Heirlooms & Memories

"You can create new heirlooms, and the memories that make them special, just by owning them."

Elaine Markoutsas

Papers, Old & New

 

Crafts made from something as simple as paper can be beautiful and fun to make.  Since scrapbooking and altered art is so popular, pretty papers are readily available and a crafter is simply limited by their own imagination.  Both old and new papers can be used.  I found these pretty boxes in an antique mall recently, and appreciated how they had utilized both types of papers for these covered box projects.  The boxes are lightweight, balsa-wood boxes that are readily available in most craft stores.  A coat or two of acrylic paint provided the base. Paper was cut to size and glued on with a lightweight spray adhesive.  I especially love the 'old' photos used for the vintage family boxes. The papers were made by photocopying and enlarging pictures from the past.  What a creative way to use the old in a new way!  

Cherished in Family History

Most women have precious things they hold dear. Often little things, most are cherished because of their origin. It's these things that we hold with high regard and teach our families to do the same. In my childhood home, mother cherished things that were 'wedding gifts' and we all knew to treat them with tender-loving care. Sis and I would wash and dry wedding china with just a little more care than other dishes. And alas, if a piece of 'wedding gift' glassware broke, it was sad indeed. Mother's English teacup and saucer collection consisted of eight or ten sets that were all 'wedding gifts'. They were highly cherished and rarely used. Instead they were displayed in a pretty cabinet and dusted each week with care. Even wedding linens were held in high regard: tablecloths, doilies, or satin cushions. Most weathered our childhood years and even the years when our children were the little ones visiting Grandma's house. And how these cherished mementos cling to us, or we to them, when life takes its sad turns. When Mother passed away, sis and I spent one day a week together for an entire summer, sorting and organizing and dividing things up. Those sad days contained much sweetness as well, as they provided us with the opportunity to speak of our memories and to touch and feel things that had long been forgotten. Some of Mother's things were donated or sold, but many were divided between sis and me as a link to Mom. We took extra, special care to not give away or sell anything that had been a 'wedding gift'. Looking back from this perspective, we realize that some of these things were of small monetary value, but they are cherished just the same for what they were and are. If it was a 'wedding gift' it went in a special place; a place for 'family history' and to be passed along to future generations. Such sentimentality, but no regrets for cherishing those things which remind us of mom. Cherished, just like we cherish the memory of her.

Photo: tablecloths like Mom's at Elm Street Antiques; sis has them and I have no pictures of the originals.

Hankies

We are the Kleenex generation; I suspect that most of us have never carried a hankie in our purse or pocket unless it was as an added frill for an outfit we were wearing. But, my grandma always had a hankie in her pocket. She'd often wear an apron with large pockets, and tucked in there or up her sweater sleeve, was a dainty hankie. Lace, embroidery, printed hearts or flowers, cotton, or linen --- each hankie was unique. Some were even an impractical satin or silk. Since grandmother was an invalid and could not walk, sister and I would spend quiet times at grandma's house, entertaining ourselves with what was on hand. A favorite activity was to go through grandma's hankie box that sat on a table in her bedroom. Each hankie was clean and pressed. And each fold was ironed in a sharp crease. Most of the hankies were folded into fourths, but some were in sections of six. When grandma died, sister and I were allowed to choose a few things to remember grandma by. I chose some of grandma's hankies and treasure them to this day. One of them, a very delicate, cream colored hankie was trimmed with wide ecru lace. I especially loved this hankie because it was so old-fashioned. On my wedding day it was tucked into my wedding bouquet --- the 'something old' in remembrance of grandma.

These days hankies are still valued, not for their function, but for their form and beauty. Just seeing one carries us back to days gone by. They may not be tucked up a sweater sleeve or in a purse pocket to wipe away a tear or sniffle, but they are cheerfully used for curtain valences, quilt blocks, tea napkins, pockets on an apron, or centerpiece doilies. The possibilities are endless. Some things we hold dear and wish not to forget. Those memories are reinforced by viewing the cherished object in a new ways.

Do you have a hankie collection? How do you store it or use it? I'd love to know!

Photo: the beautiful Elm Street kitchen.