Loving Memory Portraits

As Valentines approaches I am inclined to think of favorite love stories ... and of course my very favorite love story is that of my parents ... they met at a dance when she was 16 and he was 24, in the middle of the depression.  He had just decorated the hall for the dance, when she and a school mate snuck away from a night of studying to check out the local dance hall.  When my Dad and his friend saw the girls, my dad said "I'll want the one with the skinny ankles."  The rest of course, is history, family history, that is.

 

They didn't marry for another 3 years.  With money being tight they spent their first married years living with his parents, whom he supported...   Anyway, I thought it would be lovely to capture their love story in an unusual way ... these are the elements of the finiahed portraits shown above.  The larger frames have photo copies of a page each from a letter written from one to the other during WWII when they were separated for most of four years.  The pictures were of them as youth, both taken before they actually met.  The bracelet  was sent from my Dad to my Mom from Hawaii while he was stationed there.

 I made the name plaques using this graphic from Graphics Fairy.  I erased the interior (in paint) and saved it, then took it to word where I stretched it to the shape I wanted, before taking it back to Paint, where I added their names, as shown below.

 I wanted to use the charm bracelet, partly because I love charm bracelets, and partly because it makes me think of my Dad, lonely and missing his little family wandering around shops looking for something my Mom, a young pregnant mother with a two year old, would enjoy.

 

To assemble them, I glued the small frames,  with their pictures, to the glass of the large frames with E6000, then I set the small name plaques on tiny blocks to make them stand out and give them added dimension. I hammered tiny nails into the corners of the small frames before gluing them to the larger frames to hold the bracelet.

 

 I love how they turned out ... so fun to see their handwriting with their photos, and phases like "dear one",  and "my loved one"  and from my mother's letter, "I said, 'Do you love Daddy?' (to my 2 year old brother) He put his face down on the paper, so lovingly as if to say, 'I do love Daddy."  and even the mention by my mother of her "two lovely blisters" makes me smile.

Thanks for coming along and sharing my parents love story during this season of love ... 

My First Hang Tag!

Today for Thrifty Thursday I am going to share how you can increase the impact of your small, but sincere, gift.

 My friend Teri and I have birthdays within a week of each other, so we often celebrate together with our common friends, as we did today at Mimi's Cafe! The thrify part of this presentation was the recycled box and tissue paper, as well as the home made hang tag.

Selling antiques always puts you in a good spot when it comes to gifting.  I chose this pink reinvented necklace set from my store inventory.  Teri loves pink and is a huge fan of necklaces that come with matching earrings.  Voila' !  Wanting the presentation to be extra nice, I searched Graphics Fairy and printed off this sweet  little girl to serve as my jewelry card.

I put it in a nest of pink tissue paper then went in search of wrapping paper.  The box was small so I wanted a small print and came up with this sweet sprigged paper that happened to be scented!

A length of my favorite ribbon and some pink and white baker's twine and it was 'almost' ready.  I found this sweet little girl on Graphics Fairy as well and thought she would be the perfect greeter for my hang tag.  Antique lace, a lace edge punch, an old pink file label stamped with 'birthday joy' and the tag was complete.

I also wanted to share some handcrafted tags I found recently.  These great tags were made by a fellow flea.o.logy dealer, though I purchased them from her at the Beehive Bazaar.  Good Job Vicki!!

 In case you were wondering, lunch was delightful, and the food was good too.  I think we would have chatted all afternoon if not for the fact that Teri and Barb had to get back to work. 

So this is the official end of my birthday celebration.  It started on May 10th and lasted until today, May 22, so it was more of a birthday season than a birthday, and I loved it. Thanks to my dear family and friends who made it so enjoyable.