Symbols & Shapes of First Love Letters

The pink "Gelato" looks like lipstick as the top layer here.
I put together this mixed media journal entry of a mixture of dating memorabilia and first love letters (1978): from my boyfriend (now spouse) to me; and me to him. The mish-mash tells (me) the story of our first dates and first love. What was most interesting to me was that we each wrote to the other while we were living in the same building (military barracks): Mike was on the 3rd floor and I was on the 2nd. Even now I remember what a thrill it was to go to my mail box and see an envelope from this sweet guy! The first letter postmarked Aug. 3, 1978 is just shy of a month after our first date. We were clearly in love! It is a great thing to find and (re)read 36 years later! I topped it off with the M+H and hearts/graffiti using a "Gelato" by Faber-Castell (kind of like a soft oil pastel) which gave it the lipstick feeling of the 70s. Also, my husband had recently texted me a photo of M+H with hearts that was written in chalk on the sidewalk at the park where he walks during lunch. The simple mark on the journal page tied the past with the present.
I cleaned off the excess acrylic paint from a brayer from another art project on this page. It added interesting character.