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I am overcoming my inability to type with my ability to talk (and talk and talk and talk) I'll be posting a video every week on my YouTube channel. I'll be posting those videos here too along with an occasional regular blog in the mix. (As long as my hands are up to doing the extra typing.)

You'll be able to watch the videos here, but I encourage you to stop by my channel at YouTube once I'm up and running to follow me and get my numbers started!


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Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Old Stuff

Gloomy weather in Ohio means happy treats for everyone! This is the third day of the weekend freebies and it’s the big finale! Remember, I still owe you a heritage kit!

Heritage. What they call “heritage kits” in the scrapbook stores don’t really fit my heritage and that’s what was totally screwing up my creative brain both in the SAS contest and in trying to do this kit. What are termed, in the scrapbooking world, heritage kits are Victorian era kits or a little later, definitely upper class for the time. The look and feel of these kits are old, antiquey, but not heritage or even heirloom to me. My heritage is definitely not upper anything!

During that era, my roots in the US, Poland and San Marino were farmers. There wasn't lace and pretty baubles for the ladies and the men smoked pipes made out of corn cobs, seriously, not fine lacquered stuff, farmer stuff. The dresses were prints that were worn on Sunday for church and then next year for every day when a new dress was made. By the time they were worn out, the colors were faded, but they were still colors. They had to be so they didn’t show dirt so readily. They had to be practical. The "good stuff" didn't come to our family until after Wold War 2 or immigration to the US.

But the biggest trouble I had in the contest, the reason I felt I had to drop out was the depressing color palette. To a farmer, brown was “no harvest.” No sun, no rain, no green leaves or ripe vegetables, brown was devastating. Even in the more recent times, the early to mid 20th century through World War 2 and immigration, the dresses were deep jewel tones, the flag was red, white and blue with 48 bright stars on it and the Statue of Liberty was bold, welcoming, green. Just because the photos are black and white didn’t mean our great-great grandparents were color blind!

I have spent this year doing a lot of heritage layouts. I have old black and white photos and stories my Dad remembers hearing from Noni and Nono and the stories Grandma shares with me. They tell me those stores in brilliant color, so I choose papers and elements that correctly represent that color, they tell the rest of the story that black and white didn’t capture. Yes I romanticize my history, everyone does, that’s why we do beautiful scrapbook layouts instead of just writing our histories in a book. But, I’m too proud to romanticize my heritage away from the odds my people beat when times were tough.

The bottom line of all my studying is everyone’s heritage is unique to their own family. It’s really not possible to create a kit that will lend itself to someone else’s whole ancestry. This is a decent sized kit and it doesn’t represent all of mine. But what I have done for my heritage kit, is combined elements from my own 19th century and early 20th century multinational history. There is a little something for everyone because the wonderful thing about diverse backgrounds is they tend to overlap with lots of other backgrounds.

The Old Stuff,” which shares it’s name with a Garth Brooks song, represents parts of my heritage. It’s a journey back, taking you in an artistic time machine to give your pages a little bit of the feel of what it looked like “when the old stuff was new,”


The files were a little big, so I broke them up. Be sure to get all the parts! I really think it turned out pretty well!


Download “The Old Stuff”
Sorry, this link is expired.

Of course I'd love to hear any feedback on this effort. Please leave comments here rather than at 4-shared, so I'm sure to see them and if you use "The Old Stuff" in a layout, I'd LOVE to see it!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I left comments on 4 shared too. But just in case you don't see it. Would love for you to make more heritage kits.This one is awesome. I too come from farmers. TYFS.

Anonymous said...

I had several aunts and uncles who were teen-agers in the 1930s and early 40s and this kit will work great for those pictures.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much. I can relate to just about every element that you have in your kit. I even played the alto saxophone in high school. You really hit it with accuracy on this one. Terrific!

Anonymous said...

These are great - you are right that not all heritage is lace and elegance. More please!!!
Thanks so much - Gail

Anonymous said...

These are pretty neat. I think I'll be able to use them in scrapping my spouse's family -- he comes from a long line of farmers and teachers.

Edna B said...

I guess they've said it all. This kit is absolutely beautiful. It's perfect for heritage scraps. My ancestors came over on the Mayflower, so farming played an enormous part in their lives. Thanks so much. Hugs, Edna B.

Simone said...

Love your Kit, thanks so very much

April said...

this is a beautiful kit. Awesome work! Thank you very much for sharing.

PattyKay said...

Wonderful kit!! Thank you very much :)so luv heritage kits.

Anonymous said...

OOPs! I left my comment on 4-shared with the quickpage - then read you prefer here. Can't wait to use the accordian for my grasndpa and a shot of my sister (the only instrument any of us ever played). My mom grew up on a farm, we visited every suummer break. Thanks for sharing.
Linda

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for sharing!