Outside the Color Box

It's so easy for me to use easy color choices for heritage layouts. The colors that most often come to mind are dark or soft colors like navy, rose and hunter green. I fall into the heritage color rut more than I'd like.

It is possible to think outside the heritage color box. I do find it easier when combining heritage photos with color photos, as the latter can direct the color. Today I have a little eye candy to remind myself (and you) that there are other color choices we can make.

All layouts are paper (not digital) kits from ClubScrap.

This black and white combo was a lot of fun.

A bit of yellow.

Orange and turquoise.

Rainbow.

Neon.

Happy scrapping.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, Week 36, Ancestor Photos

So many heritage photos show our ancestors with serious faces. That was the norm -- the expected. My great-great-grandmother (and her eldest daughter) preferred to have fun with the camera. This photo of Nerinda with a cluster of unusual props has always been one of my favorite photos. I wish there were a story or note on the back of the photo, but there's only the name written on the front.

This photo also reminds me of an early genealogical mistake that I hope you won't make. This was one of a dozen or more photos in a heritage photo album that belonged to my great-grandfather. I tore the album apart looking for names and dates on the backs of the photos. I destroyed a beautiful album that was from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Today I would work slowly and carefully, realizing that the album was as precious as the photos. Fortunately I did keep all the unlabelled and unknown photos together, so I do know they belonged to my great-grandfather.

So a word to the wise: cherish not only your heritage photos, but also the heritage albums they're in.

ClubScrap digital kits: A Study in Red, Artifacts

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, Week 35, Genealogy Friends

I love having genealogy friends, whether they are cousins or not. It provides an avenue to bounce ideas, thoughts, theories and questions off other researchers and also be a sounding board for them. Better yet, it gives me friends who understand the crazy hobby and this crazy hobbyist.

So today I want to say a big old North Carolina HEY to local friends Cheryl M and Sharon F, cousins Laurel P and Lorna W, German guru Mary P and cousin-of-cousins Rob W. And I must add a Swedish HEJ to almost-cousin Benny E.

The weekly blogging prompt asks how we met, so I have to write a few words about Rob, who is amazing. He has spent many years compiling what he calls a forest, rather than a tree, focusing on everyone in a single Oklahoma county. He has a lot of my family members in his forest and I can't remember exactly how we connected. He has sent me many obituaries for my family members and we have pooled our knowledge to identify the parentage for some of the women that appear in my tree and his forest.

Rob is not the only researcher who focuses on a location, rather than a family. These sorts of researchers provide a great service to the genealogical community by giving our family members the context of friends and neighbors. The in-depth knowledge they have and share are invaluable for revealing otherwise hidden relationships.

So thanks, Rob, and the rest of my genealogy friends. I'll see you gathered 'round the 1940 census.

Here's a look at a family reunion with the genealogy buffs at top left going over a chart. This genealogist was behind the camera. The neutral colors of this paper never appealed to me, but with mixed clothing colors, I appreciated how the neutrals didn't clash with anything. Using this kit for a series of family reunion photos gave me a new perspective on the benefits of earthtones.

ClubScrap Private Eye paper kit