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Flower Shadow Box
Flower Shadow Box
Original photo by Sophia Amos
Style > Decor

College Decor Challenge: My Flower Shadow Box Success Story

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

Decorating your dorm or apartment in college can be a sore battle. It truly is stressful trying to come up with cheap options to decorate your space that are also cute. I found that making a lot of decorations myself can ease the hurt that my bank account tends to feel when I am moving into college. Yet, DIY projects are risky. I am sure we have all had those moments of wishful thinking, when we see a DIY project executed perfectly online and then going in on an attempt and receiving miserable results. I sure have been there too. In spite of this, I have a do-able decor project that has promising results! 

This past summer, I went flower picking with my significant other. It was so fun and we were able to make our own bouquet of flowers. They turned out beautiful and I was so happy with them. It made me so sad to see them start to curve downwards in the vase. I decided to save them, and they were placed on a paper towel, and unfortunately I am embarrassed to admit I stayed there for quite a while. I wasn’t quite sure what I would end up doing with them. I was thinking of pressing them, but the flowers were so thick and I found it difficult to make them flat. I ended up finding a shadow box at Michaels’ that worked amazingly. 

Flowers
Original photo by Sophia Amos

All I had to do was glue a background page onto the back of the shadow box. With the dried up flowers, I took some hot glue and carefully dabbed some dots on places that the flower would touch the paper. It is a little tricky with 3D objects, but just plan ahead the placement of the flowers so you can determine where to put the glue! After I glued them on, I simply let them dry for a couple hours and then I placed the front of the shadow box to the back attachment with the flowers. Honestly, I was worried the flowers would fall down. Yet it has successfully been hanging in my bedroom for three months! 

I was so pleasantly surprised by this project that I think I will make another one. It was hard to figure out how to accomplish my goal, yet after finding the correct materials, (which was the hard part) I was able to execute it, and have the cutest decor piece for my apartment. And it was less than $20!

Flower shadow box
Original photo by Sophia Amos
A second-year student studying Marketing with a minor in Graphic Design, from the suburbs outside of Philly. She is passionate about art and fashion, and loves spending time on campus drinking coffee, listening to music, and making memories with friends.