a little more...

please *rush* to your latest copy of PaperCrafts Magazine and *rip* it open to page 23. :D yep, that's me. a whole page for my project. wow. i love that. it's still very surreal to see *my* little ol' name in a magazine. and what's even cooler is bringing the magazine to work to show off to my non-scrapbooking friends, who are appropriately uber-impressed.

i wanted to share a few pictures of my latest project!! i'm still REALLY excited about this. a little background:

my grandfather was 20 years old when he was stationed in alaska, doing radio work for the army. after he settled in, my grandmother, about 18, flew up and they were married in a postoffice. a very humble life followed, my grandfather working odd shifts, my grandmother keeping their little trailer-home. during their nearly-two years in alaska, grandma wrote about 30 letters home to her mother and family. my great-grandmother, an amazing woman herself (another day, another blog entry) must have known that her future posterity would froth at the mouth at the thought of such an heirloom, because she kept these letters safe for years. my grandmother has since placed them in my care as it seems that i am being recognized as heir to my father's title of family historian.

ok, so - i was on a mission to preserve these puppies, and i was inspired by Ali E.'s book of letters from her mom. here are some bits and pieces of volume 1 of the end product:

{left - text says: letters from a young bride, far from home, on marriage, babies and every day life in alaska. 1954-1956. right - upclose, you can see bits of her handwriting through the holes.}


{each envelope features a bit of text - in my handwriting - summarizing the contents of the letter. each envelope holds 1-3 letter(s) (depending on thickness).}





{flowers are salvaged from gerbera bunches, at joanns (*enabler alert* bunches are on sale for $1 right now, and you get about 6-8 flowers on one bunch, times 2 layers of large flower petals, and one layer of small flower petals. needless to say, i'm swimming in daisies.) buttons are foo-fa-la "bag o' buttons". love these.}


{on the flap of each envelope, i've written the date(s) of the letter(s), as well as their location when they were written, as they lived in three different locations during their two years there.}

the pictures don't capture the bitty details that i love so much. the paper is Making Memories, Vintage Hip line. silver rub-ons, which you probably can't see, are 7gypsies, as is the album; white "memories" rub-on is Making Memories. pretty striped ribbon is American Crafts. fun little notecards are 7gypsies too.

and my favorite part of the whole project was reading the letters, one by one... i loved comments from my grandmother like "well, i thought it was the flu, but after a few weeks it didn't let up... went to the doctor and he didn't agree with my diagnosis, so ... you're going to be grandparents." i also enjoyed reading about how soda didn't come in bottles in alaska - only in cans; you could only iron until about 10am because afterwards, the electricity was too weak; laundry was done by hand; the cost of milk, bread, etc; hunting squirrels for fun; etc. this was such a great project.

thanks for letting me share. :)