10 Readers Share Sweet Items They’ve Framed

A few weeks ago, I shared some sentimental items I’ve framed. No surprise, the comments were a gold mine. Here, 10 Cup of Jo readers share photos of poignant framed items, from a bracelet to a corkscrew…

“I found two four-leaf clovers [top photo] in the same week — after keeping an eye out for the preceding 36 years! I was recovering from a health issue and couldn’t straighten my back but needed to walk to heal. So, I was painfully hobbling around. Graham, my dog, was thrilled because it meant so much time to meander. So, he’s sniffing, I’m grumbling, and I saw a clover! Then a second! My advice? Look for the shape of a square. Once you do, they begin to appear everywhere.” — Tracey

“My five-year-old daughter was just beginning to write on her own when she gave me this note. It’s truly the highest compliment and makes me smile every day. I had it front and center on the fridge, then realized it needed to be framed forever. She’s now seven and thankfully still loves to leave me sweet notes.” — Emily

“Sixteen years ago, in my college biology discussion group, I flirted with the cute boy across from me by teaching him how to make a bracelet out of Starburst wrappers. A month after we met, I went to his dorm room to watch a movie and noticed it taped above his desk — I was floored! We’re now married with two kids and the Starburst wrapper bracelet is framed in our living room.” — Annabelle

“My husband and I are huge fans of Saturday Night Live. Throughout our twenties, we’d invite friends over on Saturday nights, and we even watched the live episode with our guests during our wedding reception. We’ve been lucky enough to win the SNL lottery twice and framed our wristbands. Below that is a custom cue card made by Wally, who does SNL’s cue cards.” — Amanda

“Last spring, we noticed a flurry of bird activity on our porch, and within days the tiniest blue eggs appeared inside a nest of moss, twigs, and honestly, an uncomfortable amount of hair. We were beside ourselves with excitement. When the babies hatched after three weeks of the mama sitting on them, they looked like creepy little dinosaurs. We had front-row seats to something wild and primal. Once the babies flew the nest, another family moved in until their babies flew. Then another. And another! It was magical to witness during a terrible year for our family. There was so much sickness and heartache in our house that I felt like maybe the birds were there to remind us that life goes on, life finds a way, life is jumping out of nests even though you can’t yet fly and there’s a cat on the fence.” — Alisyn

“Years ago, I found a note that my dad had written to my aunt when she was visiting him. It reminds me of that William Carlos Williams poem about the plums, and it’s a sweet peek into my dad as an older brother. He always gets straight to the point and makes sure everyone has everything they need. My toddler is now rightfully, joyfully at the center of my relationship with my parents, but the framed note reminds me that I was and am still his daughter – I’m the ‘Molls’ of the note – and I continue to be lovingly parented as I move through adulthood.” — Molly

“We framed a corkscrew left behind by our friend, who lived a full, exciting, unconventional life. He was the type of guy that you’d run into on the street, and next thing you know, it’s 3 a.m., and you’re on a sailboat in the Atlantic drinking Champagne. True story! Another time, we ended up eating lobster in a house in Cape Cod that had appeared in an Edward Hopper painting. He died of an aneurysm while horseback riding through Italy’s wine country. The corkscrew is next to our front door, so whenever I head outside, it reminds me to live big and not take myself too seriously.” — Tonya

“At my bachelorette weekend in Savannah, my friends and I asked the waiter for local bar recommendations. He wrote a list on the back of a receipt, ranked from FANCY to LIT. Since 2017, I’ve been to almost every bar on the list and can confirm that his scale was accurate.” — Sara

“I met Paul during the pandemic. In those early days, it became impossible to get quarters from the bank, but I needed them to do laundry in my building. One day, after our fourth date, we were saying goodbye, and he shyly said, ‘I brought something for you.’ He had ordered paper coin wrappers and wrapped all of the quarters he could find around his apartment. It was the sweetest gesture.” — Brittany

“Neal proposed in August 2013, and I said yes. Afterward, at his house, I spotted this to-do list – which included the item ‘PROPOSE.’ He didn’t think saving it was quite as romantic as I did. (‘I wrote ‘kitty litter’ on that!” he exclaimed.) But it has now graced our bookshelves for the past decade. In some ways, the entries have not changed much from that first list. There’s always the endless kitchen cleanup, laundry, and litter scooping for our cats. But what I love about Neal’s to-do lists is that they always include some bigger-picture way of making things better. Maybe that is a Target run for our tea-and-reading time together after our three kids go to bed; maybe it’s organizing the garage so we can actually park a car in it during storm season; maybe it’s adding something fun to do as a family.” — Emily

How sweet are these? Who wants to frame something??

P.S. Eleven cool ways to frame family photos, and Joanna’s kids’ hilariously passive-aggressive notes.

(Photos by our wonderful readers, except Emily and Neal’s wedding photograph, which was taken by Jennifer D. Miller.)