From This to That

Some time ago, my husband, Brett Rickaby, (who is an actor by profession whose passion has become writing) decided to hire out his writing talents to those desirous of an unusual and incredibly romantic gift: a love poem. Calling this service Cyrano Service, Brett was hired to write a love poem for a gentleman who obviously wanted to make up for a misstep taken in an as yet undefined relationship he wasn't ready to end.

Armed with nuggets of information about this woman and specifics about their relationship, my talented husband worked for hours on this beautiful poem, creating something that would melt even the iciest heart. As a further service, he offered a handmade card (created by Made by SwirlyGirl, of course!) to showcase this poem, which was gratefully accepted for the fee asked. This collaboration with my husband (the first of it's kind for us--though we've collaborated on many different projects) was a true labor of love! We worked for many hours, giving this customer much more than his money's worth and enjoyed the process tremendously!


Here is what I did with my husband's beautiful poem:


First, I took the photo that the gentleman asked me to use (all of the photos here have had the facial features blurred for privacy of the subject) and made several versions of the print,

removing the color and gradually adding color and saturating till the last one, on which I put a filter effect to make it look almost like a painting with the colors very saturated.

I printed lines of the poem on vellum to layer over the photos and cut and matted the poem sections with handmade papers, using the colors of her dress as inspiration.

Taking card stock and adhering the folded paper in a reinforced fan fold,

I adhered the photos and papers to each side, placing them each differently on the page for visual interest.

The covers were made of book board covered in handmade textured papers, with a beautiful fabric ribbon to close the book/card, and a rhinestone gem to dress it up even more.


We both signed the back of the card and dated it, as well.

If you are interested in any custom project of this sort, please contact me through Etsy and let me know what your idea is! We loved doing this together and would enjoy more opportunities to do similar projects! http://madebyswirlygirl.etsy.com.