Letters from friends in your layouts?

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for an idea on how to incorporate letters into my layouts? I have boxes of them, and I'm not sure how to pick which ones to use? How many to use? And what to do with the ones that I don't use? Store them or toss them? There are some people who have sent me bundles of letters over the years (like grandparents, etc). If anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful.

Thank you!

Bear with me, this is going to take a little time, because I've just had a brain tornado!! I would take some of the letters--especially the ones from grandparents, and have color coppies made, but reduced, maybe even 75%. Now put aside the letters, tear the coppies into largish, readable pieces, not all the same size. Attach them to your background cardstock. Now with a sponge and acid-free stamp pad soften the outside border, and blend inbetween the pieces of letters. Then find 1, maybe two rubber stamps, maybe a delicate floral, and stamp randomly in the blankish spaces of the collaged letter pieces. You could even make several pages like this, two for a double page spread, one page of which could be a pocket for the origional letters. Gosh I wish I had some of my grandma's letters, I miss her so much and those letters would be such a treasure. I think they are worth the album space with or without any pictures, but I would do some serious journaling. Have a wonderful time with this project, and please post your final results--regardless if you use any of my suggestions or not, I would love to see the final outcome. Hope this helps, Nancy

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Nancy

I recently ran across the first letter my DH ever sent me, and I want to put it in a book, too. I am going to use a background paper of old letters (Paper Pizazz) and make a pocket to put his letter in. I also have a pressed flower and some other odds and ends that I will probably add to the page. I can't get rid of the original, but it's too long to scrap all on one page, so I'm just going to tuck the whole thing in.

I am not a big rule person so I say to use as many or as few letters as you like. Incorporate them into your layouts or make them the focal point of a page layout. What about an album featuring these letters? Title the album something like "Letters from the Past", "Life in Words", "Family Letters", "A Legacy in Words", or something along those lines. Use stickers and embellishments featuring the time period the letter was written in. Although for historical perservation I would not place anything on the actual letter itself. Include some photos, but this album can really be about the letters. If you can, save the envelopes too.
Do not toss any of them!! Those that you don't scrap can be put in pocket pages. If you can, scan them as well and put them on CD's.
Letter writing is becoming a lost art. With telephones, e-mail, faxes, computers, fewer and fewer people are actually writing. What a treasure trove you have!
Here's a link describing how to preserve personal papers:
http://www.lib.az.us/archives/g-preserve1.htm

[This message has been edited by Miranda (edited 06-01-2001).]

Wow what great ideas!

Diane

These are all great ideas! I can't wait to get started on this 'chapter'. I'll try to post pictures when I get a few pages done. Thanks everyone!!!

Lilithe: I think you will especially enjoy reading letters from your grandparents many years from now. I have only one letter from my Grandmother who died in the 1950's. I plan to place the letter on a black page in my heritage album and surround it with photos of my Grandmother at various ages in her life. You may even want to do an album using letters and placing pictures of the letter writer on each page. I would add some poetry and sentimental "sayings" here and there, and have a fascinating slice of history from your life and from those who came before you. If the letters scan lots of years, you could even include some "fads" from the era of the letter (pictures of clothing or cars, names of movies from that year). What fun this project could be!

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Scrapper Sue

Good ideas. I think I'll use them.

Au Revior!
Como se dice Megan

(can anyone figure that out?)