Voices from the Past

"In order to know where we are going, it is important to know where we have been." This quote is at the start of the binders of family history that my mother compiled and then gave to each of her children for Christmas 10 years ago.

Living on the other side of the world, separated from my past by an ocean, intensified my appreciation for this marvellous gift. The photos that I have in my posssession and those that have been scanned from various sources bring a special appreciation for the lives of my ancestors. Their images capture physical similarities and mannerisms and even their hobbies, talents and skills seem to ribbon through the family as well.

Occassionally, as I work on cataloging the old photos, one or two seem to grab my attention and almost beg to be freshened up and 'framed' in a layout. How fun it is to do something creative to bring those photos out of storage, dust them off so to speak and brighten them up with some colour and embellishment and a breath of life. While the people in them may no longer live, these captured moments give them a voice. And they seem to speak as I work with them.

Since I haven't posted anything for the past few weeks, I thought I'd post some of the photos that were recently re-captured and rejuvenated in layout form. Don't the girls just seem to want to burst off the page and begin dancing? Don't those college boys look a bit smug about their prank? And the fresh joy of a new friendship still speaks volumes 87 years later about fun and shared interests.

Each is a reminder from the past that basic values never change. Life should always be celebrated. Relationships always valued. And a bit of harmless fun is never a bad idea.

Live, Love, Laugh. What do you hear from your heritage photos?

All the above layouts use kits from Janet Carr's Little Feet Designs found at For the Love of Art. Remember: Dear Sweet Friend and Put it in a Mask It; Pranks: Xtra Xtra and King of My Heart; When We Rats Sewed: Sew You're a Seamstress, God Bless America (sewing machine) and a modified freebie from Creative Memories (corsage) also designed by Janet Carr. Note: the last layout features actual fabric swatches that were kept in my grandmother's scrapbook. The buttons were extracted from photos of 1920s buttons found on the internet.