Saturday 24 August 2013

A paper anniversary

My daughter and son-in-law recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary. It is incredible how quickly that year has flown by. I shared many posts with you during the pre wedding build up last year of all  the jewellery I created, the card etc. I had lots of "bit and pieces" of memorabilia from both the build up to and the actual wedding day. I had a whole bag full and was not sure what to do with it until one day another of those light bulb moments occurred in my little brain. I would put them all together in an album. I decided to create a "Smash"album which I could give to them as a present for their  first wedding anniversary as that is traditionally a "paper" anniversary.

For those of you not in the know a Smash album is a sort of scrap book but with the advantage that the pages inside are all  themed. The idea is to "Smash" in everything and add to it as you go along.I bought the Wedding version and ordered some copies of the photos I took at the wedding so that I could create a memory album that could be treasured and perhaps even shown to their children one day.



It took me a long time to work out an order for the album and eventually I decided to start the album with photos of when they first met, their engagement, the buying of the dress, the hen party  etc and I would end it with photos of the actual day, 28 July 2012. I used all the little bits and pieces I had kept; ribbons, receipts, menus etc etc.

I had a trial laying out of everything and then I stuck everything in. I cut lots of themed die cuts and I also added some text in my own handwriting as I thought that would make it very personal.


Here are just a few of the many pages I made;

This page is their engagement showing the cake I made and the silver pendant.  I had kept a piece of the ribbon from the cake so I added that.


 This is the wedding jewellery I made for my girlie, her bridesmaids and me.

The dress fitting and the receipts .
Our fun cheesecake testing day and hair practice in the May, on a very hot sunny day.
Their wedding card; I had kept some of the embellishments which I stuck in around the photos

The day before the wedding when we had the day together, just Mum and Daughter in a beautiful hotel in Midhurst, near to the wedding venue. This was the morning of the wedding.
The moment she arrived....a moment that still makes my eyes prickle ;0)


and joyful celebrations for the newly weds


I had kept the ribbon and the pins from her beautiful bouquet as she gave me her flowers. I carefully fixed them in place in the album.


I also decided that I would make some special wrapping paper and a tag to present it in. My daughter adores strawberries so this was the theme, as was their strawberry anniversary card which I have shown you all previously. I hand stamped the paper.  Brown paper is always the perfect medium for this and gives a really great hand made effect. I use it a lot for wrapping very special parcels and the hand stamped images made it really one of a kind. It is also so much cheaper than gift wrap....a £1 roll wraps many many pressies.








I also made a little strawberry gift tag to match and my made with love 1st anniversary present was complete.









and here it is all wrapped up. My daughter and son-in-law absolutely loved it and I got such a sweet teary text from my girlie on the morning of her wedding anniversary...it went down a treat and is much loved ;0)

I would like to enter my tag (and even my smash book and wrapping paper if they qualify ;0) into the following challenges;

Crafting for all Seasons tags
Whimsy Clean and simple
Papertake weekly flower power
Emma's Cards floral
Rhedd and Rosie use red
Divas by design use some twine
Pile it On No designer paper
Papercrafting Journey anything goes
Make it Monday Linky party
Heck of a challenge summer holidays
A little bit crafty summer sun

It is the bank holiday weekend here in the UK, the last one before Christmas no less (123 days to go). Enjoy it and I hope you get some crafting time as well as time to relax. We finally got a real soaking of rain this morning to water my very parched lawn.  We are planning some quiet time at home but on Tuesday I am off to a card class run by my blogging friend Brenda Brown in Hampshire. I am hoping to learn some more about distress inks, which she is the Queen of. As it is near to my daughter (76 days until our grandbaby is due ;0) I shall be carrying on afterwards to visit her and my son-in-law. My Hb is taking the train down after work and we will enjoy an evening meal with them both before driving home. I also have Wednesday off work for our monthly ladies' lunch/mother and daughter day which I am really looking forward to, a real double day bonus in my eyes. Take care everyone and thanks as always for visiting me here and reading my Journal.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x








27 comments:

  1. A gorgeous and very thoughtful gift Jane. I'm sure it will be treasured! X

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  2. This is a beautiful and so very thoughtful keepsake for your daughter Jane and I'm sure it will be treasured.

    Have a good weekend and enjoy your class with Brenda.

    B x

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  3. Jane, what an amazing gift for your daughter and son-in-law on their 1st Anniversary, gorgeous, thank you for sharing with us, and the delicious gift paper, we are so happy to have you at Emma's Crafty Challenge this month, good luck hun xxx

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  4. Jane, you are the best mother ever! What an absolutely perfect gift! I've been "with" you all through this journey and am very excited about the next joyous occasion! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  5. Loving the gift paper and matching Tag...strawberries,very seasonal too.

    Thank you for entering our challenge over at Rhedd & Rosies.

    Hugs
    Sandie x (owner & head Dt)

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  6. Dear Jane,

    I'm reaching for a tissue here too *sniff* how wonderful gift for Milly&Tom's First Anniversary! Absolutely precious book wrapped to special strawberry paper. You're a genius!

    I wish you the most wonderful LOOOONG weekend (it'll be until Thursday, right?) with all wonderful things to come! Enjoy!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  7. Just beautiful Jane, what a lovely keepsake and just perfect for a 1st wedding anniversary ! A year disappears in a flash now, doesn't it.
    The wrapping paper and little gift card are so sweet. :)
    I am quite sure it will be treasured for years to come!
    Enjoy your very looonng weekend my friend!
    V xxx

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  8. Hi Jane! That's so perfect, beautiful and sweet present! Have a wonderful time with your daughter! x Teje

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  9. What a wonderful scrap book Jane full of the treasures that happy memories are made of. I am sure this will be a firm family favourite for many years to come. My granddaughters love looking through the albums I have made of them when they were babies, so you will have that to do next lol. Looking forward to meeting you on Tuesday.
    hugs {brenda} x0x

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  10. Thank you for joining in Emma's Crafty Challenge, good luck

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  11. What a lovely idea. The smash album is SMASHING!

    Hugs
    Sarn xxx

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  12. always so much to look at and read on your posts thank you and love your makes too of course
    hugs Kate xx

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  13. What gorgeous wrapping paper and tag. Thank you so much for sharing your lovely creation with us at Paper Crafting Journey.

    Hugs
    Cathy DT
    xxxxx

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  14. Fab wrapping paper and matching tag! Thank you for sharing with us at Rhedd and Rosie's good luck Hun, Zoe DT xx

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  15. Happy 1st Anniversary to Milly & Tom!
    It's hard to believe a whole year has passed by, isn't it Jane? Such a truly wonderful gift and one to be treasured always...(I also love your strawberry gift tag!)
    Happy Sunday!
    Susan x

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  16. What a fabulous gift! It's lovely! Thanks for joining in the fun at Rhedd & Rosies challenge.
    Hugs
    Fiona x

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  17. This is a fabulous gift, such a wonderful keepsake.
    Thank you for joining us at Crafting for all Seasons.
    Pauline
    x

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  18. Hi Jane,
    I'm always amazed at your energy and creativity! What a beautiful keepsake for your daughter!

    My Emily is leaving for her first year of college this week, so maybe the empty nest will allow for more time to work on set-aside projects.

    Have a great week, and enjoy your mother/daughter time!

    Jane T

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  19. A wonderful gift for a first wedding anniversary, Jane, and so beautifully put together with all the things you have collected. I'm sure your dear daughter and son in law will always treasure it. I hope you're having a wonderful bank holiday and enjoying the last days of summer sunshine.
    Helen x

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  20. What a beautiful gift! They'll be able to keep that forever and show it to their children. I'll look forward to seeing what you do for your grandbabies :)

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  21. Those strawberry tags are adorable.

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  22. Such a beautiful & thoughtful gift!
    Love your wrapping paper & tag...I wrap everything in parcel paper too!
    Thanks for playing at Pile It On!
    Helen x

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  23. BEAUTIFUL gift , tag and wrapping! LOVE the photo of the jewelry you made, what a WONDERFUL keepsake for everyone!
    Thank You for joining us last week at PIO! Have a GREAT day!

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  24. Awww Jane, I absolutely love what you've created here with the Smash Journal! Your DD is so lucky you made this incredible keepsake ;-)

    I took a small Smash Journal with me to Nova Scotia and soon realized it was just way too tiny for any memorabilia to fit in...

    Thank You~

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  25. Thanks for joining us this month at a HOAC.
    Chris x

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  26. You have made some lovely projects. Thank you for joining us at Crafting for all Seasons. xx Bianca

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  27. What a beautiful and thoughtful gift - you are so clever, I bet they loved it. I can't remember if I wrote this on your anniversary post comment, but me and M just celebrated 10 years.....only as always we forgot and didn't actually celebrate....I did wrap a 'tin' in a red ribbon (as a joke) but we are so rubbish. I did used to do cards etc, but never got anything back so gave up years ago, M is not really the card giving type and I'm OK with that.....*sob* ;) Bethx

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Jane x