Suggestions for Heritage Themes???

[sandygb]

I thought it might be fun to start a thread where we could post suggestions for future weekly layout themes. Sometimes we are at a loss to think of new and interesting themes...or even themes that we would like to repeat.

An idea for a layout theme came to mind as I was reading SusanG's "labor" (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=211037&cat=847)layout. Her journaling mentions how much has changed in the telephone industry over the last 30 years or so. I was reminded how much has changed in my lifetime. I can recall discussing this same topic with my grandmother and realizing that airplanes were invented during her lifetime....the trans-Atlantic (not sure what it's called) telephone system happened during my mother's lifetime, television was a biggie for my generation....and the list goes on and on. I thought it would be interesting topic to do:

Changes that have occured during our lives...or the lives of our parents/grandparents.

Please add your ideas for future Heritage layout themes!

[SusanG]

I think changes in our/our families time is a neat idea...some things that come to mind in that topic are space exploration i.e. Sputnik through Challenger or Wedgewood Stoves to Glass cooktop...lots of possibilities in between.

I have another theme thought, service to country, community, other countries. I'm thinking any kind of service from Conservation Corps to military to missionary efforts.....by our family members.

I'm brain storming here...I do better without the pressure of being alert on the chat, lol.... Thanks Sandy for the prompt.

[dawn-in-nz]

That's an excellent suggestion Sandy. During my lifetime I can think of

1) the ballpoint pen, we used nibs and inkwells when I was at primary school
2) television of course, how exciting that was even in black & white
3) man landing on the moon, even more exciting
4) electric toothbrushes

and the list goes on....

[HeatherL]

Great ideas ladies. Being a retired teacher I thought of how much education has changed over the years.
1) one room school house
2) huge multiplex schools
3) home schooling
4)school supplies: from the inkwell and slates, ballpoint and paper, internet and digital everything
Just a few thoughts

[Spitfire0208]

and how about the fact that you have a computer in your house and some can even pick theirs up and walk away with it.......i remember my step father working as a data input specialist when I was about 9 years old and the computers were HUGE....they took up the whole room, and boy was it a cold room....

anyway have we done Cars yet? How about your first car or your parents car or your grandparents car?

[sssnoo]

I like all the suggestions already posted. In addition how about:

Heritage cookbooks or recipes.

The Depression.

Laundry, cooking, cleaning or some houshold chore.

Quilts, crocheting, sewing or other heritage crafts.

Furniture, lamps, accessories.

Dishes or cooking utenciles, kitchens

[sandygb]

Ooo, I'm loving reading about all these wonderful ideas! Keep them coming!!

[Impy]

How about:

Letters (found in a shoebox?)

Settlers (the story of how your family ended up where they are now)

Famous Ancestors (or infamous ; )

Skeletons in the closet (stuff no one wants to talk about but is part of you history)

Religion/Church (how it played a part in your family's past)

Traditions (holiday or otherwise)

I'll keep thinking and come back with more if I come up with any. : )

[sandygb]

Great ideas Vicki!

[SusanG]

I love the settlers, skeletons in closet (though I don't think I know mine, lol) and famous or infamous ancestors (I could do one on a quasi-famous ancestor I think).
Thanks Vicki! And I like quilts and kitches stuff and depression (I think you meant the timeframe in the 30's but I could do one on the mental state, LOL) the ELECTRIC toothbrush reminds me of a teen I know who was excited to tell his Dad that he had discovered a watch that didn't need a battery...you just wind it up "how cool is that Dad"? LOLOL. Great ideas ladies

[Meryl]

Sandy, thank you so much for starting this thread, what a wonderful idea!!!! I am loving reading alll these fabulous suggestions...... off to sticky it now! thanks so much :)

[caraffle]

Just a thought, some kind of document, birth certificates, marriage certificates, old report cards

[Lynnie]

realizing many of us don't have pictures of some of the topics, it might be nice if we had a choice some weeks. We can also do a combination of pictures of us at certain ages and journaling.

Stories my Grandmother told me
When I was a little girl....
Proud of our Soldiers...
Tales from the war zone...
The naughtiest thing I ever did...
My earliest memory
Places I played
How things have changed...
My best friend...
Games in the playground
Recess
My Report Cards
My teachers, my classes, my school
A woman's role
Nursery Rhymes
How we got around (transportation)
How they met (stories of romance)

I'm sure I can think of more...

[Meryl]

Something I have often though of - "Where I was when..........." - fill in the blank with - President Kennedy was assassinated, Princess Diana was killed, men first landed on the moon, 911 (golly gosh, :lol: :lol: :lol: I was at the gynae for that one, annual check up! won't be scrapping THAT!) - get the idea? world changing events.

[LisasMom]

Something I have often though of - "Where I was when..........." - fill in the blank with - President Kennedy was assassinated, Princess Diana was killed, men first landed on the moon, 911 (golly gosh, :lol: :lol: :lol: I was at the gynae for that one, annual check up! won't be scrapping THAT!) - get the idea? world changing events.

Oh Meryl!!! You are such a *HOOT*!!
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd317/JakesNana/owl.gif

[caraffle]

Meryl, That would be a funny page, red in the face would be all you needed to show how you felt!

[Impy]

How about

THE BLACK SHEEP in the FAMILY

(We probably all have one of those!) ;)

[Meryl]

Great idea Vicki :)

[GranFran]

I've been thinking a lot about how our grandchildren and those "down the line" will see us. Things we take for granted now as the latest and greatest will be "old stuff" to them. They might not even know how or why we did some things, and I think it's important to document a lot of that as "future heritage" so they'll know. So I'm trying to work a little of that in with all of the old pictures and papers that I have now. Wish I'd listened to my grandmother a little more than I did!

[Teresa]

Ditto on above. I keep telling myself that the albums I create now about my own family will be the albums that the get pulled out to be treasured long after I am gone.

[LisasMom]

Love that one too Frannie!

Today I caught myself thinking *Grama always said ...* and thought about scrapping something like that. Or even old wives tales or proverbs or some snippet of wisdom passed on to us somehow.

[Meryl]

Some wonderful ideas - thanks so much :)

[Meryl]

Suggestions from tonight's chat, just to keep track:
our own baby photos
food or eating- like family meal time or special dinners
family groups (doing that this week)
clubs eg scouts

[sherryva]

1. I have added some pages to my heritage album that are "then vs now"; it was based on the old "walking to school uphill, both ways, in the snow, no shoes"...type conversation. When my daughter was born we didn't have cell phones, or laptops, we had 45's my daughter has an ipod, I had a rotary phone glued to the wall, my daughter has a cell phone, the list of differences is endless.

2. The other thing my mom has started doing to add to my scrapbooks is comparison pages. The basic idea is to show who we got our traits from. (I have my mothers eyes or my grandmothers creative streak...the red hair comes from Aunt Sally etc.) So for example, some of the pages I have done show 4 generations of women, at the same age. (you can see the family similarity, but boy the wardrobes have changed). Another page shows my love of photography which I get from my grandmother, so that page shows a couple of travel photos that are taken 40 years apart, but in the same place- one by her, one by me.

3. I also have "history of an item" pages, explaining the importance of things that were handed down to me, so that others can appreciate how "valuable" they are to our family. I did this with all the handmade christmas ornaments my grandmother carved for me, so that generations later they will still be appreciated by others as much as I appreciate them, (I think you just did one like this for jewelry).

4. I also did a few "casting pages"- kind of like a family tree page- when people read my book my Aunt Margie may be their 4th cousing twice removed.. etc- so they may not know how she fits into things, so my casting or index page simply shows 5 or 6 players for that branch of the family with their pertinent info, date born, died, where they lived, who kids were etc- so that others can follow the family vine- and when I do a layout I don't have to try to fit all that info onto the pages again.

5. I have also done an "in my lifetime" page showing everywhere we have lived in the country-(doing ancestry research I have learned people didn't move around quite so much "back then" but they sure do now)- it might help people in the future keep track of where the family members were and when they were there- for when THEY are researching US.

6. I did a "when I turned into my mother page" (although she isn't very fond of it). We all have that moment when we realize, like it or not, that we have turned into our mothers... Truth be told, the older I get the less it bothers me, and the more I appreciate it- but in my 30's I didn't care for the reference all that much.

[HeatherL]

Wow so many great ideas posted here Sherry, many things I never thought to do. Thank you for some great inspiration, badly needed these days.

[sherryva]

Ok, one more.. I'm looking through my heritage albums for ideas and the one I get the most comments from my family on is "recipe for me" (which can be done for any family member). In this case it shows a picture of me, with an old index card, with a hand written "recipe"-and while I wont bore you with all of it- the "gist" is...
A little love from mom and dad (Jack and Pat)
Creative streak from Grandma Beth
Blond hair from Aunt Sylvia
Eyes by Grandpa Sy
Stubborn streak from Jack
(it goes on for quite a bit.....)
bake for 9 months...sprinkle with love and affection
our own unique "pot luck"

[LisasMom]

Wow Sherry! You must have some fantastic heritage albums!! Are any of them digital that you might upload some examples for us?? I'd love to see them and *meet* your family!

[HeatherL]

Yes Sherry can you share??? I am in the mood for scraplifting these wonderful ideas.

[Meryl]

Sherry your albums sound fantastic! What a wonderful idea this sounds - please share more!

[sherryva]

Hi everyone-
Most of the pages were back in the paper days- but I have always wanted to do digital versions (so I can easily print copies for the family- they love this stuff at Christmas time..) Now it seems I have a new incentive to do it now instead of later so I will start posting them as I convert them- glad I found this thread- you all have some really wonderful ideas to keep away the scrappers block!

Is there a heritage gallery for posting?
Sherry

[shawsi]

I am new at the Heritage Group, but I wondered if you had ever done "School days". I was looking through my "box" and found several of those than need a home. Maybe if you haven't, that would be a great one for one of the coming months.

Just read over Sherryva's ideas....wow whata creative person she is. I would love to sit and look at all of your albums Lots of inspiration there I bet.

[Limequilla]

Sandy & Meryl,

I am new to scrapbooking, but caraffle had an idea I'd like to see offered: "some kind of document, birth certificates, marriage certificates, old report cards"

To sweeten the pot, I would be willing to find anyone's grandparents' census listing if they PM names, approx birthdate & place of birth, and location of where they were living at the turn of the century (or whenever).

Naturally if it's more than 5 or 10 people asking, I'd need a week or two to get them all together, but I have time now through about the end of February if you're interested. I'm sure every one knows this, but censuses are taken every ten years and the most legible ones are usually 1850, 1860. The ones with the most information are 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. I am happy to search and download a copy of whatever year a Heritage Forum participant wants.

That way everybody has a plain old boring document to work with. Sometimes it's the only thing I have, and I could really use some ideas and help.

[caraffle]

Sandy & Meryl,

I am new to scrapbooking, but caraffle had an idea I'd like to see offered: "some kind of document, birth certificates, marriage certificates, old report cards"

To sweeten the pot, I would be willing to find anyone's grandparents' census listing if they PM names, approx birthdate & place of birth, and location of where they were living at the turn of the century (or whenever).

Naturally if it's more than 5 or 10 people asking, I'd need a week or two to get them all together, but I have time now through about the end of February if you're interested. I'm sure every one knows this, but censuses are taken every ten years and the most legible ones are usually 1850, 1860. The ones with the most information are 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. I am happy to search and download a copy of whatever year a Heritage Forum participant wants.

That way everybody has a plain old boring document to work with. Sometimes it's the only thing I have, and I could really use some ideas and help.

WOW, that is a nice offer, I bet many of us, me included would love to know how to do this for ourselves......care to share that and we can incorporate it into the weekly theme or make it a seperate challenge-------find your ancestor? My Grandparents were easy but my Great Grands were mostly all born in Europe and the train is hard to follow.

[Limequilla]

Oh, well, I cheat and search from Heritage Quest from the Library. I would just plug in what you tell me and copy what I find. For your great grandparents, it would likely be a ship's manifest with their names on it. Once you have the name of the ship, you could search online and find a photo of the actual ship. It will not tell you where they are from, except *sometimes* you get lucky, especially if it is the 20th century.

[Lynnie]

Sandy & Meryl,

I am new to scrapbooking, but caraffle had an idea I'd like to see offered: "some kind of document, birth certificates, marriage certificates, old report cards"

To sweeten the pot, I would be willing to find anyone's grandparents' census listing if they PM names, approx birthdate & place of birth, and location of where they were living at the turn of the century (or whenever).

Naturally if it's more than 5 or 10 people asking, I'd need a week or two to get them all together, but I have time now through about the end of February if you're interested. I'm sure every one knows this, but censuses are taken every ten years and the most legible ones are usually 1850, 1860. The ones with the most information are 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. I am happy to search and download a copy of whatever year a Heritage Forum participant wants.

That way everybody has a plain old boring document to work with. Sometimes it's the only thing I have, and I could really use some ideas and help.

What a thoughtful and generous offer :) I have loads of great documents, including census documents and they are all out of England, so I wouldn't be needing it, but I did want to mention how very nice that is of you to offer to provide this. Great idea, too, from Chris.

[Limequilla]

Generous or self serving? LOL!

Have you ever tried to make a family scrapbook using those boring looking censuses and other documents, Chris? I want to make something like this:
http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDJgwZtmTRw2YAu545h0

But I want to go back to the 1750s, and there are no photos available. Just listings of people in censuses, Rev War lists, and things of that nature. There will likely be a fair amount of text, too, so it will be doubly unattractive unless I come up with some cool things like recipes of the day or maps or something.

How can I still make it attractive?

Am I reading that flair strip right? You want to do 1000 layouts by March? of 2009???? Do they all contain a photo?

[redbomchele38]

I thought a family tree theme would be a cool theme to do.i just hit pay dirt going thru my moms pics and found a whole pile of vintage photo's that have been laying dormant for yrs.i'm on a vintage kick here lately as well as family history lol.its amazing what you learn when you ask the historians of the family about those vintage photo's.you never know there maybe a funny story or maybe a tragic one or even a romantic one or even a courageous one or a act of bravery vintage photo's are stories in themselves.some are just the simple act of the struggle to survive life i know some of the photo's i have are of 2 brother's who died of whooping cough and their older sister died of leukemia their older brother was the only one to survive he is still alive with a grand total of 6 kids 5 girls 1 boy out of those 6 1 set of twins fraternal twins a boy & a girl.i thought if this theme was done people could dig out their old vintage pics that they would learn a lot of their family history in the process or just remember some of their own memories i know my mom did when i showed her the ones i found.it's just a thought.i hope you think about it.

[MurlieMac]

Girls, Boys, babies, fashion, chores, farms, homesteads, winter, occupations,candids, humorous. When I think of more I'll post them