Pet Memorial

It is still rough at our house without our Zack-man roaming around.  I am not going to get all sappy and make myself cry though.  I am trying my best to know that Zack had a great life, and I hope that he is happy wherever he is now.  I did, however, want to make some kind of memorial for him.  I wanted to have something in our house to honor him.

For Zack, we opted for a group cremation with his remains spread on a farm here in Florida.  We did have the option of taking his remains home with us, but we were a little eerie on the idea.  I thought the farm was a nice alternative, so that’s where he is now.  We did decide to get a paw print mold made for us.  We used a great company, ironically named “Paw Prints“.  Everyone at Paw Prints was so helpful, and I am so grateful to have found a company with such amazing employees.

Here are the molds that we received…

Included with the paw print molds were a couple of nice notes and some other sympathy gifts.  The paper with the heart on it pictured below can actually be planted, and a tree will grow in its place.  I love that I have all of these little things to remember Zack by.

Since I wanted a memorial for Zack, I thought including one of these paw prints molds would be perfect.  I also wanted to include his dogs tags and a couple of my favorite photos of him.

I figured, the best way to put all of these things together would be in a shadow box.  I picked up the one below at Target.

Then, I printed some of my favorite photos of Zack.  Justin and I narrowed it down to two. We ended up going with the top middle two photos.  I just love his happy little face.

I popped the backing out of the shadow box and began organizing the photos, one of the paw print molds and Zack’s tag until I found an arrangement I liked…

I secured the photos with some pearl head pins.

For the tags and paw print mold, I used my hot glue gun.  I figured it was an adhesive that is easily peeled off, that way it wont be a permanent placement if I want to change things up.

Here is the finished product…

We hung the shadow box in our bedroom, so I get to see it first thing, every morning.

I’m unsure if it will live here forever. I think it may be a bit small for this wall.

The last thing I wanted to share is a gift from my sister, Jessica.  I received this bracelet in the mail from her recently…

I swear sisters have some unspoken connection.  The week I received this, I had been scouring Etsy for a piece of jewelry that I could remember Zack by.  This is exactly what I was looking for.

The inside says “You smiled with your eyes, laughed with your tail and loved with your heart”.

I love it so much.  I wear it everyday.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you all get to experience having an amazing pet like Zack.  If you want to read more about his life click here.