Shadow boxes are a great way to immortalize summer memories in a manner that you can enjoy year-round. Check out these designs that you can easily make into beautiful shadow boxes that add personality to your home.

Highlight Summer Blossoms

If you love the flowers of summer, start collecting your favorites so you can dry them out and use them in your shadow box. You can press them, as is traditional when using flowers for creative projects, but shadow boxes have the unique feature of being three-dimensional – which means you can dry your flowers by laying them face-down (or on their sides if you decide to leave the stems attached) on a towel for about two weeks.

You can keep it simple by lining the back of your shadow box with a subtly patterned paper or a plain white or black backdrop, or you can use memorabilia as a backdrop (like the program for a play you saw during the season). Simply arrange the flowers as you like, and glue or pin them into place. Now you can enjoy the blossoms of summer all year long.

Savor Summer Memories

Another great use for a shadow box is to create a tableau of summer memories – kind of like a three-dimensional scrapbook page in a frame. Choose a neutral background, then layer it with a collage of photographs and memorabilia that you’ve collected over the summer: tickets to sports games or entertainment events, photographs, dried flowers, a brochure from your favorite summer travel destination… Anything goes!

Create a Travel Shadow Box

If you went on a special trip over the summer, keep those memories close by arranging your photos and memorabilia in a travel shadow box. Feature a favorite photo or two, little souvenirs (like a miniature Eiffel Tower, for instance, if you happened to go to Paris, or shells if you went to the beach), maps, brochures, etc. You can even include foreign currency if you left the country. You can also keep the design simple by choosing to focus on just one element, like displaying coins, cutouts from a map, or a collection of shells or stones that you collected during your trip.

Keep up with the latest tips for creating a beautiful home – and a beautiful life – at the Olympus Encantada blog.