Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary

Last month was Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. It seems like I did this project forever ago, and can't believe it took me so long to post it...

I wanted to do something fun for their anniversary gift, since they've been a bit run-down with my Dad's cancer treatments. I knew I couldn't visit them until after Christmas, so thought I'd send sort of an "anniversary care package" filled with gold & wedding-ish things.

First, the card...didn't turn out like I wanted, and looks kind of like a typical card after all that work. I did make it as big as I could, so the finished size is 5.75" x 8.5". Construction is pretty straight-forward. The ivory paper is actually a pearlized paper that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and it has a cute shimmer to it.

Sorry about the photo: I finished this project up late at night and had to get it out in the mail the next day, so I couldn't get a great picture...


Next, Anastasia and I made a little remembrance gift: For the last 18 months, this quote from C.S. Lewis has been floating thru my head. Ever since Dad got sick again, I realized how absolutely precious each event with someone is. A few months ago, my dad said that he didn't want a big anniversary celebration because "fifty years is pretty commonplace, and not really a big deal." HA! It is a big deal to me, and wanted him to see what 50 years is, and each year's anniversary is the sum of the previous ones.

So we made this jar full of 50 wedding rings. On each ring is a tag with a year written on it (by Anastasia). Then a label on the outside. Really simple project. The hardest part was finding a jar that looked acceptable. After shopping all afternoon for one, I told Anastasia that it was a dumb idea, and we should forget it. She said, "No, let's get the heart bottle because anniversaries are about love." How cool is it to have your 12 year old daughter help you out like that?
Here's a close-up of the inside, because I can see Anastasia's cute printing of all the 50 years:
I wanted Mom to get giddy, like a new bride might be, so I made her a bouquet. I know it's not like her actual wedding bouquet, but I'm not too talented in the flower arranging department, so this is it. White roses, white tulle, and gold ribbon.
I also put some silly stuff in the care package: Anastasia and I found two old 50th anniversary plates at a thrift store, so I thought those would be fun. Then I got a 50th wedding cake topper and adhered it to a revolving/lighted base (from Michael's, with a coupon on 2 separate weeks, oh yeah). My parents are both diabetic, so I didn't want to send a cake, but at least they could have the fun topper!

All these were wrapped pretty, and put in a box that I had lined with a few yards of shiny gold fabric. I made a bunch of tulle bows (like the kind you would put on the ends of aisles in the church for the wedding) to fluff up the box. I threw in a few handfuls of Bride's ivory flower confetti, then carefully covered it all with the remaining fabric. I just wanted it to be an outburst of sparkly wishes when they opened the package. Before I sealed the box, I printed out "Happy Anniversary" in Chopin Script on ivory cardstock in the largest sized font on my computer, and put this on top of all fabric."This moment contains all moments." I still get teary-eyed when I read that. From 18 months ago, when they said he wouldn't live 6 more months, to now, when he and his bride celebrated 50 years together...December 13, 2008 contains those moments, and so many more...it is a big deal; a HUGE deal.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!