This past Friday my Granddad passed away.  His heart has been broken ever since Grandmom passed away 2 years ago, and he has wanted to be with her ever since.  Our family is happier knowing that he went peacefully with family at his side, and is reunited with his true love that he missed so much.

Back when we visited my aunt and uncle in Florida, my aunt Beth gave me a bunch of trophy plates from some of my Granddad’s golf trophies.  When he moved from their house to an apartment, my mom & aunt spent lots of time going through everything in the house and cleaning it out.  While all of the trophies didn’t make the move, they removed the trophy plates to keep the memories, just like I did back in 2014 with my soccer trophies for my sports display projects.  This was the perfect time to do something with them and honor him.

Framed Trophy Plates, pt. 2

What you’ll need:

• 16″x20″ frame
• 8″x10″ frame mat
• 8″x10″ photo
• Trophy plates
• Windex
• Glue
• Cricut Explore Air
• Black vinyl
• Transfer paper
• 1 felt pad

All of the trophy plates were from various golf tournaments & trips my Granddad participated in, so I decided I wanted to put a picture of my Granddad playing golf in the middle, and the trophy plates around.

When mom came in town for SEWE she brought the cutest picture of Granddad playing golf to use.  I had the photo blown up to be 8″x10″, we found a mat for an 8″x10″ photo with plenty of room for the trophy plates around it and then a 16″x20″ frame for the mat at Hobby Lobby.

First, I needed to get the trophy plates in shape.  We used a rubber mallet on a piece of wood to flatten some of the plates that were bent.  Hunter put a hard back book on top of the trophy plate when using the rubber mallet for some to help remove the wrinkles on the softer plates.When the plates were mostly flat, I used Windex and a paper towel to clean them all off.  One was even from 1971 (and needed a nice polish)!  Then I placed the picture on top of the mat and arranged the plates around the photo to figure out the layout.  I left some room at the top & bottom to add his name and a quote.To make sure I was accounting for the frame overlapping the mat, I took the glass out of the frame, taped the picture to the mat, and put it in the frame.  Then I arranged the plates back on the mat where I wanted, and glued them down in place.It’s no secret I have terrible handwriting, so I was definitely using my Cricut to cut out letters on vinyl instead of trying to write the name and quote myself – for everyone’s sake.

I found a quote by Arnold Palmer that embodied Granddad: “Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.” I mocked up the quote and his name in Design Space, cut everything on some black vinyl, then weeded it.Then I put the transfer paper on top of the quote / name, pulled away the backing, and applied the letters to the frame mat.Because the trophy plates are thicker and I didn’t want the glass right on top of them, I decided to use a felt pad to help.  I cut the pad into several smaller pieces and added 6 to the edge of the mat so the glass would sit on them and leave a lil space to protect the plates.I put the glass back in the frame, added the mat (with everything on it) and was done!

We lay Granddad to rest this week and his golf frame will be at the reception afterwards.  Life won’t be the same without him, but I know the Jack & Nancy show is going strong in heaven 🙂