i used to do a lot of crafts and at some point made money out of wedding crafts like bonbonnieres, albums, and wishing wells, like this heart-shaped 'wishing well'. i made this from scratch and i until now, i do scratch my head how i was able to make this. i can't remember anymore what the materials were called, but a 'foamed' board about 1/4 of an inch thick and round sticks, i think they're called 'dowels'. i got a heart pattern from a michael's magazine and enlarged the pattern to about 2 feet x 3 feet x 8 inches. there's a slot at the top for the envelopes, and a little heart door at the back secured with ribbons and velcro, padded it then covered it with satin fabric and decorated the edges with satin cords. sometimes i incorporated miniature doves in the flower decorations but i mostly prefer to put a horse shoe charm for good luck.
i sold about five or six of this, but this particular baby, had been dressed so many times as i had it rented or lent it as part of a package. when a bride wanted one for her own, i personalized it with a cross stitch of the bride and groom's initials. this one had seen many weddings and been stuffed with thousands of envelopes and been refurbished and redecorated many times. i made a similar one for my niece's wedding in 2009 and they had to empty it four times because they got that many envelopes. that's a lot of envelopes!
that was a long time ago, in another lifetime it seems, in fact it was last century. if you ask me now to make one of this, i wouldn't know where to start, and i'd probably tell you to just buy one somewhere else.
Beautiful photo, summerfield. Awesome and stunning handwork that you have put into these wedding heart treasures. Priceless. You are a woman of many talents! Thank you for sharing your beautiful pieces of art.
This is beautiful. I know what you mean though, I used to sculpt with fimo and sculpt, I made a lot of figurines and jewelry, but stopped when I had 2 babies and now I don't think I could. Really the hand eye co-ordinatio ain't what it once was. Neither is the patience
you are more talented than you are leading us to believe!! Beautiful work!! (and I think we are crafting sisters! wow -- so similar to the same type of things I have done....!)
I think you'd probably remember if you had too. But sometimes our interests just move on to other things. I used to do all kinds of crafts but eventually settled on scrapbooking and now, I don't think I'd even want to do the other things now. I like writing and photography and would rather apply myself in those fields than spread myself out over a whole bunch of craft projects. This is really pretty even after all that wear and tear. Nice shot.
@olivetreeann - everyone in my family has some kind of artistic talents. we got it from our father, he was such a good painter and sculptor but being poor never made a career out of it, nor even developed it, but was useful in his jobs, at some point he dabbled in photography. all of my siblings can paint and draw very well, but me, my drawing skills are aaargh! and i think that's why my father was disappointed in me. but my mother said i just happen to have other artistic talent that is not in painting and when i started to write, she did encourage me. i think if she was given the chance she would have been a very good writer. she had told me a lot of stories. i've watched her tell stories to the neighbourhood children and sometimes they would come only for the stories and not for the tv. thank you, ann.
@karenann - thank you for the kind words, my friend.
@pandorasecho - the hand-eye coordination is still good, it's the brain that's not cooperating most times. hahaha! thank you, dixie.
@pamfromcalgary - thank you, pam. much appreciated.
@lonewolfman - thank you, mr. wolfman. much appreciated.
@steeler - there! that's my excuse. good one, howard. thank you.
@cscecil - you are so sweet, my friend. thank you.
@bkbinthecity - thank you, brian. much appreciated.