looking for poster board memorial idea's

I need to get a posterboard collage type project done by sat for my fil's funeral. If that isn't daunting,heartbreaking, hard enough... there are family dynamics involved. I have been searching through every disk and photo I have for three days pulling out every one I have found of him smiling, I want the photo's used to be happy ones kinda like his last farewell.most of the photo's I have are with my kids, I have found very few with other family members or of him by himself. I find that I just want to do anything else right now, sleep would be good. You can't help with the pic's they are what they are. I'm asking for any idea's on how to put it all together. I have never done a collage, was thinking of tackleing it as a huge scrap page. using my oval circle cutters and matting the photo's like you'd get from a walmart package. I thought I could use my home accents cart swirls to decorate the edges? I want it to be clean but elegantly done. Anyone know any good sckethers for this size project? the poster frame is 24x36.

Sorry to hear of your loss. And you are right, those projects are extremely difficult and unfortunately I have had to do my fair share. Those that I have done, I resisted the "scrappy" urge and simply attached the photos to the poster with a few rubons and a poem or two. I have also done something similar but instead of using poster board, I just picked a couple of my favorite photos and used a photo colage frame (they are fairly in expensive). I just felt too overwhelmed and exhausted and wanted to keep the project as simple as possible. The result was still a touching tribute even without alot of scrapping.

This is a 24 x 36 poster frame "layout" I did of my dd and her boyfriend for his dorm room. You may be able to do something like this. There aren't a lot of embellishments or anything in it but they pictures are spaced out well enough that you can see them all.



If you wanna live the good life better put a girl in it updated. By J3Mel

this is the sketch I drew up to work off of when I put it together.


sketch for 24 x 36 poster frame layout By J3Mel

I'm truly sorry for your loss. I hope the pictures can help the whole family heal just a little.

Thanks so much for your sugestions both are very appreciated!love the sketch. My mother in law asked me to do it because she loves my work, but with the time i have I just don't know how I can pull it off in the style she'll expect. I have to meet with her later today for final approval of the pic's I chose. and hope the peom I found will be ok because i don't have time to search for another one. I was thinking of an off white cream paper and black as some pics are black and white and some are color.

I have faith that you will be able to make it work. The big poster I did took about an hour. Add some time in there for emotions and you should be able to come up with something appropriate.

:hugs:

If at all possible, see if your mother in law or another family member can also provide pics of him at various ages..starting out as a young boy, etc. I would keep the collage set up clean and simple (like the one above) and add some captions. Sorry for your loss.

Here is the one I did for My Dear Grandfather's Funeral ~ it is also in a frame and hangs on my wall at home

My Grandpa By Renee77

So sorry for your loss (((HUGS)))

This is one we did for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately we used it a few months later for my grandfather funeral as well.
memorial board By Traci L.S.

I'm so sorry for your loss. you and your family are in my thoughts today.

I helped my family do a collage for my Grandmother (MeeMom) and we went to Walmart and got the biggest multi photo mat and a poster frame to fit. Then, we did photo matting for pictures that didn't quite fit. It turned out really nice, and it was much faster, and didn't require a lot of thinking. No emplishments other than matting paper. And, it was framed, which was a nice touch.

I am so sorry to hear about your loss.

I have to tell you though that I have discovered that no matter how hard you try, someone is going to upset you! I worked so hard to make 3 photo collages for my mother-in-law's funeral AND had PowerPoint Pictures of her on a TV screen and my sister-in-law came up to me and said that a cousin was upset because she wasn't in any of the pictures! I wanted to run home (60 miles away) and try to find a picture (because I am such a people pleaser) but I had to let it roll off my back and realize I had done the best I could in a very short space of time, while I was greiving myself, and like you, wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep!

I have nothing helpful to add, unfortunately,,,,,but I wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss,,,,,,,I'm thinking of you,,,,,,,Holly

I did this for my father's funeral seven years ago and decided it was easier to tackle by making actual 12x12 pages. I ended up with six pages. I put them in page protectors and mounted the page protectors to the board. When all was said and done I added those pages to my book. It was just too hard to try to tackle that project on such a large scale - I found it much easier to do by choosing photos for a smaller layout. I used coordinating papers but each layout was a little different - photos with family, him enjoying the outdoors, travel, Navy, etc.

Your work is your expression of love for him and your family - don't focus on who won't be happy or the family dynamics. Focus on your thoughts and prayers for him and the healing of your family instead and let it stand at that. Death does weird things to family and magnifies all of those weird dynamics. You can't do anything about it. Just do what you will be happy with, that's what will really show and in the end, the way you feel about this project is the only thing you control.

My best to you and your family - I am so sorry for your loss.
Jackbuilt