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Heritage Albums with Lisa Woodruff

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I LOVE hearing family history stories. This past weekend, I watched the VHS tapes my mom made over 30 years ago of my great grandmother (at 98 years old).

I loved hearing her stories of walking 3 miles to school where she lived in Ireland….how she came to the United States in 1921 in second class steerage because great grandpa came third class and that would have been too much.

She told of washing clothes with a washboard and drying them on a stone wall… and what an improvement hanging clothes on a clothesline was!

Oh, to hear her Irish brogue, with her catch phrase, “Oh when I think of it,” and see her play the accordion. Priceless.

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My children know their great, great grandmother through both the heritage album I made of her and in video.

I was reminded how awesome that tape was and how I need to interview my grandmother (88) and my husband’s step father (83).

Making a video of loved ones is not always possible; my second favorite option is a photo album.

I am crazy sentimental and love the old pictures found in so many attic shoe boxes. These pictures are not of my family, but one of my client’s family photos from 1890.

To be able to take another’s photos and turn them into a living heritage is my greatest pleasure. These photos were preserved in scrapbooks made in the 1940’s.

In addition to these albums, the client had a pile of letters, certificates and more photos from the last 50 years to add to this family member’s life.

Some items were preserved by making color copies. Then, by layering these letters, I was able to get more into one album.

I wish I had time to read all of these old letters. Those from a mother to sons at war. To a newly married couple. To a child upon their graduation. What a heritage!

So many families have photos from war times. My grandfather was in the Battle of Normandy. This family had all 5 children in World War II. So many families find pictures of war times in the bottom of shoe boxes.

In the past 17 years, it has been my privilege to make over 300 photo albums. Years ago, I ran out of our family photos. My husband would joke that I could scrapbook a picture before it was taken.

I’m not THAT quick, but I am current with our family photos – all the way back to 1890. Each summer in July, I scrapbook the previous year’s photos – in the car on the way to and from Florida. Yes, I’ll show you how I do that on Monday.

So, the rest of the year I am photoless. 🙁 And that makes me sad.

Last fall, I scrapbooked 21 albums in 15 weeks. I can make an album in an average of 12-15 hours. You can see all my services here.

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If you’d like a to have an album made for your family, contact me. I’d love to help you preserve your heritage, too!
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