This page was made with the
JBS Mercantile March Antiquarian Kit for our
gallery update (we always update with more kit projects on the 10th). This morning there were only two of these left.
The black scallops were inspired by
Ranjini. For the original gallery reveal she had cut the black seal paper and layered the other papers on top creating the effect of a black scalloped border all the way around the page. I LOVED that. I wanted to try something similar so I cut some scallop strips and turned them facing inward to balance out against the clock.
I really liked this kit, especially the sheet music with the little house and the clock paper plus two kinds of ribbon. Oh and red foil letters. I can't wait to make something with that sheet music. I told Doris it was just too pretty not to use but that I loved it so much I was scared to cut into it, lol, have you ever felt that way?
I used two of the vintage tickets from the kit to make clock hands as well as a strip of patterned paper from the main kit with one of the vintage yo yo's for the center.
Besides the fact that this is made with the coolest vintage stuff, this is also a special page to me because this is my dad and my grandma from 1961.
I called my grandma yesterday afternoon and asked her about this photo. My grandma is 76 and it's such a blessing to me that I can still pick up the phone and hear her voice on the other end. There's not a single phone call that I have with her that I don't thank God that I've still got her to talk to, that she's still here, that she's still got her memory and wits about her. So she told me the location and the date and told me this was the spring after her husband had been killed in a car accident and also after she had a stillborn baby. So at this point in the spring of 1961 it was just her and my dad. She said she took him to Weatherford to have their picture made and that she couldn't really afford to do it but that she did it anyway. Then she told me her dress was brown. She said she didn't have many dresses but this one was one of her favorites. Then she said, "It was all cotton, it had to be ironed, we wouldn't have one like it now-a-days." This is SO my grandma, ha, ha, so truly. She used to iron my T-shirts with creases on the sleeves when I was in jr. high and I would beg her to stop that. I can guarantee you I was the crispiest kid in jr. high. I would ask her to iron something and then say, "but don't do too good of a job," and she just couldn't understand what I meant. Even now, when she comes to visit, she notices if my kids clothes are ironed or not (of course, usually they are not, unless it's absolutely necessary). Such a small conversation but it gleaned so much good info and even brought back memories for me.
Another thing I think about when looking at these old photos is how my dad was when he was a kid. I asked grandma if he was good for the picture and she said, "Oh yes!" I thought he had the sweetest expression on his face and it makes me sad because I know the hard road his life has been. You look back at these photos and think about the potential and what could have been or what might have made things different. I wonder if his life would have been better had his dad not died when he was three.
So anyway, I guess I just really love scrapping these vintage photos. I wanted to mention I did use a buffer paper of acid free cardstock between the photo and the old sheet music background paper - I know that for die hard preservation people this is not a solution but it works for me for now. I also always use those acid free old fashioned photo corners on my old photos in case I want to remove the photo later. Plus, if I decide to I can take this photo out and make a copy and put the copy back in it's place.
I also wanted to mention our guest designer this month is
Natalie Elphinstone! Natalie lives in Australia so her layouts weren't able to be added to the gallery until the update on the 10th - so check it out, she has a really cool style: artistic and light and detailed.
