DIY Souvenirs from Italy

We recently went on a Mediterranean cruise and got to visit a few places in Italy. We also visited Spain, a small territory of Great Britain, and even France. But, there was this tiny place in Italy that was my very very favorite. Instead of buying knick-knacks while we were there, I decided to do something a little more meaningful to remember our day. In addition to taking lots of pictures and eating as much food as I possibly could in that small town of Cinque Terre, I made a some DIY souvenirs from Italy with the belongings that were already in my possession! These shadowbox frames look cute in our house and, best of all, they are more valuable to me than a t-shirt or something from a regular souvenir store. Show your kids how to do this and let them decide what kind of souvenir they will make for themselves after your amazing trip!

On our Princess Cruise through the Mediterranean Sea, our stop in Cinque Terre was my most favorite. The cliffside ocean town filled with colorful buildings teetering on the hills and vineyards that were magnificently growing in wildly steep terrains made for a stunning sight!

My husband, Mr. Smart School House, and I got an entire day in Cinque Terre. We walked, ate, …. then walked and ate some more. The pizza was fantastic because it had their famous pesto on it. Even though I was full, I just couldn’t stop eating the wonderful food! The beaches were incredible and the waters were a shade of blue that I’ve never seen before. Sure, I could have bought various things from the vacation, but after visiting several cities in Italy, the typical souvenirs were all starting to look the same.

My husband and I decided to bring our kids home something a little more unique. By the end of our day in Cinque Terre, we went back to our ship with the souvenirs already in our pockets. We decided to frame the Euros that we walked around with that day! While it isn’t a lot of money, it is special to us, and maybe one day we can take our kids back there and spend the Euros doing something fun together. This DIY souvenir sure does make us look forward to going back, that’s for sure!

For this DIY souvenir from Italy, you will need a shadow box, some push pins, and hot glue.

Our goal is to use the money again someday in Europe, so we pinned the paper money into the frame and hot glued the coins. The hot glue will peel right off of the coins when they’re ready to be used again!

Since we decided not to worry about shopping for knick-knacks, we got to enjoy our time together, being present, and taking in every ounce of this beautiful town.

Wouldn’t you want to go back here too? We’ve already started saving our money (ha!).

Here are some of the places we visited on our Royal Princess cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. Our kids put a push pin in each town we visited while we were away. Notice that I used the same push pins that my kids used in this map in the DIY shadow boxes (I love coordinating neat things like that!).

To learn more about this wonderful cruise, visit Princess Cruises HERE.

Enjoy your trip to Cinque Terre! Have a slice (or 4) of pizza for me:)

To see some of my other DIY inspirations from our cruise, check out:

DIY Lavender Laundry Sponges

DIY Chocolate Face Mask

And here’s another one for the kids-

DIY Stained Glass Art (inspired by our time in Gibraltar!)