Father's Day!

So.. my mom and I were going through our basement. It's more or less organized chaos piled in boxes, shelves, and storage units. We were doing a great job of going through old books- hilarious I may add- and came across some old photos.

We found a beautiful one of my dad already blown up. It was from when he was in his 30's and it just... it IS my dad. You know when you look at a photo and it just IS someone? Yea. That happened. A WOW moment.

To top it off, my parents have always told me that they did have a lot of nice art work. We have more than just maps and maps and more maps. We have art. Apparently, my dad's cousin, Mike Duffy (Bill Duffy's son for family readers) is an amazing artist. We have a few prints of his circulating our house already, but when I came across this politically charged meets gonzo journalism print.. only one word came to mind.

Frame. Frame. Frame. Frame. I was only thinking in one sylable, one word sentences. Frame.

Here's where the day is complete. Two REALLY personal gifts that should never have been collecting dust in the first place. But, whatdya know, I found a third. Not just a 'third' either, as these aren't in any order. We stumbled across a poster they got on their honeymoon to San Francisco!!!! It's a vintage print, and I was almost bursting at the seems that my entire life I've looked at maps of Green Bay and sailing charts of Lake Michigan, when this (literal) buried treasure was just waiting to be found.


AND...... it gets better.

Off I go to Hobby Lobby. I have never framed, matted, or done anything beyond the most basic of framing. I was immediately lost at size, matting, color coordination, new size, and frame color. HOLY INFO overload. I was starting to feel like I bit off more than I could chew.. and I almost forgot one of my handiest tricks. My ability to admit being complete and utterly clueless - can we say Home Depot for the lumber from the growth chart?!

And this.. in a nutshell, is why Wisconsin has my heart. We are a state filled with good, genuine folks. This kind woman worked in the custom matting and framing section. She was clearly busy, although not with a customer, when I decided to lay it on her.
I tried my best to explain that I truly didn't even know where to start. These posters were old and inconvienent sizes, not easily 'mainstream' frames. The best part about it? All I probably would have had to do was smile. Not only did she help measure, CUSTOM MATTE, resize, and pick out all my new frames, she showed me why each one went with each. It was way beyond an act of kindness, and one that took this project from good to great. (If I would have been on my own, each picture would have gotten a single matte and some shiny glass frame with losely matching colors.) I ended up getting a custom consultation, custom matting, and her help coordinating the frames. DONE and DONE. Win and WIN.

This woman was my savior. As soon as I get these babies up, you better believe there will be pictures to follow!