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Non-Traditional
Heritage Albums I have been researching my family history for nearly a decade. Because of time travel constraints, I have never had the chance to meet my distant ancestors in person. However, I feel that I know them through photographs and stories that have been passed down through the generations. In many cases, I have retraced an ancestor’s footsteps from his place of death back to the town where he was born. And if I have learned anything through the years, it is that my relatives of yesteryear lived anything but colorless lives! Technology just hadn’t caught up with them yet. When scrapping my heritage pictures, I have never had the desire to scrap with the traditional browns and pearls and lace that you see in many heritage kits. I simply grab a heritage picture and then pick out one of my "modern" kits and get to work. I would say that most people who have never scrapped a heritage picture have at one time or another converted a color photograph to black and white. This is done for many reasons: perhaps black and white just goes better with the kit they are using at the time, perhaps they are using several pictures taken at different times and they want a more uniform look, or perhaps they just want that special "feel" that a sepia tone gives. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change the focus of the layout. They still scrap with colorful kits even though the photograph has been desaturated. The next time you go to scrap a heritage picture, think of it in these terms. Pretend it is a modern picture that you have turned to black and white. Just because Great Aunt Suzie was born in 1892 doesn’t mean she wasn’t a girly-girl! Honor her and use that kit with pink polka dots! And certainly tough Cousin Jimmy doesn’t want his high school picture from 1921 adorned with lace! Poor guy ... Use some tough, manly papers! The biggest obstacle I hear about heritage scrapping is, "I don’t have ANY heritage pictures!" First of all, let me say that I am sorry to hear that because they are one of the many joys in my life. Sometimes you will be surprised at what you will discover if you just ask family members. But for those of you who don’t have any access to your own family heritage pictures, I am delighted to share some of my heritage friends. Mixed in with my hundreds of pictures are many people I can’t identify and some friends of my ancestors. I have begun a web site to share these people with the digital scrapbooking/digital art community. I only ask that you give them a good home on a scrapbook page or art project. You can find my Adopt-An-Ancestor page at www.RobynEngland.com/adopt. I look forward to seeing your beautiful heritage creations fill the gallery here at SBB and at other places around the Internet. Remember that the longer you wait to scrap your heritage, the less you will know about your ancestors. There will come a time when you are the oldest branch on your family tree so start getting that history from your parents and grandparents now. |
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Copyright © 2006 Digital Memories Magazine and Robyn England |
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