Dear Jennifer,

I can’t thank you enough for the gorgeous picture frames you made for me almost two years ago!

I admit, I love beautiful things. I tend to be perfectionistic. And I’m convinced I’m a southern girl at heart who’s living in one of the most northern states you could find, Minnesota.

Take my love of beautiful things, add my perfectionistic tendencies, add my desire for something that just doesn’t exist in Minnesota, then add hormones and nesting that came with a third pregnancy – and you might have found me a little obsessed over a picture frame project two years ago.

You see, this was my third baby, so I knew exactly what to expect. This time around, I had made lists of all the things I wanted to get done before baby arrived. YES, definitely a little obsessive, but I even typed them up! All in all, I completed 160 items from my cycling to-do lists in the months leading to her birth.

On those lists were important things, like get the crib out of storage and set it up. On that list were also not-so-important things, like turn our older daughter’s dresser from a junk collecting area to a beautiful display area.

I knew I wanted picture frames for the top shelf of her dresser, so I began the search in an effort to check the task off of my to-do list. Easier said than done. If I know exactly what I want, I can occasionally become obsessive about continuing the search until I find it. I know an item exists if I look hard enough, long enough. And in this case, I KNEW there were gorgeous picture frames to be found. I just wasn’t finding them!

I looked everywhere. I was even creative about where I looked. But these elusive frames just didn’t exist.

After a while, I knew I had become obsessed and needed to bring an end to this, so I decided to turn to Etsy. Thank goodness, I found you and your gorgeous picture frames there! My search was finally over!

But of course, in all my nesting obsessing, I couldn’t just order what you had and leave it at that. I noticed you did custom orders, and really wanted the frames to coordinate with my daughter’s bedroom. So I engaged you with an email to see how I would go about placing a custom order.

There set forth a series of emails between the two of us. And ya, I won’t even go there. Amy obsessiveness at it’s worst (or best?). Remember I sent you detailed ideas about each frame? Colors, sizes, designs and patterns, bows and no bows, embellishments or no embellishments? You ensured me you were more than happy to do this custom work, but I was certain I was being more annoying than any other customer you’d ever had.

You shipped the picture frames to me just 10 days before our little girl was born. I couldn’t WAIT to open the box! Before I opened it, I looked at the return address. Arkansas. Yep, more proof there’s something about that Southern living, those Southern girls that makes me want to be one. I knew these frames were going to be awesome before I even saw them.

And they were.

The picture frames were absolutely GORGEOUS, more beautiful than I’ve ever seen. They matched my daughter’s bedroom and fit on her dresser perfectly.

For almost two years now, the frames have graced my daughter’s room with their beauty. While the two bottom shelves of her dresser have been stuffed with children’s books, trinkets, random memorabilia, kid jewelry, and hair pieces, the top shelf has been reserved solely for the frames.

Simple, classy, elegant, beautiful. Made by you with love, care and attention to detail.

Thank you for exceeding my expectations, thank you for making my vision come to life, and thank you for using your amazing gifts to bring beauty into the lives of others.

Amy

*If you’d like to read more from my #31Days Letters to the Unthanked series, click here for the landing page where all the letters are listed and linked!

***SPECIAL NOTE: Jennifer reported to me in an email this week that she “retired” from making picture frames almost a year ago. She moved and the distance between her and her twin sister Stephanie made it too difficult for them to work together. Stephanie still maintains and operates the Etsy Shop at Two Sisters Designs; she no longer sells the frames, but does sell a variety of VERY CUTE monogramed items! The shop is closed this week, but will reopen soon. Click here to check it out!