Stefanie Semple says, “Taking photos and telling the story behind sentimental attachments frees an emotion and allows me to let go of the stuff and move on.”
Personal storytelling is about both the events in the story and what the story means to you. Story Coach lessons help you find stories, present them in a compelling way, and discover what they really mean.
The layouts and stories below came out of the prompts and writing guide in Story Coach #6, Object of My Youth. The class guides you through writing a story from your childhood that you discover by remembering specific objects: toys, tools or treasures that you can recall still. The class helps you understand why a particular object is recalled, what it means to you and how it’s relevant to who you are.
Terry Billman says, “As I approached this Story Coach lesson, I had to dig deep to think of some type of object in my youth that was special in my life, something that was part of molding me to what I am now. I grew up in a lower middle class family. Our home was small. There were few toys. In fact, I really couldn’t recall any special things in my life besides a Barbie doll and my violin. My violin was my prized possession, mostly because it belonged to my father when he was a child.”
“The Story Coach class enabled me to think about the sentimental value behind violin and then the passion I had for music. I found it ironic that when I received the violin, it was all dusty. Now, the violin sits in the closet gathering dust and my scrapbooks sit on the shelf gathering dust just waiting for someone to look at them and reminisce the past. Although, I still love music, especially classical, I realized that passion has been replaced by my desire to record memories of every day life with photography and scrapbooking.”
Passion, Music to Memories by Terry Billman | Anna Aspnes: Art Play For the Record, Art Play Find My Way, Art Play Fotographie, Hipster Plumes Korners Edges 2, Artsy Layered Template 6, Art Play Enamored, Cool Glows 1; Katie Pertiet: Bexley
Lise Mariann Alsli says, “I started this story by considering my writing desk, which I got as a Christmas gift when I was about 11 years old. I really loved that desk and it followed me through my youth and into my early adulthood. When I was a troubled, always-in-and-out-of-love teen girl, it housed all my little secrets.”
“I ended up telling the story about my heaps of diaries and how I poured all my thoughts into them for many years and how I burned them just a couple of years ago to make sure that no one but me will ever know the thoughts and secrets that my 15-year-old self wrote down. Not all of them as nice as I would like them to be. My secrets are still buried in drawers and cabinets though…this time inside my heart.”
“This is an important story of me, but I would never have thought about scrapbooking this story without beginning with thoughts of my loved desk. I didn’t really discover anything that surprised me, but I am always happy to get a push to scrapbook those details that I know so well, but that will be lost if I don’t write them down. I am actually very happy that I made this page, not only because of the story, but also because I have scrapbooked the only picture I could dig up that included my writing desk. It shows the desk, my confused almost-adult decorating style, me at 15 writing in my diary and the mess that was my room at that time. I look at the layout and giggle at the childish teddy bear and the sweet knickknacks on the shelf paired with the hunky Marcus Schenkenberg on my wall and I remember the struggle it was growing up.”
Drawers & Cabinets by Lise Mariann Alsli | Supplies: Papers and Cardstock: Bazzill kraft cardstock; Embellishment: October afternoon rubber charms, Pink Paislee artisan elements, Studio Calico mistables, Rangers stickles, Crate paper fabric frames; Ink, Paint & Pens: Faber Castell gelatos, Staz on ink pad, black pen; Stamps: Christina Renee, Ranger Dylusions, Unity Stamps; Alphabets: American Crafts (Thickers), Adornit mini alpha; Other: Doily.
Stefanie Semple says, “I started this story thinking about a cupboard that to this day is affectionately called the green cupboard. I recalled my childhood and the role the cupboard played in my childhood room. I also recalled the expectation of filling it with baby goodies before my first daughter died, the excitement with daughter number 2 and the fact that Hubby waited until she was home safe and sound before he finished it with the pink inners. And now it’s sadly relocated to an upstairs room, its role as a doll house forgotten, and its current function as storage for our overflow of stuff.”
“Story coach helped me to think logically through the history of this old cupboard, I would have never thought to tell the story behind this “green” cupboard that is now clearly pink and white. I love telling the story behind things and traditions and am thrilled to get this story told. Hubby calls me a hoarder and in some ways this is true. I hang onto stuff, for its sentimental value.”
“Taking photos and telling the story behind sentimental attachments frees an emotion and allows me to let go of the stuff and move on. I love it. I took three photos, one of the cupboard in its natural state, and another cleared off with my toes keeping the doors shut and the curtain tie-back still in Rosie’s room that matches the cupboard door knob. I loved using the green alphas to create the title, paying homage to it being the green cupboard. I kept the embellishments simple, while providing a visually substantial brown paper shelf. This will be added to an album I created of letters that my sister in law returned to me when they moved, stories I told in letters while the children were growing up. Treasured memories all of them.”
Relegated by Stefanie Semple | Supplies: Wimpychompers Creations (kit) Our New Princess, Scrapping with LIz (template) Traditional Temp Freebie
