Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1997 Falling in Love

Ahhhh, there we were in 1997.  Falling in Love.  Taking a Giant Leap of Faith and starting our law firm together (2 years before we got married).  This picture was taken in Northeast Georgia where his parents had a summer house.  We look like babies - at least to me now.  I was 27 and he was 40.  This was before our house, before the dogs, before the kids.  We met in 1995 and married in 1999 and the kids didn't come along until 2002 and 2003.  In my scrapbook album "The Century Scrapbook Project: 1900-present" it is fun to see the last 20 years play out in one page snap shots.

Since I used an original photo on this page, I took a photo of the photo just in case:

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1999 Honeymoon at Atlantis, The Bahamas

I have a Pinterest Board called "Centered" with scrapbook layouts that include photos down the vertical center of the page, I find these to be very eye catching and easy to execute.  That said, I rarely do them so I thought I'd make one tonight - it was very easy with the Glitz 6x6 paper pack called "Unchartered Waters" - the only downside to that pack is that the papers are double sided and I love all of the designs and I don't want to cover them up so it is hard to use them!  They are so pretty and fun and I love all things nautical.



I cut the "1999" with my quickutz and then realized that the glitter paper was not self adhesive so I used Therm-o-web's Sticky Dots "die cut transfer adhesive" to get them on there easily.

and then I jotted down a few thoughts about our honeymoon:

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1977

It has been a while since I've worked on my Century Scrapbook Project so I thought I'd get a little bit back into that.  I have about 35 pages done so far; the concept is to make one page for each year from 1900 to now.  I have made some pages pre-1900.  The Century Scrapbook is an 8.5x11 format and I keep it in a regular notebook right now with page protectors from the office supply store.  If you put "Century" into the search feature on my blog you'll be able to see other Century Scrapbook Pages; click here for a peek at my 1970 page.

The layout of this page was based loosely on Shimelle's layout "love locks."  Click here for Shimelle's video "Layout for a Patterned Paper You Don't Want to Hide."  I didn't follow the instructions - but the paper reminded me of yellow manilla envelopes that my Dad always seemed to have and the Baker's Twine really does evoke nostalgia of childhood for me - I also used some actual stickers from spools of thread since I just finished a couple and thought they'd be cute on a layout - so the thread doesn't have a ton to do with this layout - unless you count "common thread" of family - but that's probably a stretch.  I also used Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes line cut out "baggage identification tag" because the layout was about my dad's plane and because, well, after the divorce, we were baggage and we all had baggage.  Good time - I thought that tag was appropriate too - since despite all sorts of childhood family drama - we did have good times too.

And that journaling cut apart screamed 70s to me the orange and yellow flowers with the daisy - hello 70s wallpaper!

Journaling reads:  "Its True.  After the divorce, we did have good times.  I was 7 1/2 and Jenny was 4 1/2 and we were at the small airport outside Calais with my Dad who'd just gotten his pilot's license. (my dad took the photo).  Of course, I brought my Barbie and wore plaid pants and white vinyl boots and a big red coat and Jenny rocked the boy haircut!"  (Jenny will probably snark me for that since I don't think she was particularly fond of the boy haircut my mother kept giving her - everyone - seriously everyone - thought she was a boy! for a long time!)

I had a sheet of Bella Blvd. letter stickers but it only included one "7" so I created "77" with two letter Z's with the bottoms cut off .  Pretty clever right?

The Century Scrapbook Project: 2001

I started The Century Scrapbook Project last year and intended to be finished by Thanksgiving with one page per year from 1900-2012.  I have about 30 or 40 pages done and I've extended the time line back before 1900.  I do want to make sure that when people see the book, that they get a sense of our story now. 

My husband and I met in 1995 and much of our courtship and early marriage before kids, and even after kids, involved the water and being on boats.  The boat we are on in this photo, even though you can't see the boat in this photo, was instrumental in the beginning of our family.  I came across this photo and decided it needed a full on fabulous page full of frou-frou scrapbooking stuff - I'll slip the story behind it in the album on regular typed up letter paper. 

Supplies:  Neapolitan Collection Papers; Smash Washi Tape; various stickers including really old ones from about 2001!

And yes, that is puff paint!

 

The Century Scrapbook Project: 2000 Newlyweds

My husband and I recently celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary.  I asked my daughter to guess what year we were married and she was shocked to hear that we were married in the year 1999 - which she described as "the year that dinosaurs still roamed the earth"!  So I pulled out this photo of my husband and I around our first anniversary in the year 2000  - thus no dinosaurs in the photo - to include my Century Scrapbook Album (this is a scrapbook that starts in 1900 and goes through the current year).

I did a bit of sticker overload on this layout because I just wanted to play with my scrapbook stuff since I've taken a break from scrapbooking and am just now refamiliarizing myself with all of my crafting things.  I also used some new to me tissue tape from Tim Holtz, it is transparent so you can see what's underneath it.

Get It Scrapped Post: Give Older Photos and Stories New Life

I scanned in this photo of my Great-Grandmother, which I am guessing was taking in the 1920s or 1930s.  I made sure to scan in the back of the photo and I included it in my layout.  The back of the photo has lots of information including my Great-Grandma's signature but also in pencil: "NB 7910"; I expect that NB stands for New Bedford and that 7910 was my grandmother's account number with that photo developer since many of her photos from that time period have that number.  The original photo was much smaller but I printed it in 4x6 form and trimmed the excess because the ratio was not exactly the same.

I have been making several layouts with older photos and some of my layouts are whimsical and fun, but I think it is important to make some of the layouts "classic" so I chose some K&Company heritage papers and stickers.  The tones are muted and the graphics evoke a "time gone by" feeling.  Since the photo was black and white with the hint of blush on the cheeks added, the muted papers worked well to complement the photo.  I can get by using trendy papers with Maude's photos from the 1960s but this portrait needed a more classic treatment.

I didn't do any research about the time of this photo for this particular layout since I envision this layout as a section header for Maude in my scrapbook album.  Other pages within her section might get more attention to her her time and place in history.  On this page, I just wrote the basics:

"Maude Allen Cunningham:  Daughter of Gideon Hammond Allen and Ella Augusta Hastings Allen.  Maude was born in Richfield, Kansas on November 7, 1886 while her parents lived there for only a few years.  Gideon and Ella returned to their native Massachusetts and Maude grew up in New Bedford.  She married Albert Preston Cunningham and had Preston and Grandpa Allen Hastings Cunningham.  My great-gandma Maude was alive when I was born and she bot to see my baby photo in 1970."

Supplies:  Creative Memories stickers, K&Company papers and stickers.

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For more ideas on scrapbooking older photos from scrapbookers including Jana Morton, Pattie Knox, Amanda Jones, Christie Strickler, Betsy Sammarco, Chris Asbury, Sue Althouse, Amy Kingsford, Doris Sander, Stefanie Semple, and Ashley Horton, go check out Get It Scrapped's Post Give Old Photos And Stories New Life.

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Get It Scrapped Post: Clocks Motif & Time to Get Back to Scrapbooking! & The Century Scrapbook Project: 1929

I decided to use clocks on this page because I wanted to add some type of embellishment on either side of the photos but wanted to stay in the same sepia color family so that the page was only white, black, and some shade of sepia.    The clocks also worked for this page, not only for their color, but for the passage of time and that the place pictured, Attleboro, Massachusetts was famous for making clocks, jewelry, silver, and eye glasses around the turn of the century.  I added the silver brads to tie into the fact that my grandmother's grandfather was a silversmith. 

 This page is going into a book I'm calling The Century Scrapbook Project in which I am making one page for year year of the twentieth century. 

 I had to check the census several times for this page because we couldn't figure out who the baby was in this picture, it is most likely a cousin of my grandmother, whom I think is pictured with the hat.  My grandmother's mother was from a family of seven children who all lived, so no doubt there were lots of cousins.

 I used the 1930 Census for the information but scanned in the back of the photo which clearly read "Feb. 1929" so I decided to use these photos for my 1929 page.

Journaling & Family History:

"14 Forest Street, Attleboro, Massachusetts; built in 1920.

Names / Ages:

Charles Leo Flavin Age 42

Ellen Louise Joyce Flavin Age 43

Grace Zita Flavin (Cunningham) Age 12

Ruth L. Flavin (Donnelly) Age 9

John T. Flavin Age 6

*maybe Grace with a baby cousin."

I did call my Aunt to ask about a brother my grandma Grace used to tell me about and she confirmed that Ellen Flavin had a baby boy named Mark before she had my grandmother and she apparently never really got over his death.  Ellen Flavin died in the late 1960s and my grandma Grace and Grandpa Allen bought a sailboat with the inheritance and named it "The Ellen".  However, Ellen was called Nellie - and is sometimes reported twice as Ellen and Nellie in family history archives - but she is in fact just one person.

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Want more ideas for using clocks in scrapbooking from scrapbookers including Amy Kingsford, Doris Sander, Jana Morton, Deborah Wagner, Brenda Becknell, Amanda Jones, Audrey Tan, Terry Billman and Debbie Hodge?  Go Check Out Get It Scrapped's Post "Ideas for Clock Motif on Scrapbook Pages."

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P.S. I took a little break from scrapbooking, as I do from time to time, but as of right now:  I'm back to scrapbooking so stay tuned for more Get it Scrapped related posts and updates to The Century Scrapbook Project!

P.S. These affiliate links are related to my Century Scrapbook Project and these ones are specific to Attleboro, Massachusetts, but if you'd like to research your hometown history and support this blog, please click through to one of the following links and do your own search - you can find old yearbooks, picture books, business directories, and even church recipe books! 

 

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1837: Grandmother Messer & The Cornelius of Sunderland

My Nana Ruby Fenderson was from Canada, specifically she was from Harvey Station and her maiden name was Grieve, there is a website (Click Here for the Genealogy of the Cornelius Settlers of Harvey Station, New Brunswick, Canada) all about her ancestry and the immigrants from Scotland and England who took the maiden voyage upon the Cornelius de Sunderland in 1837 and settled Harvey Settlement, there were about 154 passengers on that boat and 15 of them are my direct ancestors!

I found this photo of "Grandmother Messer":

And something about the photo intrigued me.  When I first saw it I didn't think I was related to her, since I didn't think we had the last name "Messer" in our family tree, but I printed the photo anyway.  I discovered that she had 9 children and that she was my 3rd great grandmother!

My journaling reads " 1st Generation:  Alice "Alison" Brown married William  Messer on 24 September 1826, she was 31 years old when hse was married.  She was born in 1795 in Ford, England.  Alison and William had 9 children:

(Alison's age at childbirth in parentheses before each child):

(32) 1. Elizabeth Messer (born 25 June 1827)

(34) 2. Ann Messer (born 20 Feb 1829 - died 1840)

(35) 3. Nancy Messer (about 1830)

(37) 4. Walter Messer (9 April 1832)

(39) 5. William Messer (1834)

(41) 6. Thomas Messer (1836 - 1861)

(44) 7. Ann Isabel "Annie" Messer (1839)

(46) 8. Alice Eleanor Messer (1841)

(48) 9. James Messer (1843)

She had nine children from when she was 32 until when she was 48 years old!!!

William Messer became a Farmer on Lot 6E in Harvey Settlement, he had 200 acres.  They were Presbyterians and emigrated in 1837 on the Cornelius of Sutherland when Alison was 42 years old (the same age I am now).

(The red stars indicate the two entries for Alison Brown Messer).

After I made this page, I started filling in my family tree with the information from the site and discovered something somewhat surprising:  Grandmother Messer (also known as Alice "Alison" Brown Messer) is both my 3rd Great Grandmother AND my 4th Great Grandmother!  No, she didn't give birth to herself.  This is how Alison is my Grandmother two different ways:

1. My 4th Great Grandmother: Alison Messer:

Alison Brown Messer and William Messer had Elizabeth;

Elizabeth Messer married Andrew Wood Coburn and they had Charlotte Isabella "Belle" Coburn;

Belle married John "Jack" H. Grieve and they had Frederick A. Grieve;

Frederick Grieve married Sarah A. "Sadie" Wightman and they had Ruby Grieve.

Ruby Grieve was my grandmother whom I called "Nana", she was my father's mother.

2. My 3rd Great Grandmother: Alison Messer:

Alison Brown Messer and William Messer had Ann Isabel "Annie" Messer.

Annie married John A. Wightman and they had Sarah A. "Sadie" Wightman.

Sadie married Frederick Grieve and they had Ruby Grieve.

Ruby Grieve was my grandmother whom I called "Nana", she was my father's mother.

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So Ruby's parents Sadie and Frederick were second cousins, I think, in other words, Frederick's grandmother Elizabeth and Sadie's mother Annie were were sisters.  I guess Harvey Station was pretty remote and there were only so many potential suitable partners.  I wonder if Ruby knew this connection and I wonder if my Dad knew - he was, after all, doing the family history research and he does have a file on the Grieve family line - I'll have to check on it tomorrow.

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The other interesting thing is that all of my lines going back from Ruby Grieve were on that boat in 1837!  So I used the backside of the Grandmother Messer page to list out my 15 direct ancestors who were on the Cornelius of Sunderland's Maiden Voyage from Berwick to St. John in the summer of 1837:

"A boatload of English and Scottish people traveled from Berwick to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada holding at least 15 of my direct ancestors:  All Aboard the Cornelius:

1. John A. Wightman (1829-1891) (my 3rd great grandfather)

2. Mary Davison Wightman (1795-1871) (my 3rd great grandmother)

3. John Wightman (1789-1867) (my 4th great grandfather)

4. Ann Winter Piercy (1785-1873) (my 4th great grandmother)

5. George Piercy (1785-1873) (my 4th great grandfather)

6. Mary Piercy Grieve (1831-1916) (my 3rd great grandmother)

7. Patrick Turnbull Grieve (1824-1871) (my 3rd great grandfather)

8. William Grieve (1799-1875) (my 4th great grandfather)

9. Eleanor Turnbull Grieve (1794-1860) (my 4th great grandmother)

10. John Cockburn (1785-1806) (my 4th great grandfather)

11. Elizabeth "Betsy" Leslie Coburn (1788-1869) (my 4th great grandmother)

12. Andrew Wood Coburn (1827-1907) (my 3rd great grandfather)

13. Elizabeth Messer Coburn (1828-1904) (my 3rd great grandmother)

14. William Messer (1799-1874) (my 3rd AND 4th great grandfather!)

15. Alice "Alison" Brown Messer (1799-1877) (my 3rd AND 4th great grandmother!)

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I'm thinking that The Century Scrapbook Project is definately becoming The Centuries Scrapbook Project!

Making a page about a photo really allows me to think about all sorts of aspects of the person's life and to make discoveries like Alison had 9 children but having 9-15 children wasn't all that unusual back in those days in Harvey Settlement; that women were having children up until they were about 50 years old and that my grandparents were super connected. 

Scrapbooking Your Family History Tip:  When I just look at names and dates in my father's research or even on an online website there is one level of understanding, but when I take the step of making a scrapbook page - even a very simple one - my level of understanding increases dramatically.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1941 John T. Flavin (my great-uncle)

I never got to meet my Grandma Grace's little brother John but she talked about him a lot and, at the end when she had advanced alzheimers, she used to have conversations with her imaginary brother John.  This photo was marked 1941 on the back and I found his enlistment information on ancestry.com and figured out that he was 18 years old when this photo was taken, he died twenty years later when he was only 38.  From what I hear, he was fun and attractive and full of life.

The vintage looking postcard is from Cosmo Cricket and worked perfectly for this page - I had printed out a bunch of notes I put on ancestry, but still felt like I wanted to write a bit more, so the postcard worked and allowed me to jot down the recently learned information about WWII.

On this page I did use the original photo so I was careful to be acid free and not to put anything over the photo - so it could be easily taken off of this page if anyone wanted to do so in the future - but really, I think they'll want to leave it as is because all of the information really does put a seemingly random photo into context. 

P.S. I think that he was wearing a leather jacket with no shirt underneath - how James Dean Rebel Without a Cause - right?

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1917 & My Distant Cousins In Minnesota

Am I related to Achsah Louise Fenderson Peet from East Bethel, Anoka, Minnesota?  You betcha!

I have found some distant Fenderson cousons on Facebook and many of them are from out west including Minnesota and Oregon.  I wondered how I was related to them and I think I figured it out - we both had photos of Achah but I didn't know who she was but we linked the photos up and figured it out.  Tucked behind the photo is the exact way I am related to Achsah Louise Fenderson Peet. 

Achsah Louise Fenderson married Merlton Peet on Christmas Day, December 25, 1917.

The Century Scrapbook Project: After 1915 & the Lusitania

My mother-in-law, Ethel Van Houten Scott, told me that her mother, Susannah Parry came to the United States from Wales in 1917.  She said that her mother's brother Andrew Parry over before her and that he went to Pennsylvania  and her mother went there because he was there.  I wasn't able to find her mother or Andrew Parry in Ancestry, but I did find Owen Parry born in Barmouth, Wales on Jule 7th 1880 and who came to Dickson City, Pennsylvania (Scranton, Pennsylvania) via Liverpool on June 8th, 1912 on the Lusitania.  Ethel said that her mother was afraid of the journey to the U.S. because a ship had just gone down because of a German submarine - so I did a bit of research and found lots of information about the sinking of the Lusitana in 1915, so we know her mom came over after 1915 - probably 1917. 

I'm still looking for the specifics, meantime, even though I don't have all of the information, I thought I'd make a scrapbook page.  I find that when I do make a scrapbook page with pictures and documents, it really helps me to remember the dates and facts better and it gives the added bonus of getting the family interested and involved.

The Take Away?  Even if you don't have all of the facts, make a scrapbook page anyway and you will find that it will make the continuation of your research a little bit more interesting and fun.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1943 & U.S. Navy Blimp Hedron 4

I found some muster roll records for my grandfather from his service in the U.S. Navy in WWII!

This page is fairly simple - but I'm finding that this project allows for some really simple but still interesting pages - maybe more interesting for my family in terms of content than scrapbooking fanciness.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1963 & The Prom

I originally intended to make just one page for each year of the 1900s but I have allowed myself to make more than one page per year but still want to accomplish a page for each year.  I think that at some point I might expand out the album so that different family lines live in different albums, but for now, it is all about chronology.  This project has been a learning process indeed and it is evolving.

Here is my mom going to the prom or some type of fancy dances in high school; she did mark on the back side of one of these photos so I knew the dates of the photos:

I am also getting to the the point where I want to find out more - despite that I already have lots of information - it is so tempting to dive deep into the family history research online - it is seriously addicting!  I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to becoming a genealogy nerd.

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1940 & Valedictorian at Mount Allison University!

Isn't it weird how you can discover things about people you knew, that you never knew!  Yesterday I was looking at the obituary for  my "Nana" (grandmother) Ruby Grieve Fenderson and noticed that she had been the Valedictorian of her graduating class at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.  I emailed the school to find out what year she graduated and they responded right away with the answer: 1940!

Journaling:  "Dear Nana, I remember you mentioning that you had been a math teacher and I knew you went to college, but I didn't know where - so cool that it was Mount Allison (my daughter's name is Allison) - or that you were Valedictorian!  Love Katie."

I scanned in her photo and used a reprint for this page.  I found the old postcard print of Mount Allison University on the internet, I think it is good to put these events - like graduating as valedictorian - into context of place - especially since I maybe saw this university once as a child but maybe never did; anyway - a picture is worth a thousand words right - it is nice to see what the place looks like.  I have been finding lots of photos old schools and churches on the internet for The Century Scrapbook Album.

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I am attaching her obituary printout to the back of this layout:

Saturday, July 24, 2004 - Bangor Daily NewsBANGOR and CALAIS Ruby E. Fenderson, 85, wife of the late Frank Fenderson, died July 22, 2004, at a Bangor hospital. She was born Oct. 25, 1918, in Harvey Station, New Brunswick, the daughter of Frederick and Sara (Wightman) Grieve. Ruby graduated from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, as Valedictorian, following college she taught mathematics in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where she met Frank at a skating rink while "White Christmas" was playing. She was married on Feb. 9, 1944. Ruby was an active volunteer and mother; she enjoyed gardening, painting, and collecting antiques. She was devoted to her husband, Frank, through 54 years of marriage until his death in March 1998. She is survived by one daughter, Carolyn and her husband, Ray Lapointe, of Glocester, R.I.; one son, David Fenderson of Veazie; her daughter-in-law, Margrette Fenderson of Veazie; six grandchildren, Kathryn Scott of St. Petersburg, Fla., Jennifer Fenderson of Springfield, Mo., Cherilyn Palmer, Catherine Stone, and Crista Fenderson, all of Sarasota, Fla., Craig Fenderson of Grande Prairie, Texas; nine great-grandchildren; a nephew, Laverne Swan and his wife, Bonnie, of Harvey Station, New Brunswick; and special friend, Mildred Butler of St. George, New Brunswick. In addition to her parents, and husband, she was predeceased by two sisters, Hazel Cameron and Doris Grieve; brother, Stanley Grieve; and her son, Robert Fenderson. A service of remembrance will be held 11 a.m. Monday, July 26, at All Souls Congregational Church, Bangor, with the Rev. Dr. James L. Haddix, Pastor and Teacher, officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments in the Hearth Room immediately following the service. Graveside services will be held 5 p.m. Monday, July 26, at the Calais Cemetery, with the Rev. Dianne Graham, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Calais, officiating. Gifts in her memory may be sent to the Alzheimer's Association, Maine Chapter, 163 Lancaster St., Suite 160B, Portland, ME 04101. A service of Brookings-Smith, 133 Center St., Bangor.

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P.S. I got an email from Allison University today stating that Ruby was NOT actually the valedictorian :

"Hi Katie,

As Brian mentioned your grandmother graduated in the Class of 1940.  I have copies of the convocation programme but the valedictorian appears to have been Alexander MacIntosh.  Your grandmother graduated magna cum laude with an arts degree.  Her picture appears on page 33 of the Allisonian yearbook but I have been unable to locate other references to images of her.

I can make photocopies or scanned reproductions of the items but there is a charge of 29 cents a page with a $5 handling fee.

Let me know how you wish to proceed.

Thanks,

David Mawhinney
University Archivist
Mount Allison University"

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So now I'm wondering how to change the scrapbook layout!

The Century Scrapbook Project: 1936

I'm guessing at the date on this one but my Nana (grandmother) Ruby Grieve Fenderson (on the far left front row) was born in 1918 and she looks to be about 18 years old now.  

I re-read her obituary and learned that she was valedictorian in her graduating class at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.

I'd love to find a graduation programme or to find out if she gave a speech at the graduation ceremony.

I'd also love to hear stories about what it was like to grow up with 5 girls in one family.

I don't remember her telling me many stories about her childhood days, so I put a note out on ancestry and on my Grieve Family History group on Facebook. 

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I wanted to keep this page relatively simple and let the photo shine so I centered the photo and didn't use any embellishments and kept the colors somewhat monochromatic.