My friend (and neighbor), Trudi, asked if I could help her create a 7th anniversary present for her husband.  Being asked to help make the perfect gift is a real honor to me.

 Every year, they follow the traditional guide when choosing their gift for one another.

For a 7th anniversary, the traditional choice is copper or wool.  After searching Pinterest for ideas, she found a few projects using pennies.  Perfect, since pennies are copper colored.

Here's some trivia for you. They actually used to be made of copper but in 1982, the U.S. Mint began making them out of zinc.  It still counts though, since they're still copper-colored.  

We headed to Hobby Lobby because where else would you go find more inspiration than Pinterest?!  {wink}

After we had sufficiently wandered around a bit, a vision started coming together.

All these supplies jumped in our cart and off we went to get our craft on.

1. Rustic, wooden frame
2. Corrugated metal heart
3. Label holders
4. Copper colored scrapbook paper

See all those pennies in the picture above?  Trudi had searched and collected a penny from each year she's know her hubby for the project.  Isn't that such a unique and fun idea?!  

To age the metal, I used Modern Masters Rust Activator.  It's a total chemical magic trick...spritz on and watch the rust happen. I also used the activator on some metal ribbon for this Pottery Barn Inspired Side Table. 

To seal in all the rusty, crusty goodness, I used two coats of Americana spray matte sealer.  {Make sure to let each coat fully dry before applying the next.}

Using the font Coneria Script , we printed out a label with Est. 2008 for the year they were married.  Mounting the label holder to the top of the frame was easy, especially since the screws were included.

Next, we mounted the copper paper to a piece of foam board to use as the backing.  Once it was secured in the frame, we glued on the heart and the pennies in sequential order.

This is such a sweet, simple and sentimental anniversary gift.  Seeing the finished project makes me want to start singing "Can you feel the love tonight...?  Sorry, couldn't resist.  

If you love (no pun intended) this copper anniversary project, I hope you'll pin it and save for later.