Vintage Grace Freebie

I was so excited when I saw this month's colors for the DSO Color Challenge. I've been wanting to do a heritage type kit and the blues and browns were perfect! Here is a little peek at "Vintage Grace", but then you have to bear with me and let me tell you about the history in this kit.


This kit is so special to me. My Grandmother Grace left me her beautiful cedar chest full of old treasures and I knew the contents were begging to become a scrap kit. I was telling my Mother about this kit and I told her looking into this file is like looking into my Grandma's cedar chest, without the lovely smell. *lol* I couldn't believe how well everything fit into the color scheme even! Most of the items are in the kit "as is". I didn't have to alter the colors at all. There are so many special pieces in this kit I don't know where to start.

Almost every element in this kit that is "antique" belonged to my Great Grandmother or Grandmother. Most of the items come from my Great Grandmother Nora who was born in 1891 and passed away in 1991 at the age of 100. My Grandma would say they are just "costume" jewelry, but the cameo and pearls are my favorite. One picture frame is made from my husband's Father's tie clip. The paper frame is from one of the many ancient pictures I have. The journaling block is from the cover of a 1896 photograph that is in a folder type thing. Remember I told you about all the lovely old cards I came across? Well there was one post card that exactly matched this kit! It had never been mailed, so I included the front and the back for you. The doilies in the kit were made by my Great Grandmother. She made some of the most beautiful things by hand. I have several poke bonnets that she made by hand. They wore them in the fields when they were picking cotton. Most of them are natty and sweat stained, but I love them. She knew how much I loved those old bonnets, so when my daughter was born she made her a tiny little poke bonnet... by hand... at 96 years of age. Talk about a treasure! I couldn't figure out a way to photograph them and add them to the kit though. So no bonnets. :-(

I even did an alpha for this kit inspired by an old embroidered sampler. My first alpha! The fan in this kit is my favorite "creation" to date though, so I have to give you some history on it. When I was browsing WikiCommons I came across a set of public domain drawings that were done to showcase a furrier's work at the Exposition Universal Paris 1900. I love the way they dressed, especially the fancy hats. The colors were even perfect for my kit, but what to do with them? I saved them all hoping I would come up with something. Then when I was going through all my Grandma's treasures I came across this fan. It is a souvenir fan from The Alamo in San Antonio, TX. Each blade has a picture from the history of the Alamo and is actually rather garish in colors. *lol* But the fan part was so pretty! I instantly knew I was going to chop that thing to bits in PSP and put my lovely Edwardian ladies in place of the brightly colored Alamo pictures. It took me forever, but I love, love, love it!!!

Now, I have to introduce you to the ladies that made this kit possible.

The little baby on the Dad's knee is my Great Grandmother Nora. She was born in June of 1891 so I figure this picture was taken sometime in 1892.


Don't they look so serious? Why didn't they smile in pictures back then?

Now this pretty little girl is the namesake for the kit, my Grandmother Grace at 3. She was born in 1913, so this picture is from 1916.

Wasn't she cute?

I hope you enjoy Vintage Grace as much as I do. It was so much fun to create and I'm thrilled to share it and a little bit of my family history with you.

Alpha
Elements
Papers