Elder Daughter had asked me if I would be willing to accept the project of a wedding garter, which I willingly did. The request only came a few weeks before the wedding and once I had established that it needn’t be a thoroughly traditional garter I began putting together some ideas and trawling potential bits and pieces that might be included. I wanted it to reflect things about her as well as about me, and in particular I wanted to recycle resources I already had – the only things I had to buy were the two buttons and the two lockets. The finished garter used lace, ribbon and elastic from a mixed auction box, ribbons cut from garment hangers, fabric from early clothes I made for ED, hair from her first haircut, cupcake and Hello Kitty buttons, lockets with mini photos, feather from our chickens, rose quartz and peridot beads, and painted and decoupage flowers. I used pinking shears (hint – DON’T try shredding tissue paper with a shredder or paper trimmer!!) to cut tissue paper and line a plain box designed for decoupage.
It wasn’t until I began to assemble all the relevant pieces that I had any real idea of what it was going to look like and whether or not it was going to appear rather over-the-top. I have to say, though, that I was pretty shocked at how effective it looked in its entirety – and there will be plenty of skirt to cover the chunkiness of the creation. It has now gone safely to Las Vegas with Younger Daughter and I will feed back the response from Elder Daughter after The Event!
Rambling in the Garden 
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This will become a family heirloom, its fantastic! Lucky ED to have such a talented Mum!!
Thank you Pauline. It was SO good to be doing something creative with my fingers like this as I just haven’t done enough in recent years – and it has spurred me into determining that I WILL do some other long-promised activities, even if they are only miniature versions. So watch out for some stump work, patchwork and a rag rug!! I have already booked myself onto a 2 day woodcarving course for my birthday – unbelievably in virtually the next village and found quite by chance on the internet.