Dianne Dickson A 60th Anniversary Shadow Box custom gift for a very special couple! Congratulations Mr & Mrs. B!
Let me preface this post by saying that I am currently 52 years old. Back when I was about 5, I met this girl named Michelle. We were best friends for many years. In fact, she was my maid of honour at my first wedding back in 1993. But it has probably been 20-plus years since I last saw her. Thankfully, Facebook appeared in there somewhere and Michelle and I were able to reconnect and stay in touch!
Last Christmas, Michelle sent me a message about creating a memorial ornament for a pet that she had lost the year before.
I was thrilled to create this white glitter ornament for her, and was even able to arrange hand delivery to her (she lives over two hours from me).
Early in July, Michelle contacted me again about creating a 60th Wedding Anniversary gift for her parents. WOW! I was so completely honoured to be asked to do this. I knew I had to come up with something very special as Mr. & Mrs. B were my 2nd parents for many years in my youth.
The Process
There were a few false starts. First with a shadow box that was both too deep and too small at 8×10″, so back to Michaels I went for an 11×14″. I found a beautiful frame that even came with a white mat around the outer edge, which worked perfectly for the vision I had in mind.
Michelle had asked me to incorporate Then & Now pictures of her parents. Of course one was vertical and the other horizontal to make things more difficult, but I managed to crop them both into heart shapes that worked well. From there, offset was my best friend to create the layers and depth that I was looking for.
I then hit Cricut Access, Design Bundles, and finally Etsy before I found the 60 Diamond Years graphic to use and again used the offset feature (with some contouring thrown in) to create multiple layers.
For their names and date, I debated etching the glass, but ultimately went with etching vinyl mirrored on the inside of the frame, and with just a hint of water on the back of the design, it layed down beautifully.
The final step was the rolled flowers – which I must admit to being a rookie at! So don’t look too closely, but I believe they added the finishing touch!
Here it is without the glass – why is it so difficult to take a good picture without reflections on glass?! I’ll have to work on that!
And below is a bad picture of the etching vinyl on the glass.
