I'm not really the sentimental type but I do struggle with throwing some things away that I think either of our daughters might want to see later in life. Because of this I have had a bunch of greetings cards that were sent to us after Evelyn's birth sat in a box on top of her wardrobe where they have been for the last 27 months.
My logical-"minimalist"-self can't quite understand why I kept them but never the less they've been there just waiting for something. Then, a week ago I started taking down the cards we were sent for Rosanna's birth & I felt a bit deflated at the prospect of hording these in a box for the next 20+ years too. So I decided that instead of keeping them in their organic form I would get crafty & create something that we can all look at every day if we wanted to.
I can't claim any of the creative genius behind this project as I saw something similar on Pinterest (you can follow me here), but I thought it would be nice to share what I did any way.
We were lucky enough to have the same amount of cards for each of the girls so I didn't have to worry about equality/jealousy/rivalry etc. later on so all I had to worry about was keeping them separate. From each card I wanted to keep a heart shape of some of the design to put into the frame. I used a punch that I bought from Hobbycraft so that each would be the same size/shape.
When I had punched out a heart I then cut the names of who sent the card out & stuck that to the back of the heart. This was easier said that done for some (due to lots of names, large writing etc.) but I muddled through & it was a step that I felt was really important because it kept each card piece personal.
Once all of the cards were punched I arranged them onto a piece of white paper & used blutack to secure them down. Obviously I couldn't stick them with anything more sturdy as that would negate the point of sticking the names to the back of the hearts but if you were to do this yourself & skipped the name step I would recommend glue.
Lastly I hid one final card (full, not punched) behind the paper & blutacked the white paper to the frame. Again, not a step that you have to take but I did it purely to keep the secret card hidden & it did mean that I got the alignment of the hearts exact.
I haven't found a place to hang the frames yet but I'm really happy with the results. This whole DIY has allowed me to be sentimental without having the impracticality of storing something that wont be looked at for years. I love it.
