I am so excited about this little project that I recently did. I had not planned to do it but as soon as I stumbled upon what I thought went missing in my recent move, I knew I had to just take some time and get it done. I had everything ready to go and it was a breeze. What is it, you ask? A shadowbox with my Pop-Pop's old tie tacks. He was in the Navy and worked on airplanes, so almost all of his tie tacks were airplanes.
My beloved Pop-Pop passed away back in 1990, when I was about 14 years old. He was kind hearted, soft spoken (except when he was mad, which was so rare I can only remember him being mad maybe twice) and incredibly loving. He was a thin man with a voracious appetite (I like to think I got that from him), and he used to put ice cubes in his milk (something I also love to do). I remember his loud funny laugh when he watched "The Three Stooges" on Sunday mornings. My sister and I used to spend every Saturday night with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop: we'd go to dinner, watch TV and eat treats. It was so special and wonderful and I had no idea until I had kids of my own that my parents might actually enjoy that time without us kids! Those memories with my grandparents are so precious to me. Pop-Pop passed away far too soon, and I miss him very much.
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| Mom-Mom, Pop-Pop and I (approx. 1977/1978) |
A few Christmasses ago, my Mom-Mom asked if I might be interested in some of my Pop-Pop's old airplane tie tacks. I had no idea what I would do with them, but I jumped at the chance to own something of his, as I have nothing but pictures and the set of pearls he gave my mom, which she in turn passed on to me. I thought about making the tie tacks into Christmas tree ornaments, but they seemed a little small for that. Enter the shadow box. Yes! I found a white shadowbox at Ikea on clearance in the "As Is" section for about $5 because it was used as an in-store display. It had a little hole in the one side of the frame, but I knew I could cover that up.
The project was so easy. I had a small piece of corkboard on hand, so I cut that to fit the frame and simply wrapped the cork in a scrap of white fabric. I tried others, but I liked the white on white (of course I did ...). Then I punched the tie tacks through the cork and just used some needle-nosed pliers to bend the end of the tie tack over, so that it wasn't sticking out and sort of affixed itself to the cork.
I used duct tape around the edges of the frame to hold the fabric in place. I also used duct tape on the back of the frame, since with the cork and fabric it was a little bulky.
And here it is! All neat and pretty.
I'm loving this simple little project and love that whenever I see it, which is every single day, I will think of my grandfather.
As for where it is displayed, oooh, I have an update for you! Stay tuned.
As for where it is displayed, oooh, I have an update for you! Stay tuned.
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