Wednesday 7 March 2012

What’s on my Worktop Wednesday?

A couple of weeks ago I went to the ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ family history exhibition in London.  I went to help man the Anglo-Italian Family History Society stall.  It’s something I have done for a number of years and always have an interesting day hearing different family history stories.  I always return inspired to do more of my own family history, but don’t always act on it!  Well, now I have scaled down my duties for AIFHS, I decided this is the year for action!  I bought a lovely box file with carry handle at the fair that will do very nicely for my old photographs. 

So my desk is strewn with old family photographs!  I want to sort them all, carry on identifying who’s who, and remove the photos of people I don’t know.

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This rather handsome man is a bit of a mystery!  This photo was taken in WW1, and I did think that he was a friend of my Grandad’s.  But I can’t find anything about him!  On the back of the photo it says:

Pte L H White

22480 B Coy

2nd Leicester Regt (attached)

7th Division

Headquarters

E.E.F.

Late of Mesopotamia

This is the same regiment and place as my Grandad.  I was thinking that this photo is LH White, but I can’t find any record of LH White!  Today when I looked at it again, I wondered if the name on the back was who the photo was to be sent to, not the name of the person in the photo.  Any ideas?

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Also, I started scrapping the next holiday!  This is Summer 1996, where we took a caravan at Minehead in North Devon for 2 weeks.  What a great time we had, despite the mixed weather!

First is the title page for this holiday.  Thanks to Glitter Girl, who’s LO I have unashamedly reproduced here, and her hot tips for scrapping vintage photos.  I love the little pocket in the top!  The pink and orange striped card is folded to create a pocket for the journalling.  I have a detailed diary for this holiday, so I might ‘hide’ some of it in the hereSmile.  There’s just one thing I am unsure of - the title in pale pink.  Do you think it should be darker?  Maybe hot pink like the ribbon across the middle?  What do you think?

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I love this bright paper which is from American Crafts Margarita range which I bought in a sale, but it is on a white background, and Glitter Girl suggests a cream background to go with the more yellow tones of older photos.  I’ll save it for a more sunshiney holiday!

I am intending to scrap a few 12 x 12 LOs for my album and use different page protectors for the rest.  Here’s another 12 x12, this time following Shimelle’s starting point for this week.

The West Somerset Railway went right by our caravan site.  As you can imagine, Nicholas at 7 was very excited about this, although a little scared by the noise!  So one of the first things we did was catch the train into MineheadSmile

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Not sure what this paper is, I bought this in a sale we held at our crop back in January. It doesn’t have any name on the strip, so I’m suspecting it’s from one of those big pads of paper you can buy at the Range.

I am linking up with:

Starting points with Shimelle

What’s on your Worktop Wednesday? with Julia at the Stamping Ground

13 comments:

Alison said...

Hope you solve the mystery of the unknown soldier..your LOs are lovely...Iwould possibly have gone for a darker pink as you suggest, but think it looks good as it stands!
Alison xx

jill said...

Hope you find out who that handsome man was. I love looking at old photo's.
You holiday Lo are lovely . Happy crafting

SandeeNC said...

My best advice is to take mystery pictures to family functions, I had an Aunt who helped me id all sorts of people I didn't know or recognize! Good luck, it's a daunting task, but doable! waving hi from the chilly hills of North Carolina :)

Beachstudio said...

What a wonderful mystery, I hope you find some information about that very handsome man. Love your scrapbooking pages too, especially the Steam Engine one. Happy WOYWW, another Linda

Kelly Pyron said...

I followed the link from Shimelle's website. I love your take on the starting point! Great use of elements and I love the fun-ness of this layout! :)

Chicken Licken said...

That man looks soooooo young, I wonder what his story is? Great LOs and yes, darker pink I think! x

Spyder said...

I do hope you find who the mystery soldier is. At least there's something on the back, someone, some where might know him!

Have a great crafty week. Happy WOYWW!
((Lyn)) #26

Gem's Crafts said...

Oooh what a mystery! I hope you find out who he is. I'd perhaps outline the pink title with a darker colour so that it stands out a bit more, but still love all the LO's :)

MaggieC (Silvercrafter) said...

If you want to start on your family history, start from what and who you know, trace them, and if they are alive talk to them, ask loads of questions. Then get all the birth, death and Marriage certificates you can find and trace.get a good Family tree computer program - I use Family Tree Maker, which allows me to store photos attached to the information and person, including scans of all the certificates and census returns. If there is anything you want to ask, please contact me. I have been ding it for years, and only wish I had talked to my grandparents when they were alive, and I have so many questions I should have asked my parents when they were alive. Another point is to label all your own photos so your descendants do not have the same trouble identifying people. beware, it is very addictive. xx Maggie #8

alexa said...

Hope you find somewhere - like the appropriate military regiment archives? - for the unknown photos and hoping you don't shred them. These will be an important link for someone, somewhere ... Love the colours in your steam train ride page: real sense of fun!

CraftygasheadZo said...

Ooh family history is a passion of mine too. Hope you find what you hope. Take care & enjoy this week's WOYWW, it's now Friday & I'm still snooping! Zo xx 60

Debbie P said...

I have very little of my family history, you are so lucky to have some. I hope your figure out who the soldier is. Someone would probably give anything to have that photo of their loved one. Love your layouts. Great job on the Starting Points layout!

scrappymo! said...

I hope you are able to figure out the mystery man! Such a handsome fellow.

Your layouts are fab. Love the scraplift from Shimmelle.
The train story is so cute.