Vintage Christmas Card Album - Thanks, Edna!

Hello Blog Friends,

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.

 This one is my absolute favorite.  It even had a piece of play money inside.  I hope Edna got the real thing for Christmas that year!

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?

I'M BACK, WHAT A SPRING!

Hello Blog Friends!  

I hope you haven't given up on me!  It's been a heck of a spring!  I'll try to be brief while I catch you up on what's been happening in my life.   

Since I wrote to you last:

• I've been on a scrapbooking retreat.
• I've sewn 20+ pillowcases.
• I've been to Colorado.
• I've made 2 six-page scrapbooking layouts.
• I've made 2 throw pillows.
• I've been to a quilt show.
• I have 1 quilt top ready for quilting.
• My husband and I have been to 4  plays (local community theater).
• The construction season has begun, and I'm working 45 - 50 hours/week now.

Whew!  That's quite a list.

Here's a fun pic from the scrapbooking retreat:  

Here's the pile of pillowcases, along with some of my favorites.

Here I am with Denis and Mom at Loveland Pass, just west of Denver on U.S. 6.  Denis, my brother and I traveled there to scatter our mother's ashes high in the mountains.  Elevation 11,990 ft..  

Here are some photos from the 2016 Evergreen Quilters Guild Quilt Show in Ashwaubenon (Green Bay).  These are the ones we liked the best.

 I love this one, it is a landscape of National Parks:

 This next one is a "Slice" quilt.  You take a picture or drawing, cut it into slices, then each quilter makes her slice, then you join them all up again.  A great group project.  

More next post on the scrapping layouts I've created.  See you then!

Pinewood Derby Project

Hello Blog Friends!

I wanted to share the project I completed at the scrapping retreat I attended last weekend.  This is a 9" x 9" accordion book.  The front and back covers are attached with two additional pages.  There are 10 pages total, counting the outside and inside covers.  You 'read' the book, turning the pages to the right.  Because the covers and pages are connected, it becomes a continuous process.

Front cover

First two pages (inside)

Next two pages (inside)

Back cover

Last two pages (inside)

I'm very happy with how the book turned out.  I'm sure he will be, too.  One Christmas present down, but how many to go???

Quick and easy sewing projects are on deck.  More on that in the next post.

Till next time...

Little Book of Quotes

Hello Blog Friends,

This week, I'm sharing some of the scrapbooking project that I started on the retreat to I attended several weeks ago.  

I have some very special friends where I work, three women who mean very much to me.  Two I think of as younger sisters, and one I think of as a daughter (she is my youngest daughter's age).  I will miss seeing them on a day to day basis when I retire next spring.  Heather, the youngest of the three, is getting married in October, and of course, a quilt is in the works for that.  Paula and Lynn are like sisters...Paula will receive a quilt as a "remember me" parting gift.  I've chosen to make Lynn a little book of quotes.  Lynn has recently been diagnosed with MS, and I hope this book of encouraging and enlightening quotes will brighten and comfort in tough days to come.

The book is made of chipboard pages, each 6" high and 7" wide.  Each page has a different shaped edge.  The pages will be held together with a locking binder rings, covered in pretty ribbons.  The nice thing about this smaller size is that I am using some of the larger "orphan" paper scraps in my scrapbooking stash.  So, in essence, this is a stash-buster project also!  

I'm using both the computer and stamped images to create the sentiments on the pages.  The book is still a work in process, but here is a sampling of what is inside:

The front cover.  Back cover will be covered in same paper.

 Inside front cover and page 1.

 Page 1 up close.

 Absolutely love this paper!

 The words in brown paper stand up off the page for emphasis.  I still need to add a few paper flowers to this page.

Another page with stamped images.

There will be 10 chipboard pages in all when it is done.  I have 7 pages and the back cover to make yet.  I really like this project, and plan to make one for myself at a later time.  

...I am hard at work on the second stash buster quilt.  Details next week.  Until then...

Scrapbooking Retreat, Day 3

Hello Friends!

Today was our final full day here at retreat.  Tomorrow we pack up and head back to the city, families, and jobs. 

Here's a shot of the room earlier today showing everyone working diligently.

Today I completed 8 pages, and I concentrated on the Museum of Science and Industry.  I'll post some photos of my pages tomorrow night from home.

Scrapbooking Retreat, Day 2

Hello Friends!

I'm happy to report that I've been busy here at retreat and have 16 pages completed.  I finished Shedd Aquarium pages and I've posted pictures of these pages below.

All our ladies are here now, the last group having arrived this evening about 6:00. 

 

Back to work...more in tomorrow's post.

Scrapbooking Retreat Day 1

Hello Friends!

Here I am at scrapbooking retreat.  Remember that huge pile of stuff?  Well, it was loaded into the car, and is now set up in my space here at retreat.  Here I am hard at work in my space. 

I have been working hard ptoday and have 3 two page layouts done so far.  Tonight I'll finish up my pages on the Shedd Aquarium from our Chicago trip.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am using premade pages, and that makes the work go much faster.  It's only a matter of choosing the photo, and sizing it to fit the mat.  I'll post pictures of pages in tomorrow's post. 

Back to work.....

Over the river and through the woods... to scrapbooking retreat we go!

Friends,

It is time to switch gears from sewing to scrapping for this coming week, as I will be going to a scrapbooking retreat with 30 other girls.  I leave bright and early on Thursday morning to head to northern Wisconsin for 4 days and 3 nights of girl talk, wine, good eats, and scrapbooking!

I'm packed and ready to go.  Here's a picture of all my stuff.  I'll be posting from the retreat and will show you my space once everything is unpacked and set up.  I'll also send some pics of finished pages.

Now, I know what you are thinking..."You're taking all that???"  Well....yeah.  I have my 12" Cricut machine in its travel bag (far left), along with cutting mats, cartridges and other accoutrements.  I have all my papers (a must for scrapbooking, kind of like fabric is a must for quilting), ink pads, tools, embellishments, ribbons, acrylic stamps and blocks, laptop, printer (not shown), and the Gypsy Quilter's Sit Upon.  Now you are probably thinking..." I hope she has a large vehicle like an SUV."  Fear not, I have a KIA Sorento. 

My pride and joy is the two matching pieces of MIMI craft luggage (the red bags in the center, toward the back).  They are made of red suede and feature many clear vinyl pockets inside for maximum storage.  The bottom one has wheels.  I have all Close To My Heart inkpads in the tall narrow black tote on the right.  The smaller black and white square tote in the left front is by Creative Memories and holds all my tools. 

I never use preprinted photos, but print my own on my wonderful HP color inkjet printer.  I also take my laptop computer, so I can crop, resize, recolor my photos before printing.  We have internet access where I am going, so I will also use my laptop to use Cricut Craft Room online.

I have a great camera.  An Olympus DSLR.  I took the shot of Chicago skyline from the Shedd Aquarium.

We stayed in Shaumburg.  I took the shot of the clock tower at dusk.  P.S.  I love large photos...can you tell??

I am scrapping a trip Denis and I took to Chicago several years ago.  Can you believe it, but I started this scrapbook at last year's crop.  I have really lagged on this project, and like all UFOs, I want it DONE!  I am using many premade layouts for this, much like the one I showed you several posts ago (from scrapbooking group night).  As a matter of fact, all the pages I intend to use are from scrapbooking monthly group.  I need to work on pictures from the Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Field Museum.  I already have the Willis Tower and Adler Planetarium done. 

 Here is one set of pages from the Adler Planetarium.  The pages were premades from monthly group.

Here we are "on the ledge" at the top of the Willis Tower.  Again, premade pages from monthly group.

I'll be busy tomorrow night, packing the car and making some treats...my contribution to the food for the weekend.  My next post will be from retreat on Thursday evening.  I'll tell you more about the retreat itself then.