Anniversary Gift: part two

If you're up on your reading of this blog, you know that one of the gifts I gave to Brandon for our anniversary was the book of letters. I knew I wanted to keep up with the traditional first year anniversary gift of paper. The plan was to take a portion of our ceremony and creatively write it out and frame it. Luckily, my awesome dad (Hi Dad!) still had our wedding ceremony all typed up and was able to email it on over. I waffled back and forth between using a few different pieces from our ceremony, but finally decided on our vows.

So, off to Michaels I went to wander the aisles. I was probably there for over an hour. That place just inspires me and gets my creative juices flowin. I probably changed my mind no less than ten times trying to figure our exactly how I would execute my plan, but I finally came home with these supplies is hand:

A quality black pen, acid free paper (I got two pieces knowing I'd probably mess the first one up), a rustic wood frame, a tiny open metal frame (found among scrapbook supplies), some aqua stamp ink and some letter stamps (I actually already had those at home) from the dollar bin. Frame included, I got all of the supplies for less than $20, thanks to items being on sale and 40 % off coupons.

How great is this ivory paper? It has a little bit of a sheen to it and some great texture.

Even if you're not interested in writing out wedding vows, you could easily translate this project to write out a favorite poem, saying, bible verse or song lyrics.

I started by cutting the paper to the size of my frame. My frame happened to be 8x10. Then, I put the paper in the frame without the glass on it, flipped it over so the front side was showing and lightly traced around the edge so I would know where I needed my writing to stop and still be visible in the frame. Then, I positioned the metal frame where I wanted it on the paper and lightly traced around the edge.

Next, I got to it and started lightly writing in pencil. If you need to, use a straight edge as your guide for the lettering. Once you have the spacing right, trace over the pencil with the black marker. If any pencil marks are visible, you'll want to erase those.

For me, there isn't really an exact science to getting the spacing on the lettering right. I just kind of eyeball it. And honestly, sometimes I eyeball it wrong. As predicted with my two piece of paper purchase, I messed up the first time. And I didn't realize it looked wrong until AFTER I wrote in ink. Oh, well.

Once the writing was complete, I positioned the metal frame and secured it on with glue dots. Then, I used the alphabet stamps to stamp "love." You could really pick any word, just make sure it's short enough to fit. The stamping will NOT be perfect, but just go with it. It's that slight handmade imperfection that makes this piece so special.

Once you have everything right, but the frame back together, step back and admire your handiwork. You're done! So simple, but so cute.

Linking up to: Home Stories A to Z

A Book of Letters

Let me start at the beginning. I read a book in 2008 that pretty much changed my life. The book was called When God Writes Your Love Story. It made me see my romantic life in a whole new light and opened my eyes up to the reality that my future husband was out there somewhere. The choices I was making that very day were choices that would one day impact this man. As a tanginble way of reminding myself of that, I had an idea to start a journal- a series of letters to my future unknown husband. (That "unknown" part is kinda funny, because I already knew Brandon, I just had no idea he'd become my husband!)

BUT...being the procrastinator I can be, I didn't do it. Brandon and I started dating and I remembered that journal. I had a feeling that he was the ONE, so I started writing. I remember agonizing over picking out the perfect journal- a manly, sturdy one that would stand the test of time.

I started it in mid-2009. My entries were pretty frequent at first, but trickled off just a bit in the last 2 years. I really wished I had written more. My original intention was to give Brandon the journal on our wedding day, but I didn't because I didn't feel like I had written enough.

The funny thing is that this journal has been sitting on our bookshelf for the past year. I never tried to hide it, but he just never picked it up. In our first year of marriage, I certainly didn't write as much as I would have liked to. I felt kind of like a failure and considered scrapping the whole things (yeah...sometimes I can be a little "all or nothing"). But you know what? The words that were in there from more than two years ago were still meaningful despite the fact that I didn't keep it up like I had intended.

I'm sad I didn't write in it the night of our engagement or on our wedding day. I mean, how cool would it be to look back on the giddiness that were those two occassions? But then I started thinking about the future. We have so much ahead of us- buying our first house, having our first baby, and just the everyday goodness of life, and that stuff is certainly worth capturing!

I've been keeping random mementos and writing down details about our life- details our memories might soon lose. Sometimes you think "I'll always remember this", but the older I get, the more I realize how the small details can fade (you don't even want to know how many times I've had to ask Brandon what our first dance song was! I know, I'm really bad). I don't really get too fancy with decorating it. I simply glue or tape things in. I like the simplicity of the photos, miscellaneous scraps and handwritten words.


The plan is that I'll continue writing and will give the book to Brandon to read each anniversary.

Want to start your own book? Just do it! It doesn't matter if you're single, newlywed, married for 2 years or 22. They will love it. And you will too.

Linking up to: Home Stories A to Z