The Story....

I got carried away with story telling and decided to start from the very beginning - a very good place to start. Ahhhhhh!

Some 'golden oldies' will remember the bar at Harrop Fold - photo of John and I taken on my 18th birthday. The drop waisted purple dress I wore came from Etam - I loved it.

Finished!

No, I haven't divorced or abandoned my 25th Wedding Anniversary album - indeed, it is finished!
Woohoo!
Will photgraph and post soon.
Happy day, 6th June 2012 - in plenty of time for me to splash on a bit of powder puff!

Eureka! Moment

So, back in April the word at Embsay Crafts was that they don't want to accommodate the monthly 'Crop' Group. Where else to I go for inspiration? - perhaps time I learnt some new scrapbooking skills and found out what Copic pens do and learnt my Cricuts from my Sizzix.

In the nick of time my Mum found a leaflet for Portfolio Arts & Crafts in Blackburn (www.portfolioartsandcrafts.co.uk)- monthly scrapbooking class by Mel Heaton of Craft & Create TV Channel - a TV channel for crafts??!! - well I never!

I proudly showed Mel all my ongoing albums including the 25th Wedding Anniversary explaining why I had chosen the themes, where the pictures were taken and why I had included them. Mel admired my pretty 'photograph album' asking who the people in the photos are (wasn't it obvious!?), how I felt when the photos were taken, was it raining, sunny?

I discovered I have missed the whole purpose - Scrapbooking is about the 'story', a memory album for future generations who won't know the events and may not know the characters, but this is way of maintaining a connection. Albums with no journaling are as much benefit as a shoebox full of jumbled up photos. Apparently, the starting point is the story - not how much space is left at the end!

Thank goodness I have just met Mel - with only a year to go to hand over my book to John I've a lot of work to do. I also learnt about colour - having a habit of always choosing the colour which most stands out, ie a dress, a background or wedding year theme, I have often drowned out the faces in the image.

On returning home I wrote for Victory! Even deciding to go back to the story of how John and I met and deciding that really the album has to contain a wedding day photo to be complete.

What a journey!

Sixteen - Aquamarine

Skies can be aquamarine can't they? - well they are in the French Alps! The water certainly is, but alas no good photo.


The luggage label was for sale individually - so much better than being left with a pack. The background is card with two lengths of ribbon and the alphabet stickers are Prima.



http://www.anniversaryideas.co.uk/ is where I found modern symbols or gemstones associated with anniversaries. Alternatives for year 16 are peridot or silver holloware.

Fifteen - Crystal

Celebration Tracker card was a perfect way of recording my husband's 40th birthday in 2001. Small stick on stones represent crystal.

So far I've followed the traditional wedding anniversary symbols and some inspiraation from Jo Verso's Cross Stitch Cards & Keepsakes.

John was vexed when his friends only allowed him runner up in the carting!

Fourteen - Ivory

For this snowy scene I discovered the perfect gadget to satisfy my over use of photographs. Borrowed from one of the girls at the monthly scrapbooking get together.


Easy to find snowy scrapbooking paper on an ivory background with a few added sparkly snowflakes!


Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!

Thirteen - Lace

John and I had the last page to ourselves, so one for Tom & Emma.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit to struggling with it. I found the lace paper and wanted to use the pics taken at the Teppanyaki Restaurant in Dubai of Emma in her pretty daisy skirt and Tom dressed as chef.

So much pale yellow and white - the page was just turning out too insipid. Anyway, in the end, rather than fuss further, I lifted with the letters used to spell Teppenyaki and some bright yellow stones in the daisies (just about visible from my photo).

Cute kids!