About a decade has passed since we met. We didn’t really hang out much until we became part of the Multicultural Student Network where I also met Clarke.

We’ve kept in touch – her being better than I am- and “Wow, we’re old” is the sentence that immediately comes out every time we realize that we’ve known each other for over a decade now. When I got engaged, she was the first person I talked to after calling my immediate family.

For the wedding she not only made time from her extremely busy schedule, but she also came early to help out; and she did amazing things with the little time we had. My bouquet? She made it. My sister’s? Flowers by Windi ™ too. Flower girl basket? Distribution of boutonnieres and corsages? Church decoration (the pomander balls/pom poms) setup? Yup, that too.

She was also there, surrounded by Mexican women catching up and gossiping, when we were setting up the reception hall.

So you can see that when we received the photos I knew I wouldn’t just send them loose, on an envelope to her. I had to make them look special! The pressure was on!

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• The base:

While at Pearl on South Street (with Thad’s mom) I had found one of these useful little albums:

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• The Materials:

I had some really pretty linen left from a courtain and some of my favorite natural (unbleached) calico.

I also used the embossing stamp I used for the invitations (handmade) and embroidery thread in the color of the linen piece.

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• Cutting the fabric:

First I cut bands of the white fabric, I wanted them to be about 2 inches wide, so I cut them to be 2.75 inches, to allow for 3/8 seams.

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• Sewing:

Next I figured how big I wanted the red center piece so that the white band would be more or less at the very center of both front and back page. I think it was about 4 inches. I cut the remaining pieces so it would allow for a 2 inch flap approximately.

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• Embroidery:

Once the basic sewing was done, I first traced and then embroidered the LOVE stamp used for our wedding invitations.

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• Finished product: