Scrapbooking stories in your family tree.
Tell us…Who Do You Think You Are?

Not sure if it’s what I knew from my Mother’s family tree or the mysteries that lay in my Father’s tree that I wanted to know that spurred my interest in genealogy. I do remember as a teen when I was poking and prodding my dad for details he told me I might not like what I’d find in knowing more and maybe I should just let things alone.

There is always the danger that what you find out is harder to live with than not knowing that it is there. If you’ve watched the popular TV series you know celebrities are often disappointed in what they find out. It’s a shame that they can’t accept things in the context of historical reality and have to paint another picture to assuage their guilt over a past that is theirs but not necessarily popular.

Maybe you’ve been in the camp of “why don’t they do an ordinary person? (“like me”…is the usual cry.) I think many hope to find some royal connection or famous relative. Some will find that history and that’s exciting. In my tree I found tragic stories; I found historic tales; I found extraordinary women widowed and left to raise families on their own and yes, I even found things like my dad cautioned me about, that maybe I’d been better off not knowing.

I try not to read into the facts as they present themselves because there is often more than meets the eye or what is known. My fanciful imagination need not embellish on the truth, just take what is known and be satisfied, or dig deeper for more clues and verifiable facts.

As a child I grew up knowing that my mother’s side of the family had a famous person in the tree. His fame came from his life story being fictionalized by a writer and the story being a huge success. Today, I will tell you that story I’ve scrapped.

At the same time I want to encourage you to write your story about who you are at this time in history. Fill in the blanks for the generations to follow. Give the details, tell the stories and be the one that helps your future generations to understand who you are. Leave no doubts. Tell Your Story!

Let’s see what we can scrapbook about our past and put it in the family tree with this scrapbook edition of Who Do You Think You Are?

Let me tell you my story. It’s not mine alone…this is a large family and many can lay claim to it. In fact I’d be surprised if the entire east coast of Fife couldn’t make the same claim! Here are the things I included:

• Old photo from first trip
• Photos from the town and monument
• Newspaper article
• Embellishments to fit the theme
• Genealogy tiles
• The story

The photos for this layout include an old photo dad took of us the first time we visited Lower Largo, framed in a Polaroid style frame that was very popular at that time. Also a mini-copy of a newspaper article about recent archaeological findings on the island Selkirk was stranded on.

Then many photos from my trip there a few years back. They include the monument, several of the bare footprint markers around the town, a few views of the beach and sea, sailboats, fishnets and signs. Each adds a little more to the story creating a fuller picture of Lower Largo beyond the monument. I also included the hinge on the door of his birthplace and the stone walkway throughout town because I thought it was interesting.

For embellishments in the 1” sections of the pattern I used squares and brads, in some I punched waves in white and blue and placed the blue behind the white in a shadow effect and used doubled glue dots to give it an off the page look.

A shaker box full of sequins in blues and greens with a few pinks, corals and purples added and the box draped with net and dotted with glass bubbles to try to capture that sparkle of the sea.

 

The scallop frames tile was perfect for the series of family members from my family back to John Selkirk (1640) my seventh great-grandfather. They are arranged from the 1640’s at the top to present day at the bottom.

 

The most important element in this Tell Your Story edition is the story! It is told and placed in a large journal block on the third page with a die cut scallop border along the bottom edge. The larger block in Pattern #275 a puzzle pattern is just right for this and the squares along the side work perfectly for the genealogy squares. I used a mirror image to have the squares along the outside border as if a perfect ending to the story.

Do you have a story to tell about your family? Gather the facts and photos and get started!

Supplies:
• Mosaic Moments 12×12 Grid Paper: Cornflower Blue
• Mosaic Moments paper tiles: Huckleberry Pie
• MM Dies: Scallop frames tile, Sets A, B, C
• Cardstocks in various blues, tan and gray
• EK Success 1” Square Punch
• 3/8” square punch
• Fiskars wave punch
• Sequins
• Glass bubbles
• Nettings
• Taylor Expressions Instant Photo frames die
• Sweet-n-Sassy Stamps Wave Dies
• Antique copper brads
• Page Patterns #275, #204, #235

Before I go, let me show you a note card I created to compliment the layout. I used a Teal cardstock base, an extra photo from the layout, sequins, and MM Die Set D, clear acrylic sheet and foam mounting tape. I used the same wave die to cut a strip in vellum to attach to the lower ddge

I used the dies to cut the photo and then frame and then to remove a center section of the cardstock for the shaker box. After applying the acrylic sheet to the back of the frame I added a narrow strip of foam mounting tape all the way around. Then selecting a few different color sequins to put into this box and finishing by adding the photo backing. The shaker box is secured to the card by Thermoweb adhesive.

I think it will make a nice card to send a family member that no longer sees this daily reminder of the sea, but somewhat like Selkirk has wandered far from home in search of their own paradise.

 

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Andrea Fisher