When dear friends and family are grieving the loss of a loved one, sometimes cards and gift baskets just can’t express your deepest feelings. Below are some unique and heartfelt offer suggestions that can bring a silver lining to the dullest of days.

Commemorative jewelry: jewelry that carries a memory

Create a fashionable second use for any memento, photograph, or keepsake by turning it into memorial jewelry. You can carry your loved one close to your heart always with a necklace made of fired glass and ash. Or transform that faded image in her wallet into a distinctive work of art with a keepsake photo pendant. These pieces make delightful and affordable gifts that honor cherished memories while adding an elegant or original keepsake to your jewelry collection.

Photo Keepsake Charm Bracelet: Jewelry Carrying Memories

The charming charm bracelet – the most popular and traditional option that is suitable for any age and occasion. Adorn your wrist with a keepsake photo bracelet that will transform with you as you walk the journey of life. With this gift, you can keep your most precious moments and people close at hand in a portable ½” by ½” charm photo album. Unlike a zip drive or CD, this classic photo gift can become an heirloom to be cherished, tweaked, and passed down a family tree.

Memorial Textile Art: Artistic Quilts Reflect the Personality of a Loved One

Commemorative textile art is a stylistically versatile option for a commemorative gift. The variety of textures, colors, and materials can offer a multidimensional piece of art that tells a story and warms a room (literally and figuratively). Traditionally, tapestries were lined up as home decoration and insulation and woven to represent a story or myth, or as praise. Now artists can achieve the same goal by printing a photograph onto fabric to create a tribute piece for a loved one. Instead, they could create an abstract piece filled with colors and conceptual imagery that plays more with their subject’s personality or interests. A grandfather who loved to fish can be memorialized in a wall hanging filled with photos, great colors, and visuals that reflect his favorite pond. Textile artworks use a variety of textures and colored fabrics (made by machine or by hand) and often integrate embellishments such as jewelry, souvenirs, beads, feathers, seeds, etc. Gifting textile artwork gives the giver and artist the opportunity to explore a creative and impactful way to pay homage to their subject matter.

Memorial Paintings: Commemorate a Favorite Place or Loved One with Art

That secret swimming hole where you spent your summers; the cafe in Italy where she proposed to him; The family in their cabin in the woods: When a special person or sacred place is depicted in your home, painting helps bring that sense of serenity from your heart into your home.

A memorial portrait has a similar result: housing a painting of your loved one often brings comfort and light to a space where a shadow has fallen in their absence.

As with all of these personalized memorial gift ideas, consider the extra devotion and care artists invest in a gift uniquely designed for love and healing.