Display It: Day 4 Memorabilia

We never know what to do with these heirlooms and bits of papers we hold on to. I love the concept of turning them into works of art and displaying them around our homes. Below are a few ideas that are not only inspiring, but something that any of us could do.

From WCS Monkia Wright

From Monika's blog,

"We live in the home of my husband's deceased grandparents. It was built by Papaw and my father-in-law about 45 years ago with lumber from the property and milled on the property. Over the past 12 years, we have renovated this home to make it our bit of paradise. Sure, I would still love to have a mudroom and breezeway that connects to the detached garage, but that's another project for another day {remember my son is heading to college!}. And the sunroom you spy behind the frame to the left? It was an uncovered concrete slab off the dining room door until about 9 years ago!

We found these utensils in the crawl space when we first began renovating, six months before we married. I have had them laying in a cupboard with the idea of framing them for 12 years, but the cost of framing always stopped me. So, a few months ago, I couldn't stand it any longer. I had all the pieces, even the frame, I just needed to put them together. It is now propped up, and covering a seldom used outlet that I hate looking at, in the kitchen. The fork and spoon kept wanting to fall off, so they now have gingham ribbon looped around them, too.

When I showed my father-in-law the frame, he looked at it for a few seconds with his head down without saying a word. I think he was touched. He then pointed to the spoon, looked at me, smiled, and said, "I remember using those." He even went out to the living room to show my mother-in-law the frame. I think he liked it, don't you?

I get to look at these utensils every day and remember the lovely grandparents I hear so much about and never had the pleasure to meet.

From WCS contributor Elizabeth Dillow:

Background on the tickets:

For Matt's birthday the year we got married I had all the tickets from our six years of dating framed. I love ticket stubs because they have so much personal history attached to them; I always save them (for movies, too!) in a ziploc bag until I'm ready to do something with them. I wish I had sprayed most of them with archival mist (I did this before I was a scrapbooker) because you can see the damage that occurs to acidic paper over the course of 20 years. This was a very low budget project; I bought a piece of black paper from an art supply store as my background, and when I had it framed I assembled the frame myself. This is a great way to save money if you're having something framed professionally. If the shop offers this option, they'll let you put it together in-store with all their equipment and are happy to answer questions while you work. Lots of things in our house have been framed this way!

I created this button project for my book The Scrapbooker's Almanac. My grandma had tons of buttons saved in a tin and it was always a treat to get to play with them when I was little. When I made this display, I also made more for my mom and sisters; because there were so many colors to choose from in the tin, I was able to make them in their favorite color palettes. On the back of the frame I adhered a little explanation about the buttons so the valuable memory can be preserved, too!

I (as do many of you) love my kids art work and now that they are older it is even more treasured by me. In my family room I have a section of the wall dedicated to framed art. Most of the framed art was created when the kids were little, one or two are from later years. This display makes me smile and adds color and personality to our home. You should try it!

[wendy kid art display]

From around the web.

You can ALWAYS count on Pottery Barn for some awesome display items and this time they do not disappoint.

First up this Cubby Organizer, oh my.

Look at how they incorporate all the space in the shadow boxes and  how the bits of paper work perfect in the frame displays.

Use your famly heirlooms in your home displays like these music books.

This collection of little frames is adorable!!

These tea towels add charm and allow heirlooms to be displayed.

Go here to see a fabulous play room with children's art displays.

Here is an informative article describing how to put heirlooms archivally in shadow box displays.

Come back tomorrow for the shadow box reveals!!