DIY: Coupon Book for Our Paper Anniversary

Earlier this year, Sarah of Inconceivable Life had to alter her wedding plans, accommodating a venue change from San Francisco to Arizona. Sarah, like me, loves yesteryear ephemera and had collected a couple of sets of postcards showcasing San Francisco in the 1960s. When she began selling her San Francisco-themed wedding decor, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on the postcards. They would be perfect for my first anniversary present to cubes.

Somewhere on the Internet, I'd seen a series of photographs where people had taken either an earlier photo of themselves or their parents and then gone to the location in the photograph and taken a new photograph. With Sarah's postcards, I wanted to create a coupon book of dates that cubes and I could enjoy together. The catch? To redeem, we'd have to take a photograph that recreated the view in the postcard.

This project took about an afternoon to create. The hard part? Selecting which postcards to include and why. For our wedding, we'd used our favorite restaurants for table numbers. Each table number card had a filmstrip of photos - us or food from the restaurant - and a story about why we chose the particular restaurant. I wanted to carry this show and tell theme on with my gift.

With the exception of Sarah's postcards, all of the other supplies came from our wedding. Left over paper from our programs. Photo corners from our guest book. Raffia from our favors. Paper glues from our table numbers. (When purchasing for our wedding DIY projects, I over-purchased everything for fear of running out in the eleventh hour.)

Assembly was pretty easy once I chose the thirteen postcards. I took 27 sheets of paper and cut them in half.

The cover was the only "tricky" part. By tricky, I mean that it wasn't a simple half sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper. I wanted a wrap around binding. To achieve this look I cut a piece of paper 9.75 inches to give me an inch wrap on the cover and a .25 inch "spine." I then lined up all the pieces of paper, and secured them with a binder clip.

I punched two holes in the binding, threaded the raffia, and tied a bow. To determine the location of the photo corners for securing the postcards, I placed a postcard on a page and made two marks with a pencil. I then placed the photo corners over the marks. Voila! A handmade custom album.

Here's are some of the coupons I presented to cubes.

Every holiday season, we used to go down to Union Square to see the store windows. After looking at the windows, we'd stop at Macy's and pick up an ornament.
The girls and I started the hunt for bridesmaids' dresses with drinks on the patio at the Cheesecake Factory. We started our hunt for supersoft towels and sheets at the Burger Bar overlooking Union Square.
This coupon is good for drinks with our wedding party.

Once a month we'd get hamburgers and chips from a burger joint on Geary and then drive out to Ocean Beach to watch the sun set. Sometimes we'd sit on a bench overlooking seal rock. This coupon good for a sunset dinner.

One of my favorite places growing up was the California Academy of Sciences. I took classes at the Junior Academy where I learned photography. I got to go behind the scenes at the aquarium. This coupon is good for either a morning or afternoon at the aquarium and a lunch in The Moss Room.

For being a person who enjoys romantic gestures, redeem this coupon for surprise flowers in the month of your choice.

What did you do for your first anniversary? For newlyweds, what are you planning?

Ciao Bella!

Eden

 

Credits: All images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for A Timeless Affair.