In response to my post, Sentimental Journeys with Your Crafts, Anitra shared, in the comments, her family art and crafts project, making photo CD coasters.
We made coasters from old family photos and Cds. I still smile when I see mine-happy memories!
At her Coffee Pot People blog, Anitra describes the process she and family members used, for making these coasters.  The materials are inexpensive and may be some you already have around the house.  It’s a great way to use those old CD’s you no longer want that seem to accumulate. 
This is a great project for family members of all ages, …read more

How have you used crafting to take a sentimental journey? 
How do you do this?

Make a quilt or mixed media art with fabrics from a relative or ancestor.
Create shadow boxes with memorabilia.
Stitch fabric art from a relative’s neckties.
Display memorabilia in a glass enclosed cabinet.
Make scrapbooks
Write journals
Incorporate memorabilia and photos into collages and altered books.
Frame quilt blocks that a family member started but didn’t get around to putting into a quilt.

What have you done with memorabilia that will save your heritage and take family members on sentimental journeys?
In future posts, I’ll describe some of the “sentimental journeys” I’m taking with family memorabilia.

This is Family Reunion Theme week at my Blisstree Parenting posts.  We just came from an annual reunion in my husband’s family, and I’m pondering new ways to incorporate some of the memorabilia into arts and crafts…that other family members can copy, that will add to the family history album I’ve compiled, that will be something unique.
Some ideas:

Make shadowboxes with memorabilia from past and present family members
Create a CD or slide show of family pictures and documents.  Several family members said they’d like the photos I have in the family history album on a CD.
Make a quilt hanging using some family …read more

For many years, the old rocking chair, minus upholstery, scratched and scarred has resided in our storage area.  Occasionally we’d pull it out for a yard sale, but no one wanted it, or at least at the price I placed on it.
It contained too many memories for me to give it away, but I didn’t have time to refinish and uphoster it.  Actually I didn’t know how. 
Today at a yard sale, a lady remarked on its nice lines and sturdiness.  It would be great if finished, she informed me.  But she didn’t know how either.  As my daughter and I …read more

I’ve accumulated neckties worn by my uncle, my dad, my father-in-law and my husband.  I haven’t yet begun necktie memory quilts.  I now have decided to make smaller hangings simply because I don’t have enough time to do a bed quilt.
I also want to use other bits of memorabilia on the quilt.  These would be more effective in a wall quilt.  They include items such as shirt buttons, medals, tie tacks, tags from the backs of ties.
I also could use a tie or two in a shadow box, as a backdrop for display of other memorabilia.  Perhaps you’ll write a journal to go …read more

Why not make a scrapbook dedicated to Dad for Father’s Day?  You may not have it made for a gift today, but why not start one?  It can take many forms.

For the dad of young children in the family.
For grandfather…his life, achievements, and hobbies
For uncles who play a special role in your children’s lives.
For someone who has like a dad or grandfather in your family’s life.

What do you include?

Photos of special events
Photos, journal entries and memories
Photos of an unfolding life
Contributions from various family members

This can be a fun family project that recalls fond times and hard times and draws families …read more

Creating family history quilts takes many forms.  These have become popular for preserving memories, pictures, fabric and memorabilia.
Reproducing family photos on fabric, generally with the computer and printer nowadays, although some people still like to make sun prints and similar applications.
Gathering fabrics used in clothing worn by family members, either from many or just one person.  Among these are t-shirts that appeal to a particular family member.
Using designs that connect with a person’s interest, hobby or occupation.  My daughter made a quilt for her young son with blocks of different trucks during his truck stage.
Tracing each family member’s hand and …read more

When my husband and I travel, we generally bring home gifts for our grandchildren.  But they’re not the kind we spend a great deal of money to purchase. 
They are rocks and seashells, seaglass, foods from the area, something a relative may have made, and stories of places we’ve visited.  The natural objects are typical of that area and may tell of the geology and history.  We bring home recipes to try and ingredients we might not find at home.  (I use these for my travel writing, but the grandchildren seem to look forward to them, too.)
he “gifts” include:

 Rocks of a …read more

I discussed Aprons as Fabric Art in a previous post and mentioned how they’ve also become collectors’ items.  I’ve recently learned about aprons as business.
Sarah O. Green, of Mountain Ash Design, creates aprons from vintage and other recycled fabrics for a unique business that I feature at Home Biz Notes.  She also makes other items from these fabrics and older clothing that put her in the category of  operating a “green” businesses, as well.
Aprons that bring back memories seem to be making a comeback.  I also recalled that my first “clothing for sale” project consisted of aprons  I made to …read more

One of my favorite activities consists of researching and writing about my family stories, along with developing scrapbooks that depict these tales.  In fact, I’ve been developing this into a business that brands me as a family writer.
You’ll find many ways to save your family memories in scrapbooks:

Simply a collection of pictures with names or captions
Adding journal notes and explanations to the pictures
Writing stories and using the photos and pictures to illustrate
Write a fiction story, or biography, illustrated with scrapbooking techniques, as I’ve been doing with the story of my Uncle William “Buffalo Bill” Mathewson of New York State …read more