Need Ideas Please!

Discussion in 'Scrapping Pad' started by bestcee, Feb 4, 2020.

  1. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    Okay, so my mind is turning a lot of pieces around, and I can't quite decide what I want to do, so any and all ideas welcome!

    April is my 19th wedding anniversary. Now, if I suck at this, I can always make it a big 20th anniversary present....

    I have all the letters that my husband and I wrote back and forth while he was on a service mission and I was in college. They are currently just in a box, nothing special, never looked at. So, I want to do something with them. I just don't quite know what or how or even what I want the final project to look like. I can't decide if I want to just scan them or if there's a better option. Most of them are written on notebook paper. I have some photos from this time period too, but it's more words and letters.

    Thoughts? Ideas? Am I crazy? Have you tackled a project like this?
     
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  2. LilachOren

    LilachOren Well-Known Member

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    happy anniversary.... scan it all , notes, photos, letter from that time and hilts from every year anniversary day and scrap then in a storybook style and print the book ....like PL but more of one big event
     
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  3. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    I am watching this thread.. I have all of mine and Hubby's letters too PLUS all the cards we have given each other over the years... I don't think I will ever do anything with them but save them as they are our private moments.. I have my parents letters too, but I have never read them.. I keep thinking I will but I don't know.. I feel like I am intruding.. I did also have a few of my Grandparents letters from 1918 and I giggled as my Grandmother had another suitor at the same time.. glad she picked my Grandfather!

    I hope you find something great to do re the project.. I think this would be a great 20th Anniversary present, but 19 or 20, have fun too reminicing those wonderful moments you two shared/share :)
     
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  4. StefanieS

    StefanieS Think it over, think it under

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    Congrats, sound's like a huge project but reminiscing over the good times is always a great idea.
     
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  5. Karen

    Karen Wiggle it, just a little bit!

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    Could you scan the letters and then have them printed on fabric and make a quilt out of them? Or scaled back and maybe even a pillow or set of throw pillows for your bed?
     
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  6. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

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    It is good that you are thinking ahead. Have you considered a junk/junque journal? Not that any of these items would be considered junk, but the style of the book is a bit more haphazard. You would make the signatures with your cards and letters, adding in lace and romantic papers and envelopes as you go. Washi tape, charms, fabrics, a bit of sewing here and there for added dimension. Lots of tutorials on the web.

    When I retired, I punched holes into all of the cards I received and attached them together with large book rings. For my covers, I glued bits of the wrapping paper and gift bags onto scrap cardboard and punched holes into them. I tied the ribbon and attached the bows to my book rings. I went searching, found the service award pins that I received that were just laying around in my jewelry box and pinned them to the ribbons. It was a lot of fun to put together and didn't take tons of time. It's about three inches thick and sits on a shelf. I have looked at it periodically. It makes me smile.
     
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  7. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

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    I love this idea!
     
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  8. LynnZant

    LynnZant Well-Known Member

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    @cfile I also have my parents letters which I haven't read. Mine have been gone so long that maybe it's time.

    I would also scan everything and probably make pages with them. Include the original letter and have journaling with today's thoughts or mention events that came from what was in the letters. Tie everything from back then to your life together now. Happy anniversary and have fun with it!
     
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  9. cfile

    cfile My bags are packed for Platform 9 3/4

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    I know.. My Mother has been gone now 30 years and Dad 7 .. still not sure.. I still am on the fence :)
     
  10. jk703

    jk703 CEO of Anything and Everything, Everywhere

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    ok. If these are letters that you would like to read occasionally, and would remind you of different memories, I would scan them and then make a journal or calendar for your hubby. Maybe pick favorites if you have a lot and make a monthly desk calendar with one printed per month. Or an Easel calendar? We may have some in the shop....
    I know shutterfly has bound ones too.

    What about a daily personalized tear off calendar? Mixed with pictures of you guys from years past to today. with snippets of the letter mixed in as well? (https://www.socialprintstudio.com/calendar/)
     
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  11. bonnenuit

    bonnenuit Why do I always have to be Captain?

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    I have the letters my dad wrote to my mom from England during WW2. I plan to scan them and scrap them very simply adding in photos from that time.
     
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  12. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    I would scan your letters for sure, to have a digital back up! I don't have any great ideas for a gift though. I'm the only one in my family really interested in scrapbooking or memorabilia, and lately I've had very low interest in printing anything, more interested in decluttering.

    My husband and I met on Prodigy (one of the first internet service providers) in 1994 and 99% of our written communication started out as digital! Thankfully, after a year, just before I moved up to live with him, I printed out all our emails and put them into a huge red 3 ring binder (which I still have) and also exported them into a document. It was some old kind of word processor though, and I almost lost access to the file, but a few years ago I found a free online converter tool, to convert it to text (or maybe it's PDF, I forget). And now they're all copied into my Day One journal, their own journal. :wub

    I have no idea if there exist any letters between my parents or grandparents. I would LOVE to read them if there are any.
     
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  13. blueberries

    blueberries Did I ever tell you I have a thing for snakes?

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    My first thought was how people have made clothing out of old papers, but that's probably not an option. My second was making poetry out of them - either blackout poems or cut strips of words/sentences rearranged.

    Whatever you choose, have fun with it :-D
     
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  14. AJK

    AJK I plead the 5th ...

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    NOT crazy!!! We lost all our paper albums, and I too had kept all our love notes, an letters from Desert Shield/Storm as well as the year of training that led up to it. I wish I had them. :( So I also say scan them. If you go with the book option, it could be commercially printed and actual letters put in pockets of the book- but you may have too many for that?
    3 Ring binder is another option- you could have the pocket sleeves and even scrapped pages. That seems easiest and least expensive as well. Let us know what you do!!! They are priceless.
     
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  15. keepscrappin

    keepscrappin ScrapWithTheWind

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  16. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

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    I like the scanning idea and making a photobook scrapbook from them. But if you feel that you don't want someone else to be able to read them during the printing process, make layouts that you can print at home and put them in a scrapbook. It could be kept in your bedroom so that only the 2 of you have access to it if you don't want others to read the letters.

    Now, for those of you that are on the fence about reading your parents letters, do it! I found a bunch of letters that my mother wrote to my dad several months before their wedding. Her parents took a month long vacation every August and she went with them for the last time before her wedding in October. She wrote either a letter or a post card to my dad every day of the trip. Some were quite funny because she was reminding him of things to do for the wedding or talked about when she would pay for something. Because she was on vacation, a lot of the letters were about that. Nothing totally outrageous in them but I saw a side of my mom that I had forgotten about and the fact my father had saved them all these years surprised me... I'm not sure Mom ever knew they were hidden away in that suitcase in the basement!
     
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  17. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    I have all my husband's letters to me - except one. The one where he broke up with me for awhile the summer after we first met. Six months later, we were back together, but re-reading that letter years after we were married was painful and so it is gone...

    Mine are still in a box and will probably stay there.
     
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  18. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    You are so lucky! I don't have any letters. My DH isn't the letter-writing type.

    I made a memory book (well, two!) for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was paper scrapped, but everyone sent a written note and a photo. Everyone got a page in the album. It was wonderful to actually see each letter and photo, and it became my parent's favorite possession. To me it wouldn't have been the same if everything was scanned. I'd take a photo of them, but they're in CA with my sister.

    So, you could do the same thing, however you wanted to do it. Make a smash book, or a traditional paper scrapped book. That way you not only make the gift for your DH, but are preserving the letters themselves. Make sense? It wouldn't have to be fancy. You could do something special for the cover, make a title page and such, then each letter in chronological order. You could also write next to each letter things like where you were at that time, what you were up to, what you felt when you read the letter... and any memorabilia if you happen to have any. The possibilities are endless. He'll love it!!!
     
  19. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    This is an interesting idea adding in other years too!

    My parents wrote letters and I've read some. I loved it! It really brought home that they are people too, if that makes sense? Like I've always thought of them as my parents, not people. I love reading old letters. One of my classes, paleography, we are studying old ways of writing, and we are reading old letters and it's so fun to see what some of the wills say and get a peek into history.

    Oh! This is a really interesting idea. I hadn't thought of that kind of preservation!
     
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  20. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    I did this with some of my old high school notes. Yes, I was a total note passer! I like it, but it's not really keepable? If that makes sense. I don't worry as much about losing them because they aren't digital because they are silly thoughts and bits. But I think I want to preserve the letters in a better way? Like all of them might be overwhelming to pass down, but maybe Munchkin would like to see them when we are gone? Or, based on this thread, maybe potential grandchildren! I do like the idea of a junk journal. I could do that with digitally too....Hmmm.....

    Wow.:goldstars Just wow. That's a totally awesome idea!
     
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