Scrap Around The World September Challenge 2013

I am joining in this month at the Scrap Around The World Challenge site. The moodboard this month is dramatic, bold, and quite open to various interpretation!

Here is the moodboard for this month's challenge!


The moodboard seems to me to be all about feelings and emotions. I was inspired by the more somber aspects of the board - the image in the lower left with all of the thoughts radiating from the head, and the image of the face in the lower right, that look! I thought of my Grandmother, and her usually sad face.......

                                   
                                                              "Tesknota"  -  (Melancholy)

Here is my layout. My Grandmother, the photograph taken about 1935. The photo captures her sad face perfectly. She seldom smiled, and always had a handkerchief in her hand to wipe away the tears that seemed to fall on a regular basis. She exuded a certain melancholy - "tesknota" - a specific kind of Polish melancholy which for an outsider is hard to understand. It roughly translates as a nostalgic yearning or longing with tonalities of sadness, precipitated by a "forever parting", in which life figures as a river of pain and suffering.

My Grandmother was an immigrant from Poland, she was never really "happy" here in America. Here life was difficult and she never overcame the social, cultural and language barriers.

I hoped to create a layout which presents this sort of particular feeling of sadness. I wanted the page to be "moody", using the monochromatic palette with subdued "sad" purple/blue colors, along with black. I added some personal objects in the form of two medallions taken from old Polish rosary beads. One is of "Our Lady of Czestochowa", a special image beloved by Poles. A framed image hung on the wall in my Grandma's bedroom. I used two old keys that belonged to my Grandma, and also two vintage "jet" buttons. In keeping with the inspiration from the image of the head with radiating thoughts (on the moodboard), I used mists, inks and torn papers, but in a "downward" pattern, as down always seems to signify sadness. There are also tear drops falling on the lower part of the page, but they are difficult to see in this photograph.

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.

OUAS May Entry Challenge

                                                          GIRLS IN WHITE DRESSES

This is my entry for the May challenge, which requires a visible number on the layout. I based my page upon the sketch, but decided to use only one photograph.

The photograph is of my Mother, on her First Communion Day, in 1929. As I do not actually know the exact date, I am only able to use the year it took place.

If one pulls on the tiny chain attached to the little cross in the upper left, the full journaling will be revealed. The chain and cross belonged to my Mom.

Journaling reads: " How special this day must have been for you!! Every little girl dreams of wearing a beautiful white dress, feeling like a little princess! Although I am sure the dress was a 'hand me down' from your older sisters, it did not matter, you were still the most lovely girl, so poised and elegant looking, even at the tender age of 8!! "

May CSI entry, such a beautiful Spring palette!!

Norah Through The Appleblossoms #70

#70, used all colors
Evidence: flowers, wood, something woven, circles, distressing
Testimony: Documented Spring with the poem excerpt on the page. Then I chose to use the "roll-role-the roles you play" prompt. With this I've written about the role of women in the garden throughout time, and then about my role as a gardener. I wrote my words on the little "sc-rolls" and tucked them into the little basket.

The photo shows my garden "mascot" Norah, named after an inspirational woman gardener. Photo shows her through the frame of the blossoming apple trees.

Testimony: "Throughout the ages, gardening has always been an accepted form of self expression for women. From the humblest cottage gardens to the grandest estates of splendor, women have left their mark!
Oftentimes, the garden offered the only delight in the lives of hardworking poor women. And conversely offered solitude and peace to the ladies of the upper classes. Gardens fed the soul.
Over the years, many women recorded, painted, designed,stitched, and wrote about their private paradise. So many remain unknown to us. And then there are the more famous women who courageously established their place and made a name and a career for themselves. The greats such as Gertrude Jekyll, the illusive Norah Lindsay, the bold and quirky Vita Sackville-West, the sweet and earthy Elizabeth Lawrence, the refined Edith Wharton, and many, many more, still inspire and instruct.
My role as a gardener began at a very young age, poking around in the dirt as a child! When I finally had a piece of land to call my own, the real work began! I read as much as I could, learning about plant lore, design, soil and site conditions, organic methods,etc.,....so much to learn. I drew inspiration from the greats as well as the humble. I dug, planted, hauled barrows of manure, built walls, carved out paths...learning as I went along, editing as needed, always learning from my mistakes, there were plenty of those! To use the words of Miss Jekyll - " a garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness, it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust."
So I am the gardener, I have the calluses, the broken fingernails and cranky knees to prove it. But I am also the recipient of much delight, and every year when the fresh and lovely Spring makes its eternal reappearance, I feel blessed beyond measure."

CSI Week Three, April Special Investigator

Organic Girl   #68

CSI #68
Used all five colors
Evidence: clouds, polka dots,stripes (last paper layer),flowers, owl
Testimony: Wrote 3 important things and 5 less important things about my subject in the scalloped journal spot, which are the clouds in the upper right.

The layout shows my oldest daughter so many years ago, more than I care to remember, oh dear!!! The photos are not the best quality, they were taken before digital cameras etc., probably with an old Kodak Brownie or something like that. But I love them because they show her spirit and personality so very well!!
She looks like part of the landscape, like she is growing out of the grasses, and that's why I named this page "Organic Girl."

"Brave
Smart
Strong willed
Wise
Free Spirit
Out Spoken
Strong
Sassy
and for good measure:
Red Curls
Too Cute
That's my organic girl!!!!!"

Lots of molding paste on this page, inking, fussy cutting and some dried items from my garden.

Guest Investigator CSI April, week two

Grandmother's Box   #67

Used all five colors
Evidence: stars, bird, lots of fussy cutting
Testimony: I hand wrote a question on the front of the layout, in which I used the inspiration word, chaos. In the full journaling I asked a series of questions. (on opposite page of layout in book)

This is a layout about my Grandmother's box, and it is also a layout about her life.

When I saw the inspiration picture, all I could think of was the story of "Pandora's Box", all those elements flying out of it. Then I thought of my Grandmother's box, which is now mine. And this is how this layout was born. And also how the story of Pandora's Box translates to her (my Grandmother's) story.

My journaling as a series of questions:

- Amidst the chaos did hope remain?

- What caused you to run away from the safety of your older sister's lodgings?

- Why did you reject the job she arranged for you?

- Where did you run to?

- Were you dreadfully unhappy?

- Were you impetuous?

- Were you just plain stubborn??

- What kind of courage did you possess after you unleashed the "evils" of the world upon yourself???

- Did HOPE remain strong in your soul????

CSI Guest Special Investigator, Week One for the month of April

Two Jokers 1947 #66

I have used all five colors
Evidence: buttons, arrows, something fuzzy (flocked paper), ribbon, hearts (large metal heart), holes (washers)
Testimony: A layout about my parents on their honeymoon in Williamsburg, Virginia, 1947.
I have handwritten the journaling as a postcard. This is on the back of the actual postcard seen on the left side of the layout, the postcard can be slipped out by pulling on the attached string, (which is not visible in the photo). I wrote something funny as I imagined my Mom might have written it, (she was a very good writer). I used the inspiration word point.

"Hello Everyone! Well here we are, and wouldn't you know it, married life is not what it's cracked up to be!!! Case in point: we got hitched and look what happened, we were immediately thrown into the stocks!!! Marriage has made us laughingstocks, bound and jailed for the rest of our days!! Why didn't anyone tell us this???!! Sue & Ernie
p.s. just kidding, loving every minute!!!!"

The photo is actually 2 separate photos pieced together. I used a lot of personal items on this page. The large tarnished heart is a bookmark that belonged to Mom. The silver button and the red small crystal buttons were hers. As well as the postcard, which came from her collection of old postcards. The joker card belonged to Dad, as did all of the many washers on the layout. The key and lock surround also belonged to him, and the watch face is set into an old watch back of his.