Father's Day Gift - Inspiration from 1951

There are so many qualities about my husband that I admire.  He is a wonderful, dedicated dad to our kids and would do anything for each of them.  He is thoughtful, supportive and he is, without a doubt, the most selfless person I know. 

I really wanted to give him the perfect gift for Father's Day.  A gift inspired by something he loves.  He is a HUGE baseball fan and loves to collect memorabilia.  A few of his favorite things; vintage baseball programs and concession menus from the past.

When I came across this wall art over at TLC a few weeks ago, to me, it was so reminiscent of a concession menu in the look and shape.  So, I decided to create my own version using this 1951 vintage baseball program that my hubby loves.

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I think the Visalia baseball team was mentioned in the movie Bull Durham, which also happens to be one of our favorite summer baseball movies.  Not sure if they were talking about this one or not but I thought it was pretty cool anyway. :)

I followed Kevin and Layla's easy how to for the frame.  Then for the words, I used an old stencil that came from a box hubby bought at a yard sale that contained all kinds of vintage stencils, numbers and vinyl decals.  So cool!  Here's how it looks.....

He loves it so much!  And he was really excited that I displayed some of his collections on the ledge with it.  His reaction made me so happy.  I'm loving this, not only because it made him so happy, but because when I look at it, I'm reminded of all the years he coached our two oldest boys in baseball and all those summer afternoons and evenings of playing catch in the backyard, while I watched out the kitchen window as I did the dishes, smiling at how much fun they were having. 

This white storage chest was built for me by my dad.  It's one of my favorite pieces around our home and I thought it would go perfectly.  I made a cushion for it out of painters dropcloth so that it could double as extra seating in this room.

There is nothing better than a project with a special meaning behind it.  Hope all the amazing dads out there had a fantastic Father's Day doing what you love!

Coming up........hubby brought home a very cool chair that has inspired a neat building project.....stay tuned!  Have a great day all and thanks for stopping by!