Sorry I missed my post last week, but I was away on a scrapbooking retreat at the Crystal Bell Inn & Spa in Wabeno, Wisconsin. The Bell is a beautiful Victorian mansion that caters to scrapping and quilting groups, as well as other guests. Hosts Donna and Mike VerVoort are more than just proprietors, they are friends, too. Comfy beds and great breakfasts, not to mention wonderful scrappin' buddies Courtney, Peg, Angie and Katie. I had a productive and relaxing time.
I took only one project to work on, and no photographs were involved. Before I show you pictures, let me tell you a little story about it. This is a story about a young woman named Edna Carolina Ida Klemp and her beau/husband Elmer Filter. Edna was born in Black Creek in 1919 and moved to Cedarburg in the early 1940's to work as a nanny and housekeeper for owners of a mink farm. She joined Immanuel Lutheran Church and was a member there until her death in 2003. Edna worked throughout the war years until her marriage to Elmer in August of 1947. Elmer Filter was also born in 1919 in Wisconsin. He enlisted in the Army on Dec. 11, 1941, just four days after Pearl Harbor. He was 21. His enlistment term was for the duration of the war plus six months, so he was gone from home until early in 1946. He spent some time in an Evac hospital, so he must have been wounded late in the war. I believe Edna and Elmer met shortly after he returned home. (I learned this history from Edna's online obit and Elmer's service record).
Edna was a scrapbooker! Shortly after Edna passed away, I visited an estate sale in Cedarburg. I remember the house even today, where I found her scrapbooks of greeting cards she saved during her time in Cedarburg before she was married. These cards were pasted into two scrapbooks and date from 1942 to 1947. I bought them, removed the cards from the books, and have had them in storage for 13 years! There are Christmas, birthday, Easter, Valentine, get well, and other misc. cards. I always knew that I wanted to showcase them in a scrapbook, and I've been looking for the just the right papers for that purpose. I finally found the perfect pages for the Christmas cards in Close to My Heart's Autumn seasonal catalog. Card themes range from cute, patriotic, traditional and religious. The preprinted "Happy Happy Christmas" pages are 7" wide by 8 1/2" long. I added coordinating paper scraps from other kits, ribbon, stickers, and some rubber stamping. The cards are 70+ years old, and the paper is fragile. Each card is backed with acid-free cardstock, then added to the page. Some pages were printed with holiday sayings and sentiments, and I left them as is. The pages are not in protectors, so you can open each card and read the sentiment within. Here are some pics of the results:
I just loved this one. I had to show you the inside.
This is another of my favorites.
Greeting card makers just don't make these kind of cards anymore. Most of the cards are 3" by 4" size, a few run a little larger. I'm still looking for pages suitable for the rest of the cards.
I just love the way this turned out. Blog friends...what do you think?
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