I'm not sure why, but I find I'm more sentimental these days. I love looking at old family photographs, watching Chloe's newborn videos, tucking artwork, birthday cards, and vacation souvenirs away to be enjoyed someday when I'm old and creaky. I've had these scrapboxes by Darcy Miller saved in my idea file for the longest time but only now got around to making one. They're so simple but create a really interesting and unique display.

I decided to make a scrapbox of Chloe's 'little bug picnic' 2nd birthday which happened earlier this year. My list of materials:
- IKEA Ribba shadowbox frame, 9 3/4" x 9 3/4"
- scrapbook paper for the background
- photograph
- event ephemera (in this case, mini-bunting from Chloe's birthday cake, and some party decor)
- foamcore board [not shown]

First step is to cut the scrapbook paper to the size of the hard board backing of the Ribba frame. Don't cut the corner though - I made that mistake and the triangular hole was visible when I put the board back in the frame. Grrr. Just cut the paper so you have a square shape then glue the paper to the board.



Now you need to decide if you want to give some of the scrapbox objects some depth and stand out from the board. In my case, I wanted the photograph and the "Chloe's 2nd Birthday" tag to have some depth. You can create depth by mounting the object on foamcore. I didn't have any handy so I  used a piece of cardboard which worked just as well. The cardboard was cut slightly smaller than the size of the photo because I didn't want the rough edges visible (with foamcore, you won't have this problem and can cut it to the same size as the object). I affixed the photo to the cardboard using double sided tape.

Once all your objects are ready, its time to figure out a layout.

Glue or tape everything down... and voila!


Easy peasy. See how the raised objects have some interesting shadows? Love that. I intentionally didn't glue the bunting flags down so they would kinda look like they were blowing in the wind.


I plan to make a bunch of these and create a gallery wall in the future playroom. Its such a fun and inexpensive way to display memories, don't you think?