In honor of this week being the Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day I thought I'd share a DIY that related to military life.
This is a throwback to a DIY project I did about 4 years ago. I love projects that also work as a memory keepsake. That way the precious memories are displayed and you can look at them and reminisce rather than the items sitting in a box somewhere. This DIY project was a shadow box that I used to hold all of the letters and photos Nick and I exchanged while he was in boot camp.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Marine Corps boot camp is three months long and the only contact the recruits have with the outside world is through letters. At this point, Nick and I had been together for a little over a year, but these next three months without seeing or talking to each other felt very daunting. However, looking back, this time was one of the most important and pivotal seasons of our relationship. This time forced us to grow close to God and grow close together and to truly get to know each other's hearts.
These little mementos from this time are really important to me because of what they represent, which is why I was eager to do something with them in a way that I could see them every day.
Inside is an old Marine T-shirt that I used as a background, however, I am planning on replacing it with a fitting piece of scrapbook paper. I placed our letters, a necklace he had given me before he left, a sea shell he had sent me through his letters, a photo of him in boot camp, and the cutest pin that his mom made for me to wear at his graduation.
I have this placed on a shelf stand in our room and it's always a sweet reminder of where we have been and where we are now.
I hope you enjoyed this simple DIY! If you don't have romantic letters to put in a shadow box, ticket stubs from dates are another way to hold onto memories and make them cute to display. I have also seen people dry the flowers they get and put them in a shadowbox, so the possibilities are endless. I hope you feel inspired to display your memories and keepsakes! This can help us take time to remember all of the moments that have led us to where we are now.
Terrific DIY suggestion. Loved seeing it. It reminded me of in my day(back in the day) when going to a formal dance everyone was given a "dance card" that gave you the ability to write on each line who you danced with. So those would make really good items for a scrapbook of memories.