Saturday 16 March 2013

Displaying The Things We Love: Lest We Forget

My husband was given his Grandfather's service medals in this modest brown paper bubble envelope.
In order to keep them protected, he kept them in it.
Knowing how much those medals meant, I decided find a way to display them.


I realized that just displaying the medals alone would be nice, but it would be even more special if I had some photos of his Grandfather to go with it. My first inclination was to call the family, and ask for some old photos, but it was a weekday, and I knew everyone would be at work. In the meantime, I thought I could find some military info on Grandpa Wheele on the internet.


Much to my surprise, I accidentally came across an image that did look like my husband's Grandfather. I clicked on it, and found that it was an Ancestry.com page from a distant relative. I contacted the relative and told him about my project, and he was kind enough to provide me with not only the great photo I found on the internet, but also another photo that most of the family has never seen before.


SO...
Using the same mat cutter from this post, and a shadow box I purchased from Michaels, I put together two black mats, cut 1/2" off-set from each other for more impact. I included the medals, the photos, dates and the military unit name in the shadow box.


All displayed on two fantastic suitcases. One found in this post.


My husband's family made these great candles; as I am a huge fan of the bell jar, I put the candle under it to keep it safe from dust.




11 comments:

  1. What an incredible honor you did for both Grandpa and Morley! Thank you

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  2. I LOVE a shadow box... all the better with such symbolic items to display!

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    1. Agreed! I am so happy to have a matt cutter now. It makes the whole process simple and professional-looking. I think I might start framing weird things... perhaps even flea market teeth? LOL

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  3. You've done it again. Everything is perfection and you've hit the mark on it all. I will of course go into more detail as two sentences will not suffice ...
    - The research and pictures you picked up, incredible and so thoughtful.
    - Double matting the medals and pictures. Professions should be taking note.
    - The shadow box and matting in black works to well, and is super masculine.
    - Do I need to write about the bell jar? It is perfection for that candle.

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    1. Yowsa. Thank you so much!
      I am totally humbled. Hey did you notice that my photography is getting better? I struggle with it so much. Practice makes perfect, though, right?

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    2. Ha, just saw this! Creeping back at your matting tutorial. Your photogs are fab. I'm slowly getting there. Plus Photoshop. God bless Photoshop.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks so much Nic!
      I love it too. So glad it turned out the way it did.

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  5. Wow! It looks absolutely amazing! What a beautiful way to honor his grandfather.

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  6. What an amazing job you've done. A very touching way to pay tribute to -and honor- a great relative.

    AMAZING.....

    Kelvin

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