I've Been Waiting for This...

...a collection of our baby shoes, all together (at last!). (Mine are the baby boots on the upper right - my mother embraced the view that young ankles needed proper support - cute running shoes were not an option!)

The project started when I found the pair on the upper left - the ones that belonged to My Beloved - I knew if I dug around in the tons of stuff saved from my childhood and every second of the babyhood years of our own children I could assemble a full collection.  Once I did that, it took a while to find the right shadow box frame.  Then I painted it an appropriate colour and presented it to My Beloved for Christmas.  That was a few years ago now.  Lets just say he didn't find it quite as display-worthy as I did so it never found its way to being hung on the wall.

I was preparing to ditch the whole idea when I found the now long neglected thing during my massive (and still ongoing) clean out of the lower level of the house but when I told Darling Daughter she was appalled.  That was all the motivation I needed to reconsider the project.  Then I realized I could hang it in the Laundry Room where I could enjoy it and My Beloved could easily tolerate it since he doesn't visit there much.  The frame needed repainting and the shoes a more sturdy mounting than the little velcro bits that came with the frame were providing.  A few big globs of hot glue on each shoe and a lick of paint with the already wet brush from the bathroom window painting project and last night it finally made its way to its new home.

I love the idea that as different our ages and stages are now, at one time we were all just toddling babies - some just enjoyed better supported ankles than others ;)