Love is a promise...

..., love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.

John Lennon

(1940-1980)

It's been quite sad around here for the past few weeks and as far as my brother's concerned, we aren't quite through the crisis yet. He's slightly more stable now though and being well taken care of and although he's not much better, he's also no worse, so we see that as reason to be optimistic. Thank you for all the caring wishes and positive thoughts. Please know that although I haven't been around here much, I am reading and taking to heart every kind word, passing them on to my family, and am so thankful for them. For you. 

I'm struck this weekend by how even in sad times there are so many reasons to be thankful and sometimes even to celebrate. A year ago I stood beside two of my sweetest friends as they declared their love for each other and we celebrated that declaration with a beautiful, traditional wedding party. I can hardly believe a year has passed already but it has, and today I congratulate them on their first anniversary with wishes of love and a traditional gift to mark the occasion - of paper.  Well, of mostly paper. 

I've long wanted to try making one of these little tag collections and this gave me an opportunity to do so. The tags are tiny, not much more than an inch high and I'd intended to do twelve but, in the end, nine worked better. On them I compiled a small collage of things from the wedding day, including a few picture transfers, pieces of paper embellishment from the table decor, pressed flowers from the bouquets, shells from the beach, snippets of ribbon and fabric and other bits and bobs. The photograph is not the greatest (a combination of rushing and bad lighting - sorry) but this is how it turned out. 

It's been good for me to have something so positive to focus my attention on this weekend and it gave me pleasure to recall the joy of the occasion and to lose myself for a couple of hours in something creative, to escape the gnawing anxiety of the past few weeks even briefly. It's hardly an artistic masterpiece and I don't anticipate it'll become a family heirloom but I'm hoping it will serve as a reminder to them, for a little while at least, of the happiness of the day and the happiness they are wished in all the days to come...

They're away right now enjoying a romantic weekend break so I'll be giving it to them tomorrow when we meet for an after-work glass of bubbly. I do hope they like it.  I'll let you know.

And I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are up to, you are having a relaxing and love-filled weekend too.

♥ K