Dia De Los Muertos | Day of the Dead

When our dog, Lili, died I knew that I wanted to make an altar for her, I had kept it in the back of my mind and let it simmer there. Chris has found this old artillery box at a garage sale and at the time I told him it was a waste of money – since he didn’t know what he was going to do with it. While I was rummaging through the garage looking for a hammer, I saw the box and realized that it would make the perfect altar. I told Chris and he agreed – he still didn’t have any plans for it so I might as well use it.

I painted the inside of it orange and painted some small shelves red. Chris installed the shelves for me and then I added gold accents and hot glued some orange glass beeds to the inside the box.

Then I gathered her things together. I bought her a new food bowl and filled it with her favorite treats, I put her favorite toys and a candle. Chris found some weeds that reminded him of her tail so we put those on one of the shelves along with some pictures of her. I put a couple of marigold plants in the corner of the altar, Chris added a hook to the door so we could hang her leash and on the center shelf we the urn with her ashes.

I set it on our table and surrounded it with the condolence cards that came from friends and family. It is still up and running and I am trying to decide which wall to hang it on permanently. Even though we created it for her, I don’t think she will mind sharing it with our other family members when the time comes.