Oh Yikes!!

November was the month of my last blog post!!  If that doesn't perfectly illustrate how fast time flies...!!  *Insert creative, interesting, perfectly justifiable excuse for absence here*.  (It can't be blamed on simple creative paralysis, surely!?)  (Alright maybe a little.)  

So, it's not like I haven't been doing ANYthing for the last 2.5 months, and herein begins the effort to prove it!  Today I'm sharing my most recent layout for Love is in the Details.  I'll be posting other recent projects over the next little while, so check back regularly!

Two years ago, I helped my aging parents move from their home of 52 years, into a condo.  In the process, as you can imagine, many treasures surfaced.  One of those items was something I didn't even know existed, although I am well acquainted with the story that accompanies it.  It's a wicker suitcase that belonged to my grandmother back in "the old country".  Probably purchased in Latvia, it accompanied them as they made several urgent and desperate moves until finally arriving and settling in Canada.

I tired to retell the story on the layout:

"In 1946, a retired police officer was hired to smuggle my grandma and 4 of her children out of East Germany and into the West.  They took only the clothes on their backs, and whatever could fit into a picnic basket, having to make it seem as though they were merely going on a berry picking excursion.  This is that basket.  It had come with them from Latvia, and accompanied them all the way to Canada in 1948."

On the basket is written, the family name, the town, province and country they were heading to.  There is a metal rod that was once inserted through metal loops, but no one has any idea what became of it.

This is, to me, the best of what scrapbooking can do...bringing to life again, a piece of history, and connecting past and future generations in the documenting of it.

I used lots of Teresa Collins product, from the Life Emporium and 9&Co lines.  As well I used Gossamer Blue paper, Amy Tangerine Thickers, My Mind's Eye enamel dots and die cuts, and some Tim Holtz Idea-ology vellum paper.

Thanks for coming back to check on things here, and please check back again soon!  More projects are being pre-posted as we speak!  Write?  Type?