My Grandpa Ola was the oldest son home on the Bakke farm. Some of you might remember his sisters Ingeborg and Lise who emigrated to America in the 1880s. You have also met his parents Nils and Helga before.
For Nils and Helga’s 1898 wedding picture I have chosen a beautiful album mat with little pink flowers:
Notice that my Great Grandmother’s name on the mat is spelled Helge, which is a male name in present Norway. But a 100 years ago, that is how they pronounced her name, and she is referred to as Helge on several records, thus I wanted to preserve that on their romantic wedding photo 🙂
She was only 19 when she got married, and bore a total of 9 children, over a period of 23 years. The most precious memorabilia I have from her is the little book of psalms for church, where she has written her name on the title page in 1893, for her confirmation. Both Helge and Nils and all their children including my grandfather Ola were baptised and confirmated in the same church. So were my father, myself and my siblings, and all our children: Hornindal Church, built in 1856.
I am adding my photos digitally, then printing the finished image on matte photo paper (Canon 170g matte photo paper). I then glue the image onto thin cardboard (cereal box) with spray glue, before I cut it out. After cutting I also distress and ink the edges and corners, for a vintage, worn look. This makes for a nice and stiff image, that I can hang, erect with an easel or even just lean agains something (similar to cabinet cards).
The font is Snell Roundhand Black, it came with my latest Photoshop update. You might be able to find a similar font for free if you search for free fonts.
Here is a low resolution preview of the ready to print frame. Print it out and and the picture manually, or use the PNG-file (transparent background) to add pictures digitally:
Find your high quality copy of the file in the download folder, free for your personal use and enjoyment 🙂
I have also added a family tree to my project, the tree I have used is neither vintage nor free, but if you want to buy it you can find it HERE:
I have marked the people we have covered so far with hearts, including todays main persons Nils and Helge.
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I have used elements from the following sources for these design:
Pink Flowers Photo Mat – Sofi on Flickr
Winged Heart – The Old Design Shop
Follow me on Pinterest:
Wings of Whimsy 
Hello from Florida!
Why do the brides in most of your pictures wear a crown?????
thank you for sharing the pictures and interesting stories of your family. Please tell us about the wedding crowns the brides are wearing.
The crown is part of the Norwegian traditional bridal costume. There is in fact not ONE bridal costume, rather many, specific to the various regions of Norway. But they all have in common that there are special silver bridal crowns! I wore one myself when I got married in 1997, at the time it was believed to be near 350 years old, and we had to insure it for 100.000 NOK (about $ 14.500) Even then I doubt that the insurance would have covered it, had something happened to it! They are simply unique and irreplaceable! In my region a few neighbouring farms would typically own one of these crowns together. They would follow a main farm/family, but the extended family would also be entitled to using it. Today most of the crowns are either lost or in museums, but a few are still owned by private families, and possible to use. I will see about making a more extensive post about the bridal crowns, the bridal costumes and Norwegian bridal traditions, at least from my own region, but it will not be until after Valentine’s Day, I have too much stuff to share with ya’ll before that 😉 xoxoxo
PS Try this link to see picture of more Norwegian bridal crowns.
Love the things you put up. I have. Collected ephemera for many years and like to use it to make cards, tags, etc.
Thank you Ben 🙂 I hope you will continue to visit, I have so much ephemera and DIY projects I’m hoping to share in the future 🙂 xoxoxo
My dear Gunnvor Karita,
I love your works,and I don’t resist to send you another frame! I hope that you like it!
See link below:
Hugs
Alexandra Roldão
Thank you so much Hunny! The pansy frame is so beautiful! I can see it is in need of some good cleaning to work for my projects, but nothing impossible 😉 Although I love vintage, and sometimes go for the shabby style on purpose, I still like to “restore” the images somewhat…lol! Is this a frame I could be allowed to work with and share the result of? xoxoxo
Hello Dear Gunnvor Karita,
I’m happy that you like it!
I find this beautiful frame on Pinterest, so I think it’s ok, because is there for all the internauts.
Hugs
Alexandra Roldão
Ok, Pinterest is not a source, so I will search to see if I can find the original source. If I can find the source, and it’s ok, I might use it 🙂 Thank you 🙂
Dear Gunnvor Karita,
I’m not sure, but I think it’s an item from Ruby Lane…
Hugs
Alexandra Roldão