Thursday, October 16, 2014

Vintage Sunglasses as Wall Art

As some of you know, my sisters and I lost our mother in April. When we were going through her things we found that she had taken the time to write little notes on items that held special meaning for her. In the bottom drawer of her dresser, I found two pair of vintage celluloid sunglasses in a baggie. The note on these said, "June 1946 - His & Hers Honeymoon Glasses".
How sweet is that? 


I knew that this memory was a little gift from Mom to us and that I didn't want to hide the glasses away in a drawer. So I found this shadow box frame at Michael's, lined it with vintage-looking scrapbooking paper, and framed them.



To give the shadow box a sense of place and to add a little color, I put an old postcard of Wells Beach, where Mom and Dad spent their honeymoon, in the frame, along with Mom's note . . . and hung it in a grouping in my living room. With a little creativity, I've found that you can hang almost anything on the wall as art. (In fact I'm currently working on cleaning up and hanging my grandfather's 100-year-old violin; but that's another post!)



Here are Mom and Dad on their wedding day in Bradford, Massachusetts, June 29, 1946. . .

And a couple more old postcard views of Wells Beach back in the 40's.
Don't you love the cars?


Although we grew up in Connecticut, our parents rented a cottage for our family vacation at Wells Beach every summer. Those days were some of the best of our lives and left each of us with such a love of Maine that all four of us eventually moved here.

 
Mom left us more than one gift when she tucked that little note away with the old sunglasses.  She left us a glimpse into her youth as well as a love of the ocean, and Maine, that will last each of us a lifetime.  And that's important enough to hang right out there on the living room wall!
 
 
 
This post is linked to:
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

8 comments:

  1. What a great find and you never knew about it? Makes me want to start writing some notes for my kids to find.

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  2. What a wonderful idea! I love the sentiment behind the sunglasses and the post cards. It really looks sweet in the shadow box.

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  3. Cheryl, this just made my night to read this post. How sweet and I love the sunglasses framed. I had a few tears in my eyes! I'm falling in love with shadow boxes and the wonderful memories you can keep in them. Thanks for sharing this.
    hugs,
    Linda

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  4. Beautifully said. You have such a gift for writing and decorating. Mom gave us more gifts than we often realized. Andi

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  5. I love this kind of art! I cherish things from my grandmothers and parents and have many of them displayed in my house. I even have the wooden cane used by my great grandfather in a grouping.

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  6. What a wonderful surprise your mother left for you! And you came up with a clever and cute way to display those fabulous old glasses. I love it!

    Vickie

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  7. This was such a sweet post. Thank you for sharing!
    Erica :)

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