Can you teach an old ‘dog’ new tricks???

I’ve heard that old saying all my life: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Well, I’m not sure if that saying was proven or not yesterday.
My mother has been telling me for at least a month that my aunt wanted me to come up and teach her how to scrapbook. (My aunt lives about 40 minutes north of us).
So finally Saturday, after a bit of scrapping myself, I called my mom to see if we could do the deed on Sunday. The page posted was created Saturday. This photo had been lying around on my kitchen table for weeks. Apparently one of my daughter’s friends snapped it and then printed it out. So I whipped up this page just for FUN. It was quick, easy and is simple. I just wanted to enjoy the process and not get so caught up in having to have a ‘perfect’ page.

My mom called back to let me know that my aunt was delighted and would even be taking us to lunch. So I packed up the basics: my paper cutter, scissors, a black Zig pen, a few scrap magazines and some of my recent pages to show my aunt.

I drug myself out of the bed on Sunday morning after 5 hours of sleep (My daughter had a band competition and it was a 3am bedtime – UGH). I picked up my mom and headed to my aunts house. We quickly assessed her scrapping purchases ~ two pair of scissors (wavy and deckle), a plastic oval cutout sheet complete with exacto knife and cutting mat, one black micro journaling pen and a few packs of pastel cardstock along with some kit purchase from QVC.

You also have to be told that my mom is 72 years old and my aunt is 78!

Lunch was at a country cooking diner, actually located in the restaurant my aunt and uncle owned and operated years ago. Good home cooking. Then we headed off to Michaels. I had her pick up some black cardstock and a heritage pack also. Since she wanted to start with very old black and white photos of my mom’s family (her husband’s). I also was thrilled to find a couple of mini album kits on clearance for $4.00! ~ a tin kit and a folder tab mini album. They will be great to whip out quickly.

Back to my aunt’s house. She has this adorable little room with a table in it. It must be intended for a small office, but works great for a mini crafting room. I would LOVE to have one that size in my house.

My aunt had pulled out a lot of the family photos, however, had no idea where to begin. So I questioned her a bit of what she wanted the ‘book’ to tell others and we started from there. Or should I say *I* started from there. With very little supplies to work with I made a title page for the album. I ended up getting about 6 pages completed with photos and journaling over the course of several hours . My mom and aunt sorted other photos; while I grouped them together for ideas for pages. I also told them to TELL the ‘stories’. A few of which, I heard from them yesterday. They have photos of the ‘old’ home place. Tell me MORE than where it was located. How big was it mom? How many of the ‘children’ lived in it when you moved there? Side note: my mom is the baby of eleven children; 9 of which moved into this two bedroom house with their parents and one ailing grandmother in 1936. There was an added lento room on the back with the back porch that the boys slept in; piled high in that room was also my grandmother’s quilts. The outhouse was on the back side of the barn. While my grandmother milked the cow in the evenings; the boys usually rough housed and fought by running around the kitchen table. My grandparents made their own butter, grew their own vegetables, raised and slaughtered their hogs. They only purchased sugar and flour at the store. They also had a cotton crop for income. The family attended the church located directly next door. Three of the boys played various musical instruments and my mom sang.

That is just a bit of what they shared. I WANT that in the book. I said, ‘we’ won’t remember that; only YOU can tell us the story.
After a while, I asked my aunt if she was learning how to scrapbook. Her reply was how often can I come back ???? Yes, I am the one that ‘stuck’ the simple pages down and they are the ones that gave me the memories. Hopefully I will be going back often.

So did I actually teach the elderly to scrapbook or did they teach me? Journaling is not one of my strong points; yet I kept hearing myself tell them over and over that I want to know the ‘stories’. Maybe we all learned something yesterday.