. I used super glue and makeup sponges (I was working with what I already had on hand) to make the padding and an old white dress shirt I hadn't worn in years for the fabric.



I'm really happy with the way it turned out. You can't even tell there are makeup sponges hanging on the wall :)