I’m constantly trying new ways to make mini scrapbook albums and one of my recent projects used a set of retro postcards. This postcard mini album is one of my favorite projects.
I found this set of fun postcards designed by Anne Taintor with a vintage flair and quirky titles. They make the perfect base pages for a mini album. The whimsical statements on the cards set the stage for many small moments and simple stories from my childhood to document and share with my kids.
The left side of this postcard mini album has embellishments and journaling. The right picture side has simple decorations or a short caption.
One story shares how my mother did just about everything! She could upholster furniture, sew curtains, hang wallpaper, and make her own accessories. She routinely rearranged the furniture every few months just for a change, and made up her own cookie recipes (that she didn’t write down) so we hardly had the same ones twice.
This BINGO paper perfectly represents how much my Mom liked board games, and as a result, became a staple activity in our house. There was regularly a game in mid-stream left on the living room coffee table that we’d need to finish. She had dibs on the thimble in Monopoly and we clocked a lot of hours on Chinese checkers and Battleship as well.
As the oldest child, and the only girl, my Mom depended on me to help around the house, start dinner and babysit. As a single Mom, she counted on us to chip in. I was lucky to have a Mom that remembered to have daughter time with me and do things together.
Sunday calls became a staple when I moved away from home. Mom called me to check in and yak. I really miss my Sunday call tradition since she’s passed away.
Mom was a professional singer and she was out on Friday nights for a job, so it was “anything you want night” for dinner. As much as she encouraged us to choose a decent dinner, we often had cereal, mac and cheese, popcorn and other such options that we get a laugh out of now. Two good stories I shared in this mini album are the time I was babysitting a family of four kids and I burned the popcorn and filled their house with smoke and the fire alarms went off. I also wish Mom had fallen in love again and shared her life with someone.
In this day and age, transitor radios are a thing of the past, but when I was young it was one of my prize possessions. I had a small black Juliette brand radio with a yellow leather cover that I took everywhere. I loved to call in requests to the radio station and was devastated when it finally quit working. Mom had a Channel Master radio like the graphic on this card. Wish I had that now…just love its retro style.
I got my first camera in high school when I took a photography class. Mom bought me a Nikkormat. What a surprise that was and a great memory of first learning how to work in a darkroom. In college I took several photography classes and spent many hours in a darkroom. Good times.
This was a fun way to tell stories of my life for my kids to keep. Try using different mediums as a base for books, cards, and albums. It not only offers fun graphics and new formats for memory keeping, but stretches your imagination from a traditional album.
Hope it inspires an idea! Check out the mini album I made from a deck of cards. I also made a mini album I made from an Anthropologie catalog, and a mini album out of a recycled Studio Calico box.
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