Family History Gifts

As my siblings and I prepared to sell our family home early last year, we had to clear out more than half a century of family history.

That's a lot of stuff.....at least for my family it was a lot of stuff.

Being a sucker for old photos and documents, I had to stop and examine these items trying to understand their relevance.

I know that I can't turn my home into an archive of the past, so I resolved to ignore the temptation I felt to keep much of the old paperwork from various relatives.

I did not however ignore that voice inside me that said, "Hmmmm.....I think I could do something with this."

A very limited amount of the old paperwork did come home with me,

 and I did do something with it.

I decided to make Christmas gifts for my siblings using these pieces of the past.

Using property tax documents, bank statements, a cancelled check and a page from an old dictionary, I made a base to be used for 9 x 12 canvases.

I didn't want to recreate each base, so I made color copies on the self serve copiers at a local office supply store.

I also made regular black and white copies of photos from our parent's wedding as well as a photo of our home.

I turned the wedding photocopies into transparencies and everything was assembled on 9 x 12 canvases that I had prepared with a black primer.  

A glossy gel medium was used to protect the surface.

I've always loved making homemade gifts!