Need some ideas on making a funeral memory board.

[maslex]

I'm not even sure that's what it's called, but you know when you go to a funeral and the family makes up a board with pictures of the deceased?

Unfortunately, I have to make one for my dad. We lost him Tuesday from a heat attack. He was only 58.

The thing is though, he was never fond of being in front of the camera so I can imagine that we don't have a whole hell of a lot of photos of him. I'm not really sure. I'm going to go through my photos & my mom's. And I'll tell my brother to go through his photos too. My sister lives in a different state so she doesn't have access to hers, since she's up here.

So I have a couple of questions on making this board.

1--I'm afraid that since my sister's photos are in a different state right now, there won't be too many of my dad & her (wedding) or my dad & her children.

2--Originally I planned on getting one of those 3 paneled poster boards and putting the photos on that. If we don't get a lot of photos to cover it (or even most of it) how would I fill in the gaps? It's not that I want so many pictures on there that they're like a collage and all bunched together. I was thinking of maybe using my Cricut and cutting out a few shapes of things that he liked. Camping, mountains, roller coasters, etc. Does that seem too stupid?

Any other ideas that you can come up with?

[pjlla]

So sorry about your Dad! He was so young! Prayers for your family coming up today.

How about a background color, instead of just the photos on white? You could paint the display board or cover it with paper or fabric. Spray adhesive works great for big surfaces like that.

I say just make the best photo collage with what you have available and let it go at that. If you have the time and/or energy to do some cut outs with the Cricut to accent the board that would be great. Maybe just a title? Like your Dad's full name and DOB/DOD.

If you wanted to fill in around the photos, how about Googling some poetry or quotes that might be suitable to represent your Dad?

Again.... so sorry for your painful loss...................P

[maslex]

Originally Posted by pjlla

So sorry about your Dad! He was so young! Prayers for your family coming up today.

How about a background color, instead of just the photos on white? You could paint the display board or cover it with paper or fabric. Spray adhesive works great for big surfaces like that.

I say just make the best photo collage with what you have available and let it go at that. If you have the time and/or energy to do some cut outs with the Cricut to accent the board that would be great. Maybe just a title? Like your Dad's full name and DOB/DOD.

If you wanted to fill in around the photos, how about Googling some poetry or quotes that might be suitable to represent your Dad?

Again.... so sorry for your painful loss...................P

Thanks for your condolences. It is hard and putting together this photo board will no doubt be difficult but we want to get it done. I just had a thought a little while ago about putting some sayings on there too. But I was thinking of using some of the stuff that he used to say, over & over LOL Don't know if that would be too corny but my siblings and I will try to figure this all out today since the gathering will b tomorrow night.

[mommy2mrb]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your dad




when my husband passed I did a DVD set to music that we watched during the memorial, my friend scanned photos and added the music for me, so not sure how they did it...they also made copies for me to give to family and close friends.

we did a memory board when my dad passed and I wrote a few words under each photo to explain who/what/where, etc.

[BernardandMissBianca]

Sorry to hear about your dad.

What we did for my grandma was a 3 paneled board and tried to put the pics in some sort of chronological order, panel 1 was her younger years, panel 2 was her married years and panel 3 was later in life with the great grandkids.

For your sister's pics. Is there anyone there that can take a picture of them and email them to you? Have them crop with the camera, with a straight on shot. Then you can have them printed here. Or if she had friends at her wedding, maybe someone has pics. Maybe reach out to family for photos.

Yes I would fill in with cricut shapes or something you can buy, might make it easier.
We also used photo corners to hold the pictures instead of glue dots or tape runners because we didn't want to ruin the older pictures.

[cherio]

My sympathies on the loss of your father. When my dad passed my mom did not want a lot of photos sitting out. I made a memory board with the few photos she chose, but then had each of my siblings, along with their kids, write their favorite memory of my dad. I used two poster boards. Our funeral home had easels we could use. I used my circuit to cut "dad", "grandpa", his name and his nickname. As hard as it was to put together, it was also very comforting.

[maslex]

Thank you all for your ideas.

I just got back from my brother's house and we found more photos than we originally thought. We have two of the 3 panels posterboards and I think we'll be able to fill both with a few left over.

We found their 25th anniversary album when they went on their cruise and found some great photos. I'm going to do a board that has all pictures of him in them and the other board will be all of his 3 kids and 8 grandkids.

I'm way too exhausted to do them tonight but I hope they turn out good enough.

[VickiV]

When my mother died several years ago, I used 4 boards. I punched holes along the edges of 1 long side of each board. I used the metal rings to hold them together that way (can't think of what they're called-people use them for paper bag albums and all kinds of other stuff, I think mine were 3 for $1 or something). Ribbon could also be used though. I only connected 2 together, not all 4. I knew the funeral home had a table already set up, so it was easy to fill the space that way, as the boards could be spread out farther or made to fill a smaller space.

I covered each board with scrapbooking paper in a single shade for each board. I used some 12x12 pieces put on in different slanted ways to "embellish" the background. Then the pictures were added. I used the cricut to cut her name and a shadow.

While I tried to get pictures of my Mom with everyone, she also was not interested in having her picture taken. It was a family joke that the only pictures of my Mom were "butt" pictures since she always tried to turn away. I think I did throw one of those in as well. Don't worry about not having pictures with everyone. Just do the best you can with what you have. If anyone has the poor manners to fuss that they're not there, kindly remind them that it isn't their funeral. (All of us want to think we were an important part in a person's life. Lack of a picture doesn't diminish our importance.)

It was a very difficult for me to do. However, I received many compliments on it. It looked extraordinarily nice. I was surprised at how many compliments I received on it. It was comforting to many people.

I am very sorry for you loss. I hope you have many friends and family to give you comfort.

VickiV

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

Sorry for your loss. I'm a little late to the party..... When a childhood friend of mine committed suicide, I gathered pics from everyone who had them, made copies, blew some good ones up. Then got those poster size frames from walmart, wall papered them with scrapbook paper and the attached the pics, framed them. I think we had 3 or 4. After the service I took them to his moms house and later on she hung them in different parts of her house.

I actually had the leftover pics up until a year ago. She refused to take them back. so I scrapped them and just dropped them off one day.

Hoping it goes smoothly.

[LindaBabe]

So sorry about your loss, Maslex. Hope your photo board came together the way you wanted and that it brings comfort and memories of happier times to your family.

[morgansmom2000]

I've got no suggestions, but I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for your loss.

[fireplug]

Thoughts and prayers for your dad, you and your family........


Steve

[clh2]

Also sorry for your loss. Sounds like you've got a handle on this!

Just tossing out a couple of things that we did when DH's father passed away.

While looking for pictures - we found some great "'fun" things that we added to the board. His dad's grade school - used about a 4x6" index card which was his report card - for all 8 grades. We put up something related to his honorable discharge - perhaps it was a small newspaper clipping? We found the telegram saying he was coming home from WWII to his "soon-to-be" bride.