Guest Post :: Jessica's Favorite

Please welcome Jessica from Running With Scissors to Narrating Life today. This girl is a whirlwind of creativity. Every time I turn around she's posting another finished project on her blog. I'm happy she's here to share a great gift idea with all of you!

I'm Jessica from Running With Scissors, and I have a gift idea that is affordable, meaningful, and meant to please the family member that is hard to shop for.

This gift was inspired initially for my own mother-in-law, who is always the person I have the most difficulty shopping for. Of everything I've given to my mother-in-law either purchased or handmade, this has been the best. All it takes is gathering wedding photos from the family and framing them together.

Below is my favorite wedding photo:

Lilac and Earl Holman, my mother-in-law's parents. They were married in October 1929 a week before the stock-market crash--the beginning of The Great Depression. I love her flapper wedding gown, and she kept the bouquet and wedding shoes all her life.

A simple photograph can be such a meaningful gift.

So to get it all together:

1. Collect photos

For me this was the greatest challenge, as my husbands grandparents have all passed away and I had to get some photos from aunts.

2. Scan them on quality scanner

I didn't have one at home, so I went to a photo kiosk scanner and bought the images on the disk. I think I went to Walmart. There is also Kinkos for high quality scans.

3. Print your photos

I used http://www.winkflash.com/-- I like the fact you can choose the white border and matte finish.

My parents were married recent enough, their wedding photo was in color, so I was able to edit all the photos to be black and white.

4. Frame photos

For my mother-in-law, I just bought a simple frame that was already matted for three 8x10 photos.

For the black border on each photograph, I actually just used electric tape for a thin border, rather than paying for/ making another mat for each photo.

I arranged this gift to my in-laws with their wedding photo in the center, then on the right the bride's (my mother-in-law) parents wedding, and on the left the groom's (my father-in-law) parents wedding

Both my mother-in-law and father-in-law loved this, showing their own wedding and each of their parents. My husband's other siblings also wanted one for their homes, and I think a lot of the grandkids thought it was cool to see all the weddings in the family together.

If you have access to farm windows, which are becoming popular and therefore expensive, (I found mine on the side of the road on a junk pile in Missouri), it's another cool way to display the photos.

For myself, I did both sides of the family. The top row is my husband's parents and grandparents. The bottom row shows my parents and grandparents.

I repainted my window and attached the photos with black electrical tape from the back. You just have to scrape the tape to get any air bubbles out so it looks like a perfect black line and you can't even tell your photos are taped to the glass!

I hope this helps someone have an idea for their hard-to-shop-for family member!



Handmade Holiday 2010: A series about making it happen.