Photography Art and Family Heirlooms

 "A View From Below" by Etsy Shop Grits and Daisies

 Maple on the Hill

Written by Esther Penn

In a quiet country village stood a maple on a hill

Coming up from a tiny seed of long ago

When the stars were shining brightly, we could hear the whippoorwill

As we sat beneath the Maple on the hill.

Don't forget me little darling when they lay me down to die

Just one little wish my darling that I crave

As you linger there in sadness will you think of

Let a tear drop kiss the flowers on my grave.

We will sing love songs together when the birds have gone to rest.

We will listen to the murmur of the wind.

Will you love me little darling as you did that starry night

When we sat beneath the maple on the hill.

I will soon be with the angels on that bright and happy shore

Even now I hear them coming o'er the hill.

Don't you cry my little darling, it is time for us to part

I must leave you and the maple on the hill. 

 

One day while tidying up my mother-in-law Beverly's kitchen cabinets and going through some of her old things, I stumbled upon a recipe box full of old handwritten recipe cards by her dear late mother Esther, and among them I discovered this old poem that she had written on a typewriter long ago when she was a young lady. It was called "Maple on the Hill" (as shown above). Once I read it, I was moved by its beauty and imagery that it placed inside my mind...Esther was a talented poet with a romantic heart. I showed the poem to Beverly and she remember it; she said that her mother had written the poem before she was born.

  

 "Summer's Last Flame" by Etsy Shop Hans Reich Studios

This Mother's Day, I wanted to put together something special and sentimental for Beverly, something that I knew she would cherish and would honor her dear mother, who passed away a few years ago. As a daughter-in-law, I am so blessed to have met Esther. She was a loving woman full of warmth and adoration for her family; she always wanted everyone to be comfortable and happy. She lived well into her 90s and was full of life...she certainly aged gracefully with her beloved family by her side. 

I knew that I wanted to do something with Esther's "Maple on the Hill" poem. When I read it, I picture Esther with her loving husband Joe sitting under a maple tree and treasuring tender moments together. My husband Joe (Esther's grandson) was named after his grandfather and just like Esther called her husband, I call mine "darling" too. I decided to search for a maple tree photo that would be perfect for framing with this original poem of Esther's and I found two (pictured above) from Etsy Shops "Grits and Daisies" and "Hans Reich Studios". I purchased both of them and framed them in two old picture frames that I found. I kept one for my husband and I to cherish and printed out a copy of Esther's poem for our frame. The other one I included Esther's original typewriter written poem and wrapped it for Beverly's Mother's Day gift.

 

Since I did not have these images matted or framed by a professional, and being the crafty novice that I am, I decided to improvise and work with what I had. As you all may already be aware by my Etsy shop "Eco-Friendly Freckles", I love recycling and upcycling! So one day while enjoying one of my favorite cups of Dreaming Cow Yogurt, I noticed that the "maple ginger" yogurt cup paper wrapper had a cute image of a maple tree leaf branch! I thought, "This is perfect for my picture frame project!", which led me to eat and enjoy several more yogurts and save the paper wrappers so I could upcycle them by cutting out the maple leaf images and using them as border stickers for framing the poems and pictures. By the way, I also love these Dreaming Cow Yogurt cups because the wrappers are paper, they can easily be removed, and underneath you are left with a beautiful plain white yogurt cup that you can upcycle into a cute party favor cup! We made some of these for my sister Andrea's baby shower! It is nice to have a plain white cup ready to use because you don't have to worry about painting over a printed on label since this label can easily be removed!

 

In my order package from Etsy shop Grits and Daisies, I received this beautiful original photography greeting card as a special gift that came with my maple tree photo. This just happens to be one of Beverly's favorite flowers and color shade...blue hydrangeas! So I wanted to include this in her Mother's Day gift as well...because this photo is gorgeous!

 

 "Feeling Blue" Photography Greeting Cards by Grits and Daisies

Beverly recently got married and I was blessed to be her maid of honor...in my bridesmaid bouquet were blue hydrangeas! You can view more pictures from Beverly's wedding day along with the handmade wedding cake recipe here in my blog article "The Whimsical Wedding and the Creative Cake".

 

...And thus, I framed this original photography greeting card in a similar way with an old picture frame that I found and I used a blue textured card stock matte that I embellished with blue hydrangea scrapbooking stickers. Beverly loved her gift, it brought tears of joy to her eyes and a smile to her face...and touched my heart as well. My husband, Joe, and I also gave her a bouquet of fresh cut blue hydrangea flowers for Mother's Day...it was that perfect "extra touch"! ;-)

 I want to send out a special "thank you"...I could not have made these nostalgic, family heirloom gifts if it weren't for two awesomely talented photographers with two very different and breathtaking maple tree photos! Thank you Hans Reich Studios and Grits and Daisies for making this dream come true possible! The warm tones in their maple tree photos beautifully complement the sepia tones in our beloved old family photograph of Esther. I highly recommend all of my readers to check out these two photography Etsy shops!

Please also check out my mother-in-law Beverly's darling Etsy shop "Maddie's Trinkets and Bobbles" filled with her one-of-a-kind crocheted treasures!