Making Slide Mount Shadow Boxes

What you'll need:

foam tape
slide mounts
memorabilia
crafting knife or scissors
glue
pattern paper (optional)
Transparencies or sheet protectors

Okay so you have a few bulkier items you just cant part with or convert to picture. And they just have to be included in your book, say a hospital band from a child's birth, or a necklace that your child made. Here's a super fast, fun and easy way to include them.
Use a shadow box. Shadow boxes are simply a box lifted off the page, allowing things to be placed on the inside.

So lets get started.

1. First you'll need to cut the slide mount in half. If you choose to use a plastic slide mount, you may have to pull the two sides apart. What you want is only one side.

2. Now take your glue and glue down the transparency to one side of the slide mount half. Let dry completely. Once dry, yo can cut away any extra transparency hanging off the outside of the slide mount. DO NOT cut away the inside portion.

3. You can now decorate the opposite side of the slide mount half that you glued the transparency to. If you wish not to decorate, skip to next step.

4. Now apply foam tape to the side of the slide mount that the transparency was glued to. DO NOT take off outside paper to the tape. Otherwise you had better know where your box is going. :)

5. Now that you have your top to the shadow box, you'll want to figure out where it will go on your page. Once that is done, I suggest drawing a faint line with a pencil around the box, so you'll remember.

6. OPTIONAL: You can now glue a small piece of patterned paper to the spot where you wish to place the shadow box. Make sure the paper is the same size as the shadow box. It's also helpful if the paper contributes to the page, but is completely different to any other papers on the page. This will help to bring your eyes to focusing on the box.

7. Place and secure (however you wish) your memorabilia to the area that will become the inside of the shadow box. This will be where you put the paper down in step 6. Make sure that none of your memorabilia extends past the inside edges of the shadow box top.

8. Peel off paper on foam tape and carefully press shadow box top down.

9. Wipe sweat off brow, and admire your handy work. Congratulations. You have successfully created a mini shadow box. ;)

TIP: These instructions can be altered to fit any size o box you need for your pages. So if the slide mounts are too small, create a larger slide mount on your own and go from there. :)

Good luck.