In the fall Lucia wrote a great post about migration here on TMG. In it she mentioned how she wished "there was some way to bottle up our recent stork sightings and give those to friends and family as holiday gifts". When I read that it brought to mind a gift idea I had been thinking about for some time. While I have not figured out how to bottle up a stork sighting I think a shadow box would be a great way to share nature with those we love.
While we set about gathering nature finds for our nature exchange we also set a few things aside for some shadow boxes.
These are going to a few of our favorite folks that love nature but might not be up for a nature exchange.
After everything was gathered together we laid it out on the background. Once we were happy with how it looked we glued it down. We used a hot glue gun for this. Other types of glue would work but it might take longer to dry. Just make sure it is strong enough to hold the weight of the object once it is hanging on the wall.
We purchased a shadow box from a craft shop but you could also make your own if you are the very adventurous crafty type. If you search the web for "build a wooden shadow box" you will find "how to" sites to meet just about every skill level.
Here it is complete. It is amazingly hard for me to take pictures of things under glass but I wanted you to see the frame. It looks great on the wall. I am ready to make one for us to have here at home.
Other ideas include:
~ Adding pictures from a trip or you kids out in nature to the background.
~ Using post cards of local wildlife as a background.
~ Dividing the background into four sections to represent things collected in each season.
~ Think about the home of the recipient. Try to get a shadow box frame that will match their home decor. Our local craft shop had a wide selection.
While we can't always share our nature experiences first hand with loved ones, we can offer a bit of nature's goodness under glass.
Happy Holidays!
~ Dawn
