2nd magazine interested on WW2 Love Letters

Today, I received news that Scrapbooks Dimensions wanted to feature WW2 Love Letters in their On-line Reader's Gallery. Unfortunately, I had to decline. Since the same LO will be published in Sommerset Magazine early next year, it just wouldn't be right.

I wish I could make LOs really as truly great as that one. I believe such luck happens once in a blue moon.

True Working Boy Inspiration

I've been quite busy making LOs left and right but haven't found the time to finish the journals. It's usually the journal that takes me a while to do. As of last count, I finished 6 so far and I hope to finish at least 8-9 by month's end.

Here is one LO I have done for Lasting Impression's Karen Foster Challenge. I decided to make a LO of my father to coincide with Father's Day.

I didn't intend to do it, but this LO is similar to the To Galo LO because of the color, and the use of the En Francais stamp. I am having difficulty with the stamp because it is supposed to be the widest script stamp available. Unfortunately, whenever I stamp onto any flat surface, a big part of the stamp's middle doesn't print. This is such a hassle because it limits printable areas. I would have wanted to stamp big areas of the cs for this one.

Hidden journal has 2 components: the synonym index card and the handwritten journal card. The synonym index card reads: Dd DETERMINED. adjective. Synonyms: decided, bent-on, decisive, intent, resolute, resolved, set, settled. See: earnest, purposeful, serious, unfaltering, unhesitating, unwavering, solid, firm, focused.

The handwritten journal reads: Life's Directions. The years after WW2 were lean and budgets were tight. As a school boy, my dad made ends meet by selling rubber bands, erasers, pens and pencils to his classmates. With extra money saved, he bought his mom the reddest lipstick for her birthday. His hard work, perseverance and learned lessons on money paid off. My dad carried these virtues all throughout his life. He was a true working boy.

Materials: Karen Foster metal alpha charms, KF Nickel Hierlooms1, KF School Clip, KF Mini-Screw Brads, KF Retro Resin, Bazzill yellow ochre cs, Fancy Pants About a Boy, Autumn Leaves Index Synonym Tabs, Cosmo Cricket Souvenir Journaling Card, Rhonna Farrer Keywords RubOns, Tsukineko Walnut Ink, Around the Block antiquing tool ink, Brilliance Moonlight White, Carolina's lace, miscellaneous ribbon. Others: Stampin' Up En Francais, Prima Dreamer Stamps.

Techniques used: stamping on paper and on ribbon, masking, inking edges of cs with walnut ink.

WW2 Love Letters For Publication

On a whim, I sent in my most favorite LO called WW2 Love Letters to Sommerset Magazine (formerly Legacy). I never knew about the publication until I won 1 year's subscription from Bookoto in last year's September local Scrapfest. Today, I received news that the lay-out will be published in their Feb/March 2009 issue!!! Jana Holstein said it was so appropriate for Valentine's Day!!!

WW2 Love Letters is a tribute to my grandparents whose very action of letter writing made their love story immortal to me and my family, now on print. Thank God for my grandmother who kept these letters, and for my dad who, when I was still a young child, proudly showed us these historical documents. Their steadfast belief in preserving this part of my grandparents' lives has made me appreciate my ancestry a hundredfold.

Being published is MY ultimate scrapping dream. It is a verification of what I have been telling myself all throughout my scrapbooking journey. Scrapbooking belongs and should be recognized as part of Fine Arts. Our gorgeous, distinctive, captivating scrapbooking lay-outs, I feel, belong to art galleries for everyone to appreciate. In my case, it is my attempt to meld art and culture with history. Fortunately for this one, I have succeeded.