Hatpin flower frog as photo holder

Antique flower frogs are a favorite thing to collect. I love all the different colors and shapes and sizes, especially the glass ones. I looked for years before I found a green glass frog, and have always wanted one of the uncommon (and usually expensive) hatpin flower frogs. I always look for them in our travels, and a few years ago I finally found one in a little antique shop in Littleton, Colorado, after spending the day researching the family tree in the historical museum there.

This hatpin frog is in my favorite green, so it fits perfectly with the other antiques that are displayed in my house. Unlike the glass flower frogs, which I use all the time, I'll never use this one to hold flowers, for fear it will rust.

Last spring, while reading through a stack of library books on country-style decorating, I saw a unique way of displaying an old photograph. They'd used one of the spikey metal flower frogs to hold a photograph, with a glass vase turned upside down over the top of it.

I didn't have a vase that was wide enough to fit over the flower frog & a photo. Best I could do was this dome-shaped vase I bought years ago at a yard sale, which hangs from a wrought iron frame. It has a flared lip and rounded bottom, and is wide enough for a small photo. Now I just needed a small snapshot to display. Searching through a few treasured snapshots of my family, I found this picture of me at about 8 years of age, wearing a pink dress with a velvet sash. It was one of the few dresses my mother didn't make for me, still, I loved it.