heritage designer's challenge week 12

It's the last week of the heritage challenge that I've been hosting over at Green Tangerines. There have been some fabulous layouts that people have brought into the store. For my final week, I left the topic open ended a bit. I challenged the gals to document a special moment.

Is there a wedding you’d like to highlight? The birth of someone special into your family? Did your grandfather come home from war a hero? Were you the first in your family to graduate from college? Did you start a business that grew into a big success? Just a few questions to get you thinking . . . 

This is my great-grandparents wedding picture and marriage certificate from 1904. Can I just say how much I love PSE? I recently switched to a MAC computer, so I had to buy the latest version of PSE, 9.0. It's healing tool is even better! (I had 7.0 on my PC) Now you don't even have to ALT-click on the spot you want to copy/heal, it just knows what to do! Hard to explain, but you'll just have to trust me, it's awesome! I was able to fix this photo up in a jiffy!


I hope you've enjoyed my tour down memory lane for the past 12 weeks. There are more heritage layouts in my future, but I am going to take a little break. Getting the stories accurate and matching up the pictures is a lot of work--but fun! 


Stay tuned for a little giveaway on the ol' blog . . . heritage in flavor . . . hopefully sometime this week! Have a great day!

heritage designer's challenge week 11

We're in week 11 of the heritage challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines. Only one more week to go!  I have numerous keepsakes just waiting for a home on one of my pages. What’s a girl to do with old birth certificates, love letters, telegrams and ticket stubs? Document them of course!

I love reading my grandmother’s old telegrams that my grandfather sent to her before they were married. They were short and sweet, but you can still feel the love that radiated through them. I created a pocket with this tag to hold the telegrams.

This week, grab something that isn’t a picture and scrapbook it! If your keepsake isn’t flat enough to put in an album, take a picture of it and write about it.

1. Telegrams: Was there a special message conveyed to a loved one? A death announced? A baby born?
2. Letters: What did people write to their loved ones about?
3. Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate: Write the story of that particular person.
4. Ticket stubs: What did people do for entertainment? Did they travel? What were the costs involved? 

These are just a few questions to get you started. Happy documenting!

heritage designer's challenge week 10

If this is your first time joining me, I am hosting a 12-week Designer's Challenge through Green Tangerines Scrapbook Store. We are on week 10--almost to the finish line! Participants pick up a product each week and are challenged to use it with any of their supplies on hand and answer a few of the questions that I provide. If you aren't local, you can still play along and use the questions that I will post below!

This is my grandfather (who died before I was born) and his senior year picture. I had pictures of a report card (totally fun to see!), his diploma, the high school where he attended and a graduation announcement. And to think he was married just two years later and had my mom a year after that! So young!

Here are some questions to get you pondering your school days . . .

1. Tell me about the school you went to. What was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? What kind of grades did you get in school? Did you enjoy school? Did you have a favorite teacher?
2. Were you a part of any sports or clubs in school? Did you ever play any instruments? What kind of music did you listen to?
3. Tell me about some of your closest classmates. Do you still keep in contact with any of your classmates? What did you and your friends do outside of school?
4. Where there any fads during the time you went to school?
5. What schools did you attend? Did you go to college?
6. How did you get to school?

If you want ideas for more heritage pages (with questions), you can click on the heritage link under the labels section of my blog. You can also go here to my flicker gallery (also on the side bar of my blog). 

Have a great Tuesday!


p.s. It's not too late to join in on the Ella giveaway in yesterday's post!

heritage designer's challenge week 9

We're in the homestretch--4 weeks left to go with the heritage challenge! This week I asked everyone to document an event in history. This could be a recent event or an event from 100 years ago that played a role in a relative's life. I chose to document the Great Blizzard of 1949. My grandparents and great-grandparents took pictures during this time.

Sorry for the crummy scan . . . my scanner is having issues. I made a "warning" label to look like a sign you might see on the road. 

Over 100 people died during this blizzard and over 1 million livestock were lost. It was a tragic story in history and my grandparents and great-grandparents lived to tell about it. I can't imagine being stranded in my home for six weeks! It was fun to hear my mom's take on the event as well--she was conceived during this LONG winter!

Here are some questions to get you started:

1.     Was there a tornado that came through your town? Was there an earthquake that shook you up? (or any natural disaster)

2.     Do you remember rationing supplies during a World War?

3.     Did someone you love go off to war?

4.     Did something you saw personally or on the news impact the way you think about our world?

5.     How did an event (big or small) impact your family?

Have a great day!

heritage designer's challenge week 8

This week the topic was food. If you are just joining me, feel free to check out the heritage challenge I am hosting at  Green Tangerines. I documented my grandmother's work as a hospital chef--it was a job she took to support herself after her husband (my grandfather I never met) was killed. She had this job for almost 20 years--an important part of her story.

This is a less-than-pefect photo of my grandmother (she looks surprised!), but it's the only one I have of her working in the hospital kitchen. Don't be afraid to use photos that aren't the best--it's the story that you are documenting! This was a huge part of my grandmother's life and I wanted to capture it--good picture or not!

Here are a few questions to get you started on the topic of food:

1. Do you have a favorite dish that your grandmother or mother used to always make?
2. Describe a typical family dinner. Who did most of the cooking?
3. Do you have a special recipe that has been passed down that you make frequently or on special occasions?
4. What food was served at a holiday meal? What were your favorites?
5. Do you love or dislike to cook? Who taught you to cook?
6. Do you have any special memories surrounding food?
7. What was your grandmother’s or mother’s kitchen like?

Have a great Tuesday!

heritage designer's challenge week 7 and a GIVEAWAY!

This week on the Green Tangerines blog we are focusing on sibling relationships. I chose to document my grandmother and her three siblings. She was a "surprise" 14 years after her third sibling, so she didn't grow up having them as playmates. She shared her memories with my mom for this layout:

The first picture on the left is from 1913. I am still amazed when I look at photos that old! And I am so happy to have a few. My grandmother is the baby in the far right picture--her oldest sibling, Helen, is taking care of her. Just a note on my pictures--I scan them all and have them reprinted. Most of the originals are in pretty bad shape--I love being able to remove a few of the scratches in PSE. I kept the color the same as the original pictures for this particular layout because I loved the warm feeling.

1. How many siblings did you have and what were their names and birth dates?
2. Do you have a favorite memory with one or more of your siblings?
3. Did you confide in your siblings?
4. Did you get into mischief together that your parents never discovered?
5. What is your relationship like today?

Do you need a jumpstart on getting those photos and stories from the past scrapped? I get to give away one copy of this awesome eBook!

There are some great "non-traditional" heritage ideas in this book! And you don't have to be scrapbooking photos from years and years ago. Last week is the PAST, right? You can check out more of the details on this book here. Feeling lucky today? Leave me a comment on this post and I will pick a winner on Thursday evening--sometime after my kids go to bed! Good luck!

heritage designer's challenge week 6

This week, we are focusing on fun and games. What did people do before the Superbowl was around to entertain them? I grew up in Minnesota where Superbowl and World Series parties were huge! Probably because it was too freezing to do anything outside. My dad was a pastor and on Superbowl Sunday afternoon he would invite the congregation to come and watch the Superbowl at church--on the big screen--via projector! (This was before anyone had big screens in their homes.) 

Was it sports you were into or board games?  Did you play any sports in high school, college, or professionally?  If you weren’t into organized sports, did you enjoy hiking, fishing, gardening or any other outside activities? What childhood outdoor games did you enjoy?

I chose to document part of my dad's childhood. He came down with the polio disease two years before the vaccine was invented. He spent much of his childhood in a hospital undergoing various surgeries. He and the other boys in his wing had to come up with creative things to do for fun!

Have a great Tuesday!

heritage designer's challenge week 5

This week I am challenging you to document a childhood home. I grew up in several different homes. We lived in a house on a creek . . . where several leeches once attached themselves to me, we lived next to some noisy railroad tracks and we lived in a typical suburban home. One thing I remember is that homes back then seemed to be smaller than they are today. I often wonder if that meant less cleaning! I chose to document my grandmother's home. I learned so much about her during this interview.

Document something about a childhood home, either yours or a relative’s home. Here are a few questions to get you started:

1. What was your childhood house like? Size? Location?
2. Did you have your own room?
3. Did you have running water? Electricity? Refrigerator? Toilet? Telephone? Radio? Television? If you didn’t have some of these conveniences, what was it like when these were installed?
4. Did you have a vegetable garden? Fruit trees? Were they canned? Did you have a cow for milk? Chickens for eggs?
5. What kind of chores did you have around the home? Did you do them before or after school? What did you do for fun?

If you are local, stop by the Green Tangerines blog for more details on how to participate. Have a great Tuesday!

heritage designer's challenge week 4

It's week 4 of the Heritage Challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines. I'm enjoying digging through old photos every week. Now that I have a Mac computer with a camera, I can Skype with my parents and show them photos and ask them questions about each one--instead of scanning them all!

I documented my grandparents wedding and honeymoon. I'd done their dating and engagement story last year--you can see that layout here. This week the topic is love. Do you have a great love story to tell? Did your grandmother write love letters to her intended and wait weeks for a response to arrive? What was dating like before email, facebook and texting?! Here are a few questions to get you going:

Document a love story:

1. How did you first meet your spouse? Was it love at first sight or did you grow into love?
2. Where did you go on dates? Describe a typical date.
3. Describe your marriage proposal. What were the words used? Where did it take place? What did your parents say when you told them?
4. Describe any details about your wedding day. The locations, the clothing, the food, the decorating, the wedding party. Do you remember how much your wedding cost? What memory stands out most from your wedding day?
5. Did you go on a honeymoon?
6. Where did you first live as a newly married couple?
7. How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
8. What do you believe the key is to a successful marriage?

Happy scrapping and have a great Tuesday!

heritage designer's challenge week 3

It's week 3 of the Heritage Challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines! This week is all about community. The rollerskating rink was one of THE places to hang out when I was growing up. I would spend entirely too much time agonizing over what to wear to a skate day. Usually I ended up wearing the outfit with the most neon colors I could find! What I loved more than the skating itself, was the time to meet up with my friends and catch up on each others lives—this was a pre-email and texting era! 

This week I documented the impact my great-grandfather had in his community. He was the designer and builder of the Community Hall that hosted community dances for years to come. The 1937 building is still standing today, but I couldn't find a picture of it in my files or online. So, I did the next best thing. I snagged a satellite photo of where it stands today. 

If you can't find a particular photo of a location you wish to document, check out this great satellite view website!

Here are a few questions to get you thinking about community:

How did you get involved in your community while growing up? How often did you meet up with people in your neighborhood? How did you keep in touch? How did you support one another when times were hard? What are some fun things you did with people in your community? Were any special relationships or friendships formed out of some of these gatherings?

As always, leave me a link to your blog if you have a heritage layout you'd like to share!

heritage designer's challenge week 2

It's week 2 of the Heritage Challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines! This week is all about growing up. What decade did you grow up in? I grew up in the 1980’s, the decade of side-ponytails, leg warmers, boom boxes and cassette tapes. Back then everyone walked or rode the bus to school, ate Velveeta cheese without guilt and played Rubik’s Cube for fun. Do you ever wonder what is was like growing up before electricity was invented, before it was socially acceptable for women to wear jeans or when you had to actually milk a cow to get your milk?

In the layout above I've documented some of my grandmother's memories--she was a twin. This is from an interview I did with her before she died. I am so glad I took the time to do this! If you want to play along, here are a few questions to get you started:

Document something about a relatives growing up years (or your own!)

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?
2. What kind of games did you play growing up? (jump rope, jacks, etc.)
3. What was your favorite toy and why?
4. What was your favorite thing to do for fun? (Movies, beach, etc.)
5. Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite?
6. Do you remember any fads from your youth? (Hairstyles, clothing, etc.)
7. Who were your childhood heroes?
8. What world events had the most impact on you while growing up?
9. How is the world today different from what is was like when you were a child?
10. Who were your favorite actors, actresses, artists, etc?

I'd love to see YOUR layouts! Just post a comment to this post with a link to your blog and I will come visit! Have a great day!

heritage designer's challenge

I am hosting a Heritage Designer's Challenge with Green Tangerines Scrapbook Store for the next 12 weeks. If you are local and want to participate with the product we give you each week, go here for all the details. If you are not local, but would love participating in the challenge, please do!

Each week I'll give you a topic to document with a few questions to get you started. I'd love to see your layouts! Post a link to your blog on my next week's heritage post.

This week, it's all about heirlooms.

My grandmother died a little over a year ago at the age of 92. Nine months before she died, she shared with me the story of this doll that her father gave to her for Christmas in 1926--it was the last present he gave her, as he died three months later. If you'd like to read the journaling, just double click on the image. I took this photo in my backyard on an overcast day (we've had a lot of those lately). I draped a sheet over a chair because I wanted the sole focus to be on the doll--no distractions. I kept my layout simple so that the story and doll could shine.

What heirloom have you been wanting to take the time to document? What are the details surrounding how you acquired this heirloom? What do you remember most about the person who passed this heirloom down to you?

Check back each week for another heritage layout. I'd love to see your heritage layouts! Feel free to link to your blog in the comments of the post.

Happy Friday!

a heritage layout

I just loved the February kit from Green Tangerines! So much so that I HAD to make another layout! I am slowing trying to compile my grandmother's stories. Here is one of how she and my late grandfather met.

I had lots of scraps leftover and I lightly glued them down across the top. I then got out my trusty sewing machine and stitched through them. I just love sewing on paper! I then pulled up the paper on either side of the thread to add a little dimension. You can see another variation of this technique with circles here.

These flowers are really fun and easy to make. Cut out your base flower in a random, non-symetrical shape. I think they kind of look like an ameoba--you know, those blobs you saw under the microscope years ago? Cut two more in smaller sizes. Next, crinkle them up completely. Open them back up and stack them. Put a brad or eyelet or whatever you fancy in the center and you have a handmade flower! You can see another variation of this flower here. On these three flowers I inked the edges after I crinkled them up. As you can see the flowers are a completely different shape--I don't have a pattern, I just turn my scissors and roll with it. Happy creating!

day 7 oct/nov green tangerines kit

This layout requires a little explanation . . . My grandfather was killed by his bull just two weeks after my mom was married and four years before I was born. He was only 43 years old. This is the last picture my mom has with him. I didn't add any color to the layout because I wanted the reader to feel how tragic and sad this day was. You should be able to click on the layout and read the journaling should you want to know the full story.

Whether I am scrapping events that are years old or my own children's daily happenings, I try to include the good and the bad--it gives a real picture of life.

I'll have more cards the rest of the week from the Green Tangerines kit!

**edit . . . After I posted this I just noticed a huge typo in my journaling . . . an entire line has been moved down. Ggrrrrrrr. How did I not notice this??!!! Good thing it's a semi-quick fix.

day 6 oct/nov green tangerines kit

This is my grandmother's senior picture taken in 1947. I fell in love with these papers from the October/November Green Tangerines kit club! The silver pearls came with the kit and went perfectly with the "pearls" on my grandmothers blouse. The flowers were easy to make. I cut random non-symetrical flowers, crinkled them up and flattened them out, inked the edges and put a brad through the layers. Instant cute flower! I just love flowers . . .

Have a great day!

day 5 oct/nov green tangeries kit club

I'm typically a 12x12 scrapper, but for the heritage album I'm working on I decided to try something new--8.5x11. I've also decided to use minimal embellishments in this album. I want the stories to really stand out and for the album to have a classic feel. You can check out my other heritage layouts here.

I started to interview both of my grandmas (grandpas are not alive) about 2 years ago with the intent of putting together a heritage album. I have slowly been working on it . . . slowly. When one of them started to decline in health about a year ago, I started working on the album more regularly to make sure she would be around to ask questions if I needed clarification. Unfortunately, her memory started to go and I was not able to get some of my questions answered. She passed away in November at age 92. I will still continue in my quest to get her life recorded. She lived a great life.

Now, I have started to actively work on my other grandmas photos. She is still alive and able to answer questions. I want to make sure I get hers done while we can still talk--and so she can see her life in scrapbook form. I know she appreciates all the work. I am learning so much about her and I love it!

*My tip for the day--get those stories from your older loved ones recorded while you can! You won't regret it.

photography layouts

My grandpa was a photographer and my grandma did all the touch up work--an incredibly tedious job. (She would have loved Photoshop!) My grandpa took some amazing pictures--everything from the men on their ships during WWII to the Presidential election. He also had the only two 16mm motion picture cameras with sound in the entire state of Wyoming during his time.

On this layout I stictched a pocket onto the right-hand side to hold my grandpa's business brochure.

This layout showcases a copy of my grandpa's business card and two of his pictures taken during the Presidential campaign of Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

first job

My grandma had a twin. They both worked in retail after they graduated high school. Many people would get confused when they were shopping in one shop and then came to Woolworth's, where she worked and they saw "her" again. This is where her husband picked her up! This is the one picture she had taken inside of Woolworth's. She is the gal standing in the middle.

p.s. Mom and Dad--if you click on the pictures twice, you will be able to read the journaling. Or you can go to my flicker account (the side bar of pictures) and click on the heritage tab where you can view them on an even larger scale.

wedding day

My grandma had a very simple wedding. So simple in fact that they were married in a pastor's home on the same day as two other couples. There was not money to be tossed around in these days. She wore a simple dress and hat, not a big fancy gown. Funny how you are still married whether you have the big fancy ceremony or say your vows in someone's home.

first home

This was my grandma's first home. It was purchased 14 years into their marriage. They paid only $13, 450 back in 1954. She lived there until she needed to have someone checking on her more regularly. She sold her house for $109,500 in 2003 and moved to Iowa to live near my parents. It was a huge change for my grandma to move from Wyoming where she had lived most of her life, but I'm glad that my dad got to spend the last several years of her life getting to know her better.