For those of you that have been long-time blog readers here, you know that my grandmother passed away in January. She was very special to me and we were very close.
We had a small memorial service for her yesterday at a family dinner at her favorite restaurant. My grandfather ordered here favorite meal for her and he and my father ate it for her, as was the usual case whenever they went out to eat (well, they didn't eat the whole thing, they would just polish off anything she couldn't finish).
I wanted to do something special with pictures of my grandmother and decided on little accordion books that would serve as memorial books.
My sister emailed me some pictures and I had a couple prints that I liked that I had done in wallet size.
I made 8 of these little books and it seemed that everyone appreciated them. They weren't overdone.... they were very simple, but elegant.
I thought, at first, that this might be too personal to share, but then thought of all the wonderful support you all showed back in January when my grandmother went through her last days and when she passed away. I really appreciate all the kindness you showed during that time. My grandmother was very special to me and I wanted to share her with you.
While this is an accordion book, I also created and added folded pages inside the book to allow for 2 extra pictures, as well as 2 quotes.
I could have made the accordion longer, but then I would have had to splice cardstock together and thought this would give it a little more interest.
There's a big part of me that is a perfectionist. Even though I've tried hard to break out of that box, there's still a part of me that feels like everything has to be just so. Just perfect. Diving head first into the world of altered books and altered art really helped me to see that I could go outside the lines, break the rules and do absolutely whatever my heart desired. As I was working on these little books, I wanted them to be perfect. I had a vision in mind for them. I was given the pictures to work with, but when when it came down to actually doing the work of putting them together, I wanted to do it myself.
My daughter (she's 7) saw me working at my craft desk and asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was working on little memory books about Grandma and that I was going to bring them to the memorial service. My daughter told me she wanted to help. At first, I felt suffocated inside. This was MY project. MY vision. I was doing this. I didn't want anyone else to help with it. I wanted them to be perfect.
Then, I realized that I wasn't the only one that lost this person I loved so much. We all lost her. It's something we've all been learning to process. I knew, then, that I needed to let go of this being MINE and let my daughter have a part in it.
I took out the Perfect Plum cardstock and measured it in the paper cutter and let my daughter do the cutting. I don't let my daughter use the paper cutter, but I decided that this time, she would be allowed to use it, since she was sitting on my lap. We went through the process of cutting the paper together.
I took out the package of Enchante paper (from Stampin' Up....though it's no longer available) that I've been hoarding for a special project and pulled out a couple of pieces to see what looked best with the cardstock. I asked my daughter what she thought would look best on the front of the book. I was really hoping that she'd pick the paper I secretly wanted. She didn't. She picked out the little dainty purple flowers. Part of me wanted to try to talk her into choosing the paper I wanted. I let it go and told myself that this wasn't all about what I wanted. I let her choose the paper she wanted. I ended up using the paper I wanted inside of the book to mount the quotes on top of. It was a nice compromise.
After a while, my daughter went off to do something else and I took over and finished the books from there.
It was actually very therapeutic to work on these. My grandmother didn't want a funeral, calling hours, a wake or an obituary. We honored her wishes on that. While that was easy for most of us to process at the time that she passed away, it's been a little more challenging, in the long run, to fully find closure on all that's happened.
Wasn't she just beautiful? This picture always makes me think of a movie star. My grandfather was really touched by the little books. Just as I was really touched when he handed me a beautiful purple velvet box and told me to take one of the little urns that were inside. He gave my mom, sister and I each a beautiful little 3 inch tall carved pewter memorial urn to keep. It was a good opportunity to explain all of this to the kids, since this was their first experience with death. My little urn is sitting on the shelf in my living room. I know she's really not in there, but it's was so kind of my grandfather to share a part of her with all of us. I'm sure that wasn't easy for him to do, but it really meant a lot to all of us.
I'm now off to work on a project for my girls to do at my downline meeting tomorrow night.
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Happy Creating!
-Stampin' Mama
Coasters are great to put under your drinks to keep your table dry,
but there's so many more uses for these simple, sturdy pieces of
cardboard than just drinks.
