Ancestory Layout with Karen

Today's share is a very special and personal one for me.

Many of my ancestors have been involved in many wars over the years, and this is the perfect time of year to pay my respects to their sacrifice.

The scrapbook layout I'm sharing today is using the Lest We Forget collection by Couture Creations.

My brother uncovered a news article from 1915 only a few months' ago, we didn't realise the extent of the sacrifice.

Nine members from my mother's side of the family served their country,

two of them never returning home, with another two wounded in battle.

There are so many dies and stamps in the Collection, it was hard to narrow down the ones to use.
I decided on using two of the sentiment dies, as well as the cross.
I wanted all of these to be in black card-stock, as I feel this gives a strong presence on the layout.

My photos were also backed in the same black card-stock to add a frame around the photos, and mirror the black/white photos themselves.

For the background, I used two of the 12x12 sheets. I cut out a square on the inside of one, distressed the edges then fixed to the other sheet using double sided adhesive tape. To get more of an effect on the edges, I used my finger nails to bend the paper edges back even more to give it more texture.

There are a couple of stamps in the Collection that I also wanted to use, the Open Poppy mini stamp and Poppy Leaves mini stamp. I stamped onto coloured paper, but of course you could stamp on white card-stock and colour the stamp in yourself, using alcohol markers, or watercolours for a more natural effect.