ALICE - Storybook Treasures

Hi Dolly here

I was really excited when I knew we were having a bit of an Alice theme and I kind of assumed I would do the obvious Cheshire Cat page. But then it suddenly came to me and I KNEW what I had to record.

I am a real bibliophile and find it hard to get rid of any books but I have some which are really really special, and one of them is Alice in Wonderland. Not only is is a story I loved as a child, but this particular book is a treasured possession.

It is one of the oldest and scruffiest books I own, with a spine that had been repaired (badly) and the text on the spine is no longer visible. It has been ‘loved off’. The pages have that lovely speckled aged appearance and it has that kind of dry papery smell that old books have.

But it is where it came from that makes it special. It was my Mom’s when she was a little girl. When she was growing up they didn’t have spare money and she had few books or toys. This was a book she won when she was just 9 years old. In the front of it is stuck the newspaper clipping giving her name and age as it was a newspaper competition. I remember Mommy telling me with such prize that it was a special book because she won it. She would often read it to me and I remember always asking to see the newspaper cutting first and we both enjoyed that moment of pride together.

 

And scrapping is all about recording memories just like that! Moments that are, in themselves, small and insignificant and yet, in reality, tremendously important.

I photographed the book, the newspaper clipping and the front page – the only bit in colour.

I printed some of the John Tenniel line drawings onto cream cardstock and backed them onto thicker card and then cut them out to make embellishments for the page and I also found a pocket watch to use.

The edges of the mount are punched from pages of an old book (not one of my own – it was one about to be thrown out at school that I recued for this very sort of purpose)

I had a miniature set of playing cards that came from a cracker a few years ago. They were very gaudy (I couldn’t use the picture cards are they were smiley faces not traditional pictures!) I creased and inked a few to act as extra embellishments. The title was cut from cream cardstock using a font called Storybook (Couldn’t resist using it!) and then stamped with a text stamp from papertrey Ink.

I also inked the ribbons for the tags.

One of the tags explains why the book is precious and the other is a photo of the newspaper clipping from the front of the book.

 

 

I have been loving what the girls have been making and can't wait to see what comes next.

 

Comments

[Virginia]

Oh that is an utterly gorgeous layout - I'm loving how you've managed to document the book and how it came into your posession and the colour choice and images are simply magical!

[Mandy]

That's such a touching story and exactly what scrapbooking is all about. Loved the LO too and it looked fun to make :)

[Eleanor]

This is just wonderful, and unique and special.
I love the way you make embellishments so original and apt, and place them just perfectly.
E
xx

[Lynne]

Beutiful LO and such a treasured memory to scrap.
I love how you aged the cards.

[Leanne]

Such a moving LO, and gorgeous text stamp !