Displaying Alex's Mic-O-Say Beads

My opinion on collectables/sentimental items is that you should either display them or they don't really mean that much to you so you should get rid of them.  And if you are going to bother to display them, you should do so in a nice way that will preserve them.  Boy Scouts was a big part of Alex's life when he was younger.   In the Kansas City area, there is a unique aspect to Boy Scouts called Mic-O-Say.  Once you become part of Mic-O-Say, you get to wear beads and claws around your neck.  The different beads symbolize different things as do the different colors of paint on the claws.  Alex was so involved in Boy Scouts for so long that he has a whole bunch of sets of beads.  Since it was such an important part of his life, I wanted to be able to display them, so I did.

I got a shadow box from Michael's and put batting and fabric on the back.  Then I used fishing line to sew each set onto the fabric.  It's not perfect, but it's much nicer than having them hang on a bulletin board in our bedroom.