3rd Anniversary Gift

So as many of you know November 3rd marks our anniversary of when Kristy and I got married over in New Orleans at the French Quarter Chapel.

With that in mind I decided to be a good husband and start giving gifts that along with the theme(s) associated with each year, this year it was leather.

Having just come back from our anniversary trip I had a picture of Kristy, our son Allen, and myself that I wanted to frame and put on the wall. BUT, I couldn’t just make a simple half-lap frame like I’ve been doing, no, I had to do something to push myself and go way outside of my comfort zone.

With all that in mind I set about making a simple half-lap picture frame. I then lopped off the corners to give it a unique shape that separates it from any other frame in the house. I followed that up by using my new router table and the roman bit to do the outer edges of the frame.

The inside was a bit trickier as I chose to use the angled bit then round it over slightly.

From there I cut down a piece of leather to fit inside of a rabbit I cut around the inside of the frame, slices out a centre portion then used spray adhesive to attach the leather over the picture thus incorporating the leather required for the 3rd anniversary theme.

The frame was rubbed down with Watco’s Natural Dane Oil to give it a nice look and make the small little knots stand out more. I liked how the frame turned out as I feel it really represents the little twists and turns our relationship takes and will take in the future… so no mistakes in my choice of wood, just happy little accidents.

After that I once again used the spray adhesive and stuck the leather and picture to a thing piece of plywood which was then all set into the rabbit and then nailed in place with some small brads. I gave the back a quick sanding and attached a small sawtooth to the backside.

On the front I put a small little trinket I picked up from Hobby Lobby some time back with a Fleur De Lis on a tiny notebook, I wrote a quick little heartfelt message and attached it to the top center of the frame and now I can write something new in there every year.

Overall this was a really intense project for me as it pushed me to think way outside of what I was used to and had it not been for a night of watching YouTube videos I don’t think it would have turned out half as nice as it did.

I still might go back and add some lace to the leather to give it more character as right now it doesn’t really say “leather”. But it’s the thought that counts and my wife likes it.

Courtesy of Hallmark, here is a complete list of the 60 Anniversary gifts and the theme(s) associated with each one ( the links will take you to the Hallmark site for a description of each theme and gift suggestions ):