Scrap Your Trip Celebrates National Scrapbook Day & Honors WWII
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I have to be a “braggy mom” for a minute. My 5-year old son, Logan, learned to read last week! My kids were on spring break and they spent lots of time in the “fort” of their playset with my daughter, Lauren playing teacher and reading to him (guess she missed school!). At bedtime story one night, it just clicked. I love it when kids learn to read. You can almost see the light bulb go off over their head when all the letters magically make sense. National Scrapbook Day is almost here! Do you have plans to scrapbook this Saturday? If not, at least try to create some “scrapbookable” memories. Scrap Your Trip is offering a 20% coupon on your entire order to help you with the supplies you need. Just enter “nsd2008″ at checkout and hit the apply button. (Fine print – this offer cannot be applied to previous purchases or used in conjunction with other discounts. The coupon is good until 11:59 pm Sunday, May 4th. Turnaround time on NSD orders will be 4-5 business days). I got an e-mail from a customer this week that really made me think about how we preserve our memories and I wanted to share it with you. The elderly parking lot attendant wasn’t in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , FL , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker, and musician was bone-tired after appearing at an event. He pulled up in his car and the parking attendant began to speak. “I took two bullets for this country and look what I’m doing,” he said bitterly. At first, Bierstock didn’t know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, “Sir”, he said, ” I have had a wonderful life in this country, and I want to thank you sincerely for what you did to preserve our way of life in this country.” Saying nothing in response, the man began to cry. “That really got to me,” Bierstock says. Cut to today. Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach – a member of Bierstock’s band, “Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band” – have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful “Before You Go” does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die. “If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot,” says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. “The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them.” The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren. “It made me cry,” wrote one veteran’s son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss “the unspeakable horrors” he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio , Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach . “I can never thank them enough,” the son wrote. “Thank you for thinking about them.” Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. The song can be viewed by clicking here: Before You Go. In honor of the World War II veterans, we have made several die cuts to help you with these heritage scrapbooks. Click here to see our WWII supplies: http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/worldwarii.html. We will be donating 50% of the revenue from the Scrap Your Trip WWII title cuts to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars). The song made me think about my grandparents, most of whose history I don’t know. It makes me sad to think that once these veterans are gone, their memories go with them and if someone hasn’t preserved those memories, then an important piece of history dies along with them. What I wouldn’t give to know what life was like for my grandparents back in those days. It’s one of the reasons one of my first scrapbooks was about 9/11. Once I had children, I became much more aware of how our lives are just one in a long chain…many links before us and many to come after us. So make sure you do something to preserve your own family history…your future grandchildren and great-grandchildren will love to hear about things like your Starbucks addiction, what the heck an iPod was and what life was like after the turn of the century. As always, thanks for your business! Julie Swatek, President Scrap Your Trip® www.ScrapYourTrip.com http://blog.scrapyourtrip.com ‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®
11 Comments
1. Pat Simmons&hellip | April 30th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Julie, I loved you WWII comments and the story. I was born in 1943 while my daddy was over-seas fighting for our country. In the last 10-15 years I’ve thought often of my mother who not only had her husband fighting, but three brothers. How on earth did she do it?! But, then when I really wrap my mind around it, I think of her aunt (my mom’s mother’s sister) who had four sons over-seas, three who were killed. Imagine, losing three sons in that war. One went down on a submarine that has never been found to this day. It makes me realize how very blessed I really am. My daddy came home as did my mother’s three brothers and my daddy’s brother!
2. Ipod » Blog Archive&hellip | April 30th, 2008 at 10:16 am
[...] Scrap Your Trip Blog wrote an interesting post today on Scrap Your Trip Celebrates National Scrapbook Day & Honors WWIIHere’s a quick excerpt … tarbucks addiction, what the heck an iPod was and what life was like after the turn of the century. As always, thanks for your business!… [...]
3. Karen Bushy&hellip | April 30th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Julie, what a GREAT tribute and a fabulous topic for your friends to ‘gather around’ this week! May I offer a couple of observations and ideas:
I’ve been blessed with an enormous (for that time)amount of photos and memories from past generations of our family. I’ve worked for ages on a Heritage album that I’m really quite proud of, and have made copies of it for sister, brother, my kids, sister’s kids, etc. While working on it, I decided that at least some of the journaling should not only identify the “who and what” of the photos on the page, but set some context as well – - – especially for my children and then for the generations to follow.
As an example, my parents met in spring of 1938. As I scrapped their courtship, one of the pages includes “…Summer of 1938 was a happy, carefree time for Marie and her new beau, Joe. America was several years away from the cares of a war that was still far away, and being young meant picnics with friends and family and a chance to build a relationship that would last some sixty years.”
My “year old” pictures include the following journaling: “December 9, 1941. War had just come to America and Mom and Dad were wondering, like everyone else, “Where in the world is Pearl Harbor?” But when you’ve just had your first birthday, those worries aren’t really a part of your little world. By the time America would see the end of that war, I would have a baby sister, my Daddy would be drafted and then rejected for service, and all five uncles who served overseas would come home safely.”
And one final example, for the pictures of “Happy New Year 1943!” – “…America was deep into a war that was raging on two fronts. Three of Joe and Wally’s brothers were already overseas – Bob (Army) in Africa and Italy, Jim and Dick (both Marines) in the South Pacific. Most commodities were being rationed, most notably sugar, gasoline and tires, so most people stayed fairly close to home. Dinners were usually pot-luck, with families willing to share. Before the war would end, Bob *** would be in the Philipines and Wally *** would serve overseas as well, both with the Army.”
I offer these examples to our SYT friends as one way for you to consider adding richness to the story you are telling in your books. While we may not have actual photos of playing with rationing coupons and hauling cans of bacon grease back to the butcher shop, those things shaped us in so many ways. Including even brief references to these kinds of things in your journaling helps complete the story of “YOU” for those who will enjoy your scrapbooks in the years to come.
After seeing my books and reading my journaling, my aunt has given me all of my Uncle’s photos from his military service in Sicily and northern Africa from those dark days. They have no children….no one to whom they can pass along this part of our family story. So, now I have another whole stack of WWII pictures to scrap, and look forward to helping to keep alive part of the story that has been a pillar of our freedom as American people.
Thanks again for the inspiration, Julie, and to all of our SYT friends who are working hard to preserve these wonderful memories, I salute all of YOU!!!!
Your friend, Karen
4. Pat Simmons&hellip | April 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Karen,
Thank you for adding these ides. I’ve been scrapping my “Family Story” which starts with my parents courtship in 1942. I’ve included all the WWII pictures I can get my hands on. I’ve also added time-lines taken from Reminice Magazine. However, I love how you’ve actually personalized the time-lines. May I borrow from yours?
5. Karen Bushy&hellip | April 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Hello Pat…well, without question! I’ve tried not to “over-do” it on every single page, but I thought it would be helpful for future readers of the book to understand some of the context of what life was like then…..really, when you think about it, we should do that with each “era”. I think those kinds of additions to journaling make the book really come alive. Background information like that can help get your creative juices going, too, when you’re starting to journal and don’t quite know what to say.
Here’s another example: During the last part of World War II, there was almost no film to be had, and if you could get it, there were no chemicals around to speak of, so the film couldn’t be developed. That fact helps explain why these books have so many pictures of me as a baby, almost none of my sister (born in 1944) and then more of my brother when he was little (born in 1947)…otherwise, the book just “feels” strange, and the reader can wonder why dad didn’t take pictures of the Middle Kid.
If you like, you can email me at my work email, which is kbushy@theprivatebank.com.
Enjoy the day! Karen
6. Sheila Logan&hellip | May 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I watched Before You Go. Beautiful tribute to our veterans. Last Memorial Day my husband and I took a trip to the Phillippines along with 16 other war ophans to visit our father’s graves or names on the wall of the missing. I will scrapbook my memories of that trip so that my grandchildren will know of their great grandfather’s sacrifice for their freedom.
7. Karen Bushy&hellip | May 2nd, 2008 at 12:19 am
Praying every blessing for you, Sheila. I remember a lot about the time of WWII. Our family was blessed to have all 5 uncles return home, and both cousins who went to Viet Nam (both worked on MedEvac helicopters) came home, too. You have the opportunity to scrap a beautiful tribute to the sacrifice made by your entire family. You and yours gave us ALL the gift of freedom!
8. Jana Maples&hellip | May 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Just for your information: The Smithsonian also realized that these soldiers were not telling their stories and the stories would soon be lost forever. They sent ‘researchers’ out to the men and women and tape recorded answers to specific questions and allowed the veterans to make comments about their service. My father who is 93 years in May did this. His voice and story are in the archives at the Smithsonian. I do not know if they managed to visit all of the remaining WWI veterans, but at least that was a start! Isn’t it wonderful that we are more aware of what should be preserved when we are involved in scrapbooking?!?
9. Judy aka scrapylady&hellip | May 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Karen, your ideas have really given me inspiration to start again on my late father’s military album. He was a WWII Army Air Corp, shot down and held in Switzerland for 6 months until he made it back across lines to the US troops. Would you consider going on the SYT forum and sharing some of your scrapbook pages in the gallery?
10. Karen Bushy&hellip | May 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Judy, I would absolutely love to do that! Problem is, and this will give you your laugh for today….I don’t know how!!!! The pages are 12×12 and my scanner is just a regular scanner that does 8 1/2 x 11 pages.
I’ve often wondered how people share their work, and if someone can help me learn, well, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?
Probably one of my best pages doesn’t have anything to do with military service, but I think it is just so darn meaningful! My mother’s father was a blacksmith who emigrated from Germany. He worked at forging the wheel trucks for railroad cars, and I have a photo of him and his three compatriots in front of the smithy’s shed where they worked…..all grubby and dirty, like a heavy duty smithy’s shop would be.
I found paper that has an old railroad steam engine “roaring” across it, in grays and whites. I mounted the lone picture, using some “aged” red bandana material paper as the mat. The title for the pages is “They Built America”, and the journaling says:
The enormous wave of immigrants who came to America in the latter half of the 19th Century were the muscle and the strong backs, the courage and the skills that built the heart of the country. George *** left farm work in northeast Nebraska (c. 1917) and moved his family to Logansport, Indiana where he was able to find work as a blacksmith working for Fruit Growers Express, building wheel trucks for railroad cars. As the Great Depression worsened, they came to Chicago where he was hired as a blacksmith with the Thrall Car Company in Chicago Heights, Illinois. This undated photo provides a glimpse of what his work life was like.”
I did the journaling in black ink on kind of gray vellum, and fastened it with four brads that look like they’re made of forged iron, so they kind of fit the page.
Anyway, if you can tell me how to get some of these on to the ‘net, I’ll sure be glad to do it!!!
And, by the way, THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT!!
Karen
11. Pat Simmons&hellip | May 5th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Yes, please tell Karen and me for that matter how to do this. I love creative “different” pages. I have one of my daughter, granddaughter and I doing the Chicken Dance in SD on vacation. It’s very unique and I would love to share it. We (my daughter and I) took die-cuts of chickens and “dressed” them in hats, jewely, fancy boots, etc. It was a blast!