My grandfather passed away after a 15 year battle with cancer. He went into remission for several years, but the cancer came back with a vengence and quickly spread to his lymph system and then his bones. He was a wonderful man and we were very close.


I need some advice, I am in charge of pictures for the funeral, which I am ok with. I was going to do one large picture, like a 16x20 and then a collage with several different photos for the funeral wake.

My question is this, how should I do the collage? The scrapbooker in me wants to get a large piece of foamcore and cover with a black piece of fabric (the 16x20 frame is black, so thats where I got the color from) kinda like a painter's canvas. I can attach everyones pictures with double sided tape (that way everyone can get their photos right back afterwards) and also attach things like a small American Flag (he was in the service) and a nice picture of a bald eagle (he collected eagles), etc.

Is that proper to do? Or is it overkill and I should buy one of those prematted frames and stick the pictures in there?

Any advice is much appreciated, I am just a little overwhelmed and I just know if I do this and its not right my aunts will have something to say about it. That day is going to be stressful enough without them crabbing at me cause the pictures look silly or stupid....

I'm so sorry about your Grandfather. The collage sounds like a wonderful tribute to him and it's very thoughtful of you to do it.

When my parents passed away we did a collage too. We purchased one of those standup poster boards (tri-fold), covered it in a solid fabric and then mounted the pic's on solid pieces of paper so they would stand out.

We just cut the paper a little larger then the size of the picture (sort of like a frame) and on the paper we were able to write a little explanation of what the picture was i.e. *1995 July 4th cookout*, *Deb & John's wedding* etc.

It really worked out well. I'm sure whatever you decide will be perfect.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.
Deb

I'm very sorry to hear about your grandfather. I think what you described sounds beautiful. I went to a funeral last year - father of 3 young boys - and the family had done something similar. The boys had helped choose the photos and had also put some of their drawings of their dad. (* Broke my heart then and still does now *)

Anyway, it will be a lovely and touching tribute - don't let any old biddies change your mind!

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather. Condolences to you and your family.

I think what you have in mind is a great tribute.

I like dkelly's idea about framing some of the pics. There are some really nice & beautiful scrapbook paper, maybe you could do that too.

sending you (((((hugs))))).

Thanks guys, I knew I could count on you for support.

I am just having a really difficult time with this. It seems like I cant do anything without reminding me of some memory associated with my grandpa.

I cooked hot dogs last night for dinner, because I was so exhausted from everything. I just couldnt stop crying all because of those stupid hotdogs.

To this day, I can't smell ham with out thinking about my Grandpa. He died in '91 from throat cancer.
He would cook these hugh dinners on Sunday when we would be at his house (me & my brother used to go for 2 wks in the summer cause my grandpa lived at our family "cottage"). Just smelling ham or brown beans would get me all choked up. And little silver dollar pancakes & banana splits with homemade strawberry jam........sniff sniff.....I miss him too!

You'll get thru it. I hope you have a good supportive family at home. You have one here at CC. (that sounds kinda cheesy, but its true)