Snippets from the Past

Years ago when my mother, aunt, daughter and I were cleaning out my grandmother's house we came across boxes (and boxes) of neatly bundled cards and letters that she had kept since moving into the house in 1949 (the current year was then 1997). Not being able to bear to toss them, I took the lot home with me where they have been stored, waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.

Some of them I had used in Christmas ornaments. Some I used in altered tins that I gave to my family. The leftovers from those projects were still sitting around so I decided to go through the rest of the cards and letters to see if there were any that needed to be saved to other locations.

I came across a couple of birthday cards/letters written by my sister to my grandmother, from 1987 and 1986. In these letters she talked about her young children, the youngest being a new baby in 1986. Sweet little snippets in life. Written snapshots.

I knew immediately that I had to return these to my sister so I set them aside.

Fast forward a couple of days and I'm thinking that just handing them to her sounded so...boring...LOL! So started to think of a more proper "presentation."

This is what I came up with....the envelope is a sturdy double-sided design scrapbooking paper. The image on the envelope came from the card that accompanied one of the letters.The postmarks are from the original envelopes.

I edged the sides of the envelope with Distress Ink,

and the text on the back came from the inside of the same card.

Then, to identify the letters, I stamped the years they were

written on the letters themselves and slipped them in the

hand-made envelope. She loved them, by the way....:-)

 

First Snow

Not the first snow of the season (not by a long shot), though it may be the first snow of the New Year, but seeing how it's only the 3rd of January... But it is the first snow on my Erosion Bundle and Teddy is covered with it!! :-)

Erosion Art Bundle 2010 :-)

Who knew that gathering and bundling and hanging “stuff” outside for a few months could be so much fun! I am participating in the Erosion Bundle Project for 2010, which entails gathering items from the house/garage/art supplies/wherever you can find them, and bundling them together to hang outside to let the elements do what they will with them, and then creating an art project with the “remains” of whatever Mother Nature left for you!

We are supposed to hang them out starting January 1, 2010 and retrieve them on April 15, 2010, and have a finished art piece by August 1^st.

My “stuff” included in my bundle:

Jute, blue and natural colored

Plumber’s strap

Silk leaves

Green macramé yarn

Rolled paper, green and natural

Leather piece

Metal heart

Blue/yellow/purple fluffy yarn

Lace, cream and white

Blue/green/purple material

Red/purple/yellow “point cards” from work (aka cardstock)

Denim pocket

Raffia

Copper wire

6 strips of homemade papers

Christmas wrap from Diva swap

Bingo cards

Puzzle pieces

Book

Mini Teddy Bear

And as an afterthought:

Canning lid ring

A different copper wire

Plain ol’ wire

Paint brush

Mat frame

I wrapped everything in and around the book with the yarns, and wires (hope I can get it off again!).

A close-up...

 

(Mini-Teddy looks kinda scared...LOL!)

And the top and bottom of the bundle...

   

Then I hung my bundle on the birdfeeder stand on the north side of our house. This’ll be great as I can see it from my kitchen window when it gets snowed on, rained on, and blown around! The sun may even hit it late in the afternoons.

 

So have at it, Mother Nature! And let’s make art come April!