When I graduated from my master’s program, my parents purchased a beautiful frame for my diploma. I couldn’t believe that they would fork over close to $200 for something like that, but I had to admit, it did look rather fetching, and I was very proud to hang it up in my office.
In fact, shortly after beginning my professional career, I decided to make the investment in getting my bachelor’s degree framed, as well. Since I already had experienced what a positive feeling I had when I saw all my hard work beautifully framed, and since I worked for twice as many years to get my bachelor’s as my master’s, I decided it needed some recognition, too. I never regretted spending the money on the diploma frame.
A handful of months later, I asked Tim if he wanted his bachelor’s degree frame. He said he was completely uninterested. No big deal to me; I dropped it.
Then, in 2007, he earned his master’s degree in city planning and was employed as a planner. He had an office and everything. It was time to let his degree shine! I brought up the issue again, and once again, he shot it down. He just didn’t want to spend the money, plain and simple.
I decided not to drop the issue this time, and put on my “frugal gal” thinking cap and came up with a plan. You see, that same year, he earned the student of the year award in his department. He received a framed certificate. The certificate was the same size as his diploma. I decided I could just switch out the two certificates and then he’d have a free framed diploma! When something is free, you can easily overlook the fact that the matting is a horrid burt sienna color, right? RIGHT!!
So my DIY version of a framed diploma worked for about 3 days, and then the diploma itself started to move around inside the frame. I kept telling myself that I needed to take it off the wall and fix it. And fix it, I would! Someday…
Someday turned into 3 years, and for 3 years, Tim’s diploma sat in a very ugly frame, CROOKED. It looked absolutely terrible, and never even got hung up!
Then, a few months ago, it was time for us to move. I put it on the bed to wrap it up, and left it there for a few days, during which time our rather large cat decided it was the perfect place to sleep. She totally broke the frame with the weight of her body!
So now Tim’s diploma was ugly, crooked AND broken. What a tribute to all his hard work and to the degree that helps him provide for our family!
I decided enough was enough, and started my research on the best company for quality diploma frames. Church Hill Classics (also known as diplomaframe.com) had a spectacular selection, as well as a reputation for excellent customer service. Furthermore, this company offered several different choices for what a diploma frame for University of Memphis (Tim’s alma mater for his master’s degree) could look like. I believe we had 11 choices! I was extremely impressed with the options.
On top of all the frame selections, you can also customize the mouldings and mattings to get exactly the look you want. I think this is just fantastic, and is a far cry from Tim’s DIY frame that quickly went from thrifty and smart to ridiculously bad.
Tim selected the silver engraved medallion frame, and it has the emblem of the school at the top, along with the University of Memphis embossed along the bottom of the mat. The wood frame has a deep, rich color. It’s really quite spectacular. Check it out!
Do you have a high school or college degree that has never been framed, or that is framed but honestly looks really bad? It’s NEVER too late to put all your hard work proudly on display! Church Hill Classics can help you show off your diploma in style, whether you are graduating next year or gradated 20 years ago! Once Tim saw his diploma in this beautiful frame, he had to admit that it looked great, and he said that he wished he had done it a long time ago. Learn from our follies and get your degree framed properly!
I also want to point out that Church Hill Classics has a scholarship contest that will be launching in the fall, the “Frame My Future” Scholarship Contest, and they will be giving away $6,000 to 5 lucky winners! Details on the scholarship can be found at http://www.framemyfuture.com. To sign up to receive notification of when the giveaway will begin, click here. This is a really fun way to help pay for your education, so don’t miss out on the chance!
Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a diploma frame OF YOUR CHOICE!!!!!
Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary frame for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.