Crafty McCrafterson
I don’t consider myself a particularly artistic person; sure, I have spurts of creativity but I get easily bored. For a while I made a bunch of whimsical refrigerator magnets out of femo clay (my mom has begged me for one for years, but I moved on to my next project). I then got into making my own greeting cards using wooden stamps (I even made our wedding invitations). But again, that phase soon passed.
I started keeping a portfolio of my race numbers years ago (I even have the bib number from my very first 5K). They’re all contained within a basic black portfolio with plastic sleeves. If I received a medal or had a picture taken I’d add those to the page, but I wouldn’t do anything more elaborate.
Then I ran the Goofy Challenge.
Anyone who’s run Disney knows it’s all about the bling, and with Goofy I not only received medals for the half and for the full, I also received the coveted Goofy medal. We’re talking serious bling, people! Disney does not skimp on the medals. When I got home I couldn’t see just putting them in the portfolio; they needed to be shown off somehow. Sure, I could have purchased a pre-made shadowbox from one of the Disney vendors, but I had already spent a ton of money.
I then read a post in a Runner’s World discussion about a home-made race shadowbox. The poster had designed his own for a fraction of the cost of what most vendors charged. A lightbulb went on over my head: I can do that! And while I was at it, I decided I’d make up one for Medoc as well (after all, it was my first marathon).
As I was deciding on what color mat board to use, I remembered the piece of zebra cloth I picked up while putting my costume together. The creative juices really started flowing. I first checked out an artist’s supply store, but none of their frames — not even the custom ones — would be thick enough for what I wanted to include. But I then scored at Michael’s craft shop. Not only did they carry the perfect sized black shadowbox (16″ x 20″), it was 40% off! I also picked up two large sheets of mat board (one for Medoc, one for Disney).
Total cost of materials? Less than $40 (that includes the entire sheet of mat board; I only used about a quarter of it). Mind you, we already had spray mount and hot glue, and we also have a mat cutter. But I think it looks a heck of a lot better than what I could have gotten done “professionally”!
Stay tuned for the Disney version. It may take a while since my darling will most likely be making the frame.
(Oh, and my apologies to Angie. I totally stole her headline style!)
February 18th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Wow, that looks awesome! I absolutely love it. I need some stuff to put on my walls, and now that I’m out of college I feel silly going with posters, but I also can’t afford any really nice stuff. I think I might head to Michael’s and frame some race stuff like you did. Thanks for the idea!
February 18th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Love your shadowbox for the Medoc! I bought a shadowbox frame at Ikea a couple of weeks ago and have been contemplating how to do something with my race number and medal from the Disney half last month, because you’re right, you just can’t stick them in a folder. Thanks for the inspiration!
February 18th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Laura — you’ll definitely get a lot of ideas at Michaels.
Amy — I actually thought of checking out IKEA as well, but Michael’s was closer. But I may check to see if they have something that would work for the Disney one (it would save my darling from doing the task!)
February 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Adorable!
February 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Now THAT is something worthy of being displayed on a wall of fame! Blows my just-stick-it-up-there-with-a-few-tacks method way out of the water.
Oh, and no apology necessary. It’s not like you’re stealing my best work or anything. 😛
February 18th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I think yours is much better than the Disney offering. It has way more personality.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Woo! Love it! Maybe I can do the same with my marathon medal, bib, and MRI image. It would be inspiration to keep running but also not to be an idiot.
Seriously though, I think that is fan-tabulous. So ginormously fantastoriffic that it warrants made-up words to express its fantasticliciousness.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Frayed — love your crazilabitude!
February 21st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Love your Medoc frame!! What is the burgundy cup? Of course I’m curious about all the stuff you get since I want to run that race one day too…
I made my own Shadowboxes for my Minnie 15K plus a couple of other events. I still need to get around to doing the same for the Calgary half and for Goofy. Definitely better (and much cheaper) than what you get from the official folks!
February 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The cup is what we carried around during the “balade” — the 9K recovery walk the next day. That’s what they poured our wine into!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
ooooooooooooooooooooooo love it. Very cute
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 am
This is amazing! I can’t wait to see what you do with all your Goofy challenge bling – make sure you post a pic! 🙂
You put me to shame – all my half and full marathon bibs are pinned up on my cubicle wall at work and my medals are draped onto my picture board at my desk at home.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Betsy?! You. Are. Awesome!
That is so cool, you should be so proud of yourself. Damn, I’m proud of you and I don’t really even know you. You know, in a real sense. Anyway, WOW chick! Very cool!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:51 am
love love love this idea!
February 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am
What a great idea! I might be forced to run ALL my races in fancy dress just to acquire a few of these!
Oh and well done you!
T
March 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
So crafty Betsy!
I finally made it over to this blog. I was surprised food is mentioned. Not!
Love, Binga
April 20th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I came across this page while searching for ideas on doing a shadowbox just like this (my first marathon was yesterday!!). Looks great!! Thanks for the inspiration!