Scrap Around The World January 2015

I am playing along this month at Scrap Around The World. The mood board is just so romantically shabby and beautiful!! So I had to give it a try!!

This is the wonderful moodboard, and here is the link to this month's challenge.

I was inspired by the general shabby mood of the board, the bucket of flowers in the upper right photo, the collection of frames and the time elements.

Here is my entry:

The title of my layout is "Holding On to Memories of You"

Six years ago I had to let go of my dear Mother. That is her photograph in the tiny frame on the right. And although I miss her every day, and our times together, I have my memories to hold on to. And I have saved precious items that were a part of her. In the large photo you see roses and peonies that Mom patiently dried in her spacious attic. I like to display them at certain times of the year on various tables throughout my home. They remind me of our happy times together in the garden, and the effort Mom made to save her flowers.

I used various framing elements - some I whitewashed with gesso, other I left alone in their metallic gold state, as they already had a nice, aged patina. I applied molding paste through various stencils. Then I made a "shabby" frame for my larger photo with layers of distressed papers. I applied my frames over a distressed and gessoed piece of corrugated cardboard, applied spray inks and from there built up the elements, using cheesecloth, torn papers, bits of fabric, flowers and fussy cut elements. Lastly I added beads and paint splatters. Then I applied paint to the floral elements and added the little key. Also I used twine to tie the arrangement together.

Some close ups:

For whatever reasons, I had a very difficult time pulling this layout together. I suppose my brain just stopped functioning after the intense holiday work load, and perhaps I needed to let it rest a bit, LOL! Although it was not funny trying to get this page into some kind of order. Anyway, I hope you like my layout, and let's hope my brain cells are more cooperative next time around! Best wishes to all for a great new year!

Scrap Around the World September 2014 Challenge

This is the delightful moodboard for the month of September 2014 at "Scrap Around The World", a wonderful challenge site. I am playing along in the challenge this month after a too long break away from scrapping! Here is the link to this month's challenge at Scrap Around The World.

I was inspired by the image in the upper left corner of the moodboard of the gossamer winged fairy in her lovely draped dress, and by the fairy tale quotation in the upper right corner of the moodboard. Also, the whole magically charming atmosphere of the board and its sweet pinks and blues really captured me!!

Here is my layout, entitled "Their Own Special Fairy Tale":

THEIR OWN SPECIAL FAIRY TALE

I took a vintage photo of my Mom and her little sister from 1930 and placed it in a little Fairy Garden I created. The photo was taken during the height of the Great Depression. Mom and her sister were the youngest in a family of 10. They were very poor, and their mother was a Polish immigrant, so there were no toys and no luxuries. But they created their own little world that sustained them. They were children of the meadows and forests that surrounded their hometown, and their childhood was spent outdoors. The private world they created included lots of "make believe" amongst the streams and flowers and trees. They loved to make up fairy stories with themselves as the main characters, and were free to spend untold hours outside in the summertime, playing and dreaming.

I found a poem that was written by my Mom when she was in her late 70's. It is so clearly nostalgic and filled with yearning for the lost days of her childhood. So I carefully altered this fragile bit of paper to fit into my design by tearing and distressing the edges, inking it, and tracing over her own handwriting (which was written in pencil) in ink. So what you see is truly a piece of her!

After I applied molding pastes and sprayed various inks, I layered on pieces of an old, vintage bureau scarf and a piece of old lace, along with the chipboard piece, which was inked and applied with crackle paste. Then I built up the "fairy garden" with lots of fussy cut elements. I tried to include some of the favorite flowers of my Mom's, especially ones she may have encountered on her walks all those years ago. Along with the gossamer flowers there are also dried elements, pods, dried flowers and a stalk of a pressed weed, which seemed fitting!

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of my family story. And even though my Mom and her sister had nothing and lived in poverty as children, their "fairy tale" dreams eventually came true! They made beautifully satisfying lives for themselves as adults, married handsome "princes", had lovely homes, many children, made some money, traveled and lived to old age. So......fairy tales can come true!!

I believe I have followed the 10 golden rules of The Scrap Around The World challenge site, and I hope you like my layout.

 

Scrap Around The World June Challenge

I am joining in this month's challenge at the Scrap Around The World site. Here is the challenge mood board, used for inspiration.......

I was inspired by the images in the upper left and the lower right. I loved the worn, soft brownish/golden tones of the old suitcases, books, cameras and the grasses. I thought of a sweet little photo of my Mother that was taken when she went to school. It is the earliest photograph I have of her. And she is giving a hesitant, yet dear little smile for the camera!

Roughly based on the sketch, I put my Mom's little photo over to the right. Substituted the clock and the drips, and the berry vine for the banners. Then along the bottom of my page I added elements that had special meaning to my Mother's life when she was a little girl. I also added some mementos, the little tag with the basket was actually made by my Mother. She made the most incredible dried floral arrangements on paper. And she grew and pressed her own herbs and flowers. On this adorable little tag you can see the tiny little johnny jump ups that she featured in the center of her basket, and on the handle. The body of the basket was made out of little bits of herbs, and decorated with tiny vetch swirls. There is also a little basket made out of an apricot pit! This was made by my Dad, it was something he learned to do when he was in WW2 over in Europe!

When Mom was a little girl, she was always outside in the fields, meadows and woods that surrounded her home. Gathering berries, fruits, mushrooms, flowers and all manner of wild things, was a very big part of her life. She went with her immigrant Mother often to collect things for the family use. And they always used baskets to collect their treasure. Thus the many baskets on this page. Mom also was an avid recorder of the natural world, she sketched and drew and observed all manner of wild things, loving especially birds and wildflowers. Looking back on her early years, she always recalled with great fondness how lovely and simple and poetic life was back then. (1920's)
So I incorporated the torn poetry scrap as part of the title, and then added the "my childhood" pieces. This page, filled with wildflowers, grasses, and other objects from the natural world, reflects the innocence and wonder of a childhood unfettered by modern technology. It is my way of honoring her youth.


A closeup of the upper right corner.

And the lower left corner.