Memory File Scrapbooking - Sister Style

Yesterday, I had a bit of a stressful day, I was feeling really icky, so I decided to lock myself in my studio for a couple of hours and just make something because I wanted to, and I wasn't going to stop until I got my sparkle back - as I went to bed at 3am with gold stickles in my hair, I think it worked!! and here is what I made, my first dabble into Heidi Swapp's Memory File scrapping, and I LOVED them, I need more more more of these! They are fancier than a layout but less pressure than a mini album, perfect for me!

Here is the front of my folder (I used the smaller size one as I was only scrapping one photo)

 

I covered the front with a Kaisercraft paper (one of the best I have bought, mint and woodgrain, two of my favourite things!) and added a flower made using Sizzix / Tim Holtz's Tattered Rose die with Coffee filter paper, layered together with pinflair glue and finished with Stickles and Glass Glitter. Then my title in gold glitter thickers and October Afternoon Mini Market alphabet stickers. Here is a little close up of that rose - the pinflair really helps to give the coffee filter paper some structure, where its so thin it would just flop flat otherwise!

On the inside I used a mixture of American Crafts Dear Lizzy Papers from one of the pads I picked up in Hobbycraft the other day, the stickers are also American Crafts and the letters are some very very old ones from Sassafrass that I've been hoarding for a long long time (I still love them!)

The wood chip arrows I've covered with gold stickles (and resisted poking them to see if they were dry, how good am I! lol) I attached them with glossy accents. Here are a couple of close ups... (you can click to make them bigger)

 

The journaling card is one of my own and I left a little pocket behind one of the papers to tuck it into with a tiny bit of washi tape to pull it out with to see the hidden journaling. The 'Seriously?' stamp is from Pink Paislee's portfolio stamps, and I think you'll agree, it definitely fits this picture!

and the bit I know you're all waiting for, here is a close up of *that* picture, my sister and I and our fabulous fashion choices, circa 1990 - look how proud we are of those outfits! I'm wearing what appears to be a girdle (why?) while Taz is in a puffy sleeved satin number, we always were trend setters... *sigh*

I'm going to make another one for Taz this weekend, same journaling but maybe different papers to suit her style, this is one of our favourite pics so it will be nice for us both to have a fancy record of it, I will share her one once I've sent it to her.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Memories of Grandad Scrapbook Page

Today I'm sharing a scrapbook page! I haven't shared one for ages as I haven't had chance to do much scrapping recently (I miss it desperately!) and to be honest, I wasn't sure if this one would ever see the light of day as it's so personal and I found it so difficult to scrapbook.

I was very close to my Grandad, he was the strongest male influence in my life for lots of reasons and he died when I was 18, I'm really not one to brood on things or sit crying about things, but I find it very difficult to think of him or talk about him without crying even now, over 10 years later (even writing this is making me cry!) However the layout is done, this was a part of my process with documenting my family history with Ancestry.co.uk (I started with my grandad and am working back mostly on his side of the family) I knew this journey wouldn't always be an easy, happy one, and more than that, I think he deserves a mention on my blog!

The papers and most of the embellishments are from the Echo Park 'This and That' collection, one of my current favourites, that crossword paper fit perfectly as he loved crosswords and it was something we loved to do together! I also got to use lots of washi tape on this one too. I have journaled a few bits on the journaling card at the front but there is more hidden journaling (too personal to share - a great reason for hidden tags!) on the inside tag tucked behind the photo

I will be posting a more indepth update of my Ancestry project in a couple of days so keep a look out!

Also this week, the sneak peeks start! My Christmas stuff is very very nearly finished and I have another product launch for you also before the end of the month, myself and my lovely DT are working round the clock to get some samples ready for you - such an exciting but busy time!

Thanks so much for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Family History Update with Ancestry.co.uk

Today I'm so excited to share another family history update, so much has happened since I last posted!

Firstly, I mentioned in my previous update that I wrote to my aunt in America who I never knew about, well about a week later I had an email from one of her daughters, my cousin, we connected on Facebook and she has put me in touch with more cousins I knew nothing about! I'll be sharing more info on that later as some of the information is a bit confusing at the moment and I need to work out who's who etc... My aunt also replied to my letter a few weeks later telling me a bit about her life in America and asking me about my life and sending me a photo, it was so nice and I have replied to her with a more in depth letter (my first one was very brief)and some pics.I hope to have a nice Scrapbook page of that story to show you soon!

Secondly, I wanted to share one of my Smash pages to show you how I'm researching and keeping all my info together. I'm using a Smash Book (like a less organised scrapbook or less arty art journal - if that makes sense!) these have become so popular recently and a friend of mine bought me one for Christmas (I also recently started working with Rico Design who have a great range called 'My Memo' which is very similar) so I was keen to get stuck in and give it a whirl, it works perfectly for this, I can stick in all the bits I've been sent, all my info, doodle and take notes and there is a pocket at the back for anything I haven't had chance to categorize or get to yet.

 I have also started working on the first few scrapbook layouts using the photos that have been sent to me from family members, I'm only doing these once I have enough info to add some journaling or a bit about them to the layout and I'm scanning all the pics first so I can do more than one if necessary, digi scrap them and send them to other relatives etc... and I'm keeping all of the originals  in my Smash Book so they are easy to reference. 

I'd love to see / hear about how you organise your research if you'd care to share with me.

I also heard a very interesting rumour from three separate sources, which if it turns out to be true will be a VERY exciting story to share - I'm doing a lot of research into that now. As I've heard it from many different sources, I'm guessing there's no smoke without fire! ;o)

Today you get to search the 1911 census for free on Ancestry.co.uk so I'm taking full advantage and looking up everyone I can - it's so interesting to see a bit more about how people lived, what their occupations were and look up their old addresses on google maps to see if they still exist! I hope to have a lot more to add to my tree and Smash Book today

I'll be sharing another update soon!

Sarah x

Family History Project Update with Ancestry.co.uk

 

Today a little update on my family history project! As I mentioned in my last post, my aunt sent me a bunch of stuff including names, dates of birth, copy marriage certificates, photos and little snippets of stories that she could remember. I put as many facts as I could into my tree at Ancestry.co.uk and I suddenly had a ton of hints to go through - I still havent finished investigating them all!

One of the things she sent me was the details of a great great aunt living in America (this is my Grandads mums sister) from what I know so far, she married a GI during the war, moved to America and had a family, I didn't even know she existed and I have no idea if she knows I exist! Today I have sent off a letter to her - now I have my fingers crossed that she replies!

I now need another long phone call with my aunt to fill in some more gaps and I plan on visiting another aunt and uncle (my Grandads brother and his wife) very soon - wish me luck!

It's so exciting piecing together this history, once I have it all a bit more in order I'm going to start scrapbooking it, I'll be sharing those projects and some peeks of my Smashbook style of journaling it so far very soon.

Thank you for dropping by today!
Sarah x

Family History with Ancestry.co.uk Update!

There has been a fair bit of progress with my family history project, I haven't started my scrapbooking of it yet so I won't share too much as I want to show everything properly, but I had a long telephone conversation with my aunt who lives in Cornwall (my Grandads sister) and she told me what she could remember and promised to send me some picturess and bits she had in the post. The package came at the weekend and she had made notes of her parents and their relations as far back as she could remember, her parents wedding certificate and some pictures and little facts she could remember so I have lots to add to my tree on Ancestry and to my scrapbooking project! There was also a CD of pictures from old slides she had - the originals must have been a bit scratched so I have some picture restoration and cleaning to do - but its so fun to see them all!

I have a few more relatives who I plan to quiz soon, including one my aunt has put me in touch with in America - that sounds like a fun story to share with you all soon!

This week I also featured over on the Ancestry blog - yay! You can see the full feature here on their UK blog. I've already had some people contact me after seeing it to share their family history story with me, its so fun to see what people have found, how they have documented it etc... I am going to try and share some of them soon once I've spoken to them a bit more and got their permission to feature them here.

Now I must head back to my studio, I thought I had finished all my magazine submissions this week on Monday (I even took the luxury of finishing a bit early yesterday as it was B's birthday!) but today I had two urgent jobs come in so I have 12 cards to make by Friday - eeeeek! That on top of all the design and other illustration, research and writing work I have on and I'm a very busy girl - no rest for the wicked! ;o)

Thanks for dropping by today.
Sarah x

Family History Scrapbooking with Ancestry.co.uk

 

Today I'm so excited to share with you details of a new project I will be working on for the next year (or maybe longer, depending on how I get on!) I will be working with the lovely people at Ancestry.co.uk to research and document my family history and I will be blogging everything along the way!

I have wanted to do this for some time but knew it would be a huge project, my family is quite spread apart, my mum knows little of our family history and I have little or no details past my grandparents. To say this is a mammoth and overwhelming task is an understatement! However the few things I have heard sound mysterious and exciting and I'm ready to find everything out, the good, the bad and the ugly and I will be scrapbooking and documenting everything along the way as well as sharing my tips and tricks so you can follow along with your own family history. I'm a complete beginner, I have only been signed up to Ancestry for around 2 weeks and I have mostly been familiarising myself with how it all works and gathering my starting information. Luckily Ancestry provide a ton of help to get you started!

You can get your own 2 week free trial of Ancestry.co.uk right now on their site - just click here to sign up! (if you aren't in the UK please click through to Ancestry.com)

If you scrapbook your family history, or you decide to join me in this project now, I'd love to see your posts, please leave me your links so I can pop by and check them out.

I can't wait to get started!

Sarah x