Birds of a feather...

During the first week Ian and I began dating we wrote a lot of emails.We worked opposite schedules and did not live right down the road from one another so emailing was really our only option as we eagerly awaited the weekend and our 2nd date. 

After we had been dating awhile I made sure to print out the emails so I could always remember how we started, but I didn't want to just toss them into a box only to be stumbled upon during random cleaning sprees.

I went through several different ideas trying to figure out something that would fit into our decor and not stick out like a shrine to our relationship. When others pass by they wouldn't even know what it was other than just some artwork on the wall -unless they read this post of course.

I came up with sort of a newsprint backdrop with two birds on a branch. The print is small, so small that you would have to really stop and look to read everything - I did this on purpose. I fiddled with the margins and font size in Microsoft Publisher for awhile until I was able to fit everything within the dimensions of the frame.
I also separated each email with the date and "he said or "she said' in bold print to show the progression and length of our emails during that week. We immediately felt so comfortable sharing so many details about ourselves and our lives with one another. Ian told me all about the job that he loved, his goals and how hard he worked to get where he was. I went on about my huge family and how important they all are to me -my mother is the oldest of eight...

After I printed everything out I mod podged the emails to the cardboard backing that came with the mat. Allowed it to dry overnight. I mixed some brown acrylic paint with acrylic medium to thin it out and make a glaze. I then lightly brushed the glaze over the print to give it a slightly aged look.
I hand-painted the birds over the background. Again, it is not the specifics of the emails that I wanted to concentrate on. The actual emails are behind the frame so I can pull them out whenever I want to read through them.
It is more about the significance and impact these early words were going to have on our lives. I see this picture everyday and remember how we began. The excitement I felt when I saw his name in my inbox. I remember telling one of my girlfriends as I received an alert on my phone, "this one is different", and he surely is. It is also helpful to pass by this picture when he is being especially different and I need the pleasant reminder :-)