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Lid from box of new Christmas balls - now wonderful
decorations for next year! See why I save? |
I have decided that this is the year of cleaning out, using up and moving forward lighter. If you know me at all, you know that I'm a keeper of all things. As a previous antique store owner and a collector I tend to place a value on everything that crosses in front of me! As a mixed media artist, everything I see can be used in something, sometime, some way.
With the passing of our parents I gained even more things to hold on to (some of you would use the word hoard) I use hold on to and treasure! Except, that I'm feeling overwhelmed by stuff! I didn't know it could happen, but it has and this must be the year of use it, sell it, give it away or with a very deep sigh throw it away! Eek, you may or may not know how that makes me feel, but it's scary! Not the use it, not the sell it, not the give it away, but the THROW IT AWAY!
We had a couple of nice, warm and sunny (for January) days and so I dug into my garage. One side is for the car, but the other side planned for a outside studio has become a storage bin. I have some woodworking ideas, some fiber cleaning to do and so I began my clean up the chaos here.
My mom and dad had a trunk that as a child I loved to look through. Dad stored it in the back of a closet and occasionally he would pull it out, open it up and let me look at the goodies. Well, when Dad passed and Mom moved to Texas with us along came the trunk. Finally, I went through it and found that most of those childhood memories didn't really amount to much, but there were a few items hidden away that are treasures.
I found both of their 8th grade graduation certificates and the condition is remarkable, I'm only showing one as they're both identical except for the names. I think I will be able to remove some of the wrinkles and use them for a journal cover??
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| The cover with her name in gold! |
I found my mom's high school memory book - and I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. I hope to scan some of the pages, so I can print and use them in future journals and some I will just use as they are. I will add some of the Valentines and other cards to art pieces, but I just wanted to share some of these pieces here in my blog. I loved reading some of the notes mom's friend had written to her and notes she had made along with the things she had placed in her book. It's getting to know mom in a totally different way. I wish we had gone through the book together and although I know I have heard many of the stories, there were many more for her to tell!
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| I love the art work! |
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This is one of those pop up, die cut cards!
Still perfect and so intricate! |
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| Valentines |
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| Another pop up card! |
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Look at all the gift tags - those haven't changed much
through the years! |
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This napkin is like new and it was for her
surprise 16th birthday! Never knew she
had one! |
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Loved that she wrote that they ate candy during Study Hall -
well nothing changed - she ate candy up to her last day! |
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| What a stylish valentine! |
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| She noted on this that the party guests confused her and her sister! They were just two years apart in age. The menu was always listed in her notes and that never changed - She always told me what they had to eat at every event she ever attended! |
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These last cards were actually postcards! Personal notes were
on the back and could have been mailed, but appeared to
be just given to her. |
I didn't keep a book like this when I was in High School and have really never been a "scrapbooker." I have thousands of pictures, fortunately for heirs they're mostly digital now, but I don't know that I have anything that will tell the story of my early life like this has for my mom. Oh, just remembered my mom kept my baby book and a school scrapbook for me too! It just goes through grade school and does have some fun valentines in it. Well, that's another blog for another time!
Hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane and now I will decide how to use these items. I see some journals and art in these pages. Some I will scan so I can print and use more than once and others, well, we'll just have to wait and see!
My first house was all torn papers. I used some fab Tim Holtz papers with some birds on it. Also, had some papers with French writing and had to add that too. Ended up pretty cute, if I do say so myself.
When Archivers was going out of business I bought some interesting sheets of paper, so did my next house with a map of the Paris bus system or so it says, I think. In other words, they could say that and I wouldn't know, but I like the paper. End result, if I have a French bird fly into my studio he will like this house!
