A {like three} new project{s}

It's a gorgeous Sunday friends and I am ready to get back on the scrap horse. I've been a little out of it since returning home from family, I have had to play catch up on house work {though my husband did do a great job of keeping it pretty clean while I was away.}. I've had a mountain of laundry that I can't seem to get out from under, but I am slowly making progress. Thoughts have been racing around my head, a sure sign that creative juices are starting to flow, and that crafting itch is back, so I went up to my scrapbook room and started a new project. I enjoyed making the altered book for my mom so much that I started another altered book. This one is smaller and I used an entirely different technique. Instead of painting the cover, I decoupaged it. I am still in the beginning stages of the book, but I did take pictures.I have most of the decoupage done, I am starting to work on how I want to bind the spine {I've pretty much narrowed it down to two locking rings} and then I will continue on with it later. Here are the pictures of the book in the current beginning {rough} stages.

 

This is the book layed down flat. I've drilled in two holes for the rings and I am going use the ribbon to help bind the spine. 

 

 

Just some of the decoupage. You can see that it is not completely finished. I do love the soft greens and blues though.

This is my project right now. I have no real reason for it, I am just experimenting with altered books. I am thinking of turning it into an address book or planner for myself, though I am undecided as of now. I

 Moving along, I do have more projects that will be spilling out in the coming weeks, and I can give you a bit of teaser right now. While I was with family, my mom and I went digging into some boxes in the closets that were chalk full of pretty little treasures. My mom had stashed away hundreds of old black and white photos of her parents, her dad at war and so on. They are priceless photos, most of which were taken by my grandfather who was an amateur photographer. He would also develop the film and thereby made priceless works of art. Through out the week that I was there, we managed to separate and organize the photos, from photos dating all the way to the late 1800's early 1900's, to photos taken during my grandpa's service overseas in WWII {which he got an article in the paper about for the types of photos he took}, and on up past my grandparents wedding and into the birth of my mom and my aunt. My main interest was in the black and whites. I set aside all of the war photos for a very special scrapbook about my grandpa. My dad is currently scanning in the photos and retouching them for me and then saving them onto a disk to send to me. I am so excited to get all the photos and even more excited to start my first heritage album. I was able to leave my parents house with a copy of the article about my grandpa during the war, a copy of his discharge papers, and lovely little photo of him in uniform and two letters from his jacket when he played foot ball in highschool in the 30's. I will be keeping you all informed of this project as it moves along.

 During my visit my mom also gave me another trinket. She gave me an opal ring that is a family heirloom. The way the story goes is that the ring is passed among the women born in October in my family on my mom's side. My mom got the ring when she was younger from an aunt who got it from the original owner who got it in 1919. My mom was told to pass the ring on to the next girl born in October {preferably a daughter} and sure enough, I was born in October. My mom gave me the ring, and while we were looking throught the old photos we stumbled across one of the original owner of the ring. The date was around 1919-20 and sure enough, she is wearing the opal ring on her finger. When I get the ring fixed {it's missing an opal} I will take a picture of it and make a scrapbook page of the ring Aunt Vronie {the original owner} wearing the ring. I do have some pictures of the ring in it's current state that I can share with you. 

 

The opals in the ring aren't done any justice by this photo. They are beautiful and full of fire, even after 92 years. I am so lucky to be part of this tradition and be the new owner of the family heirloom. 

I have said a lot today and will now leave you all to your crafts and projects and continue on with mine. Thanks again for stopping in to read today and stop by again soon for more updates on my projects, fun tips and more!!