History

The gothic arch challenge this week is history. It always amazes me that so many arch challenges fit right into my life at the moment. My grandmother and aunt are here visiting and my aunt brought a whole CD of old family photos she scanned when she was at grandma's. Well, there is this one photo of my great grandfather that I absolutely love. He was about 14 years old sitting in front of an old quilt playing a banjo. The photo was badly damaged, so my dear hubby spent about an hour photo shopping it to repair the damage. It's a gem now. I printed it onto fabric for my arch.

This is John William Bowen who lived August 18, 1899 to September 20, 1982 in Kingston, Arkansas. He was a farmer, woodworker, musician, loving husband and father of six. I am very lucky that I had an opportunity to spend time with him and know him when I was a child and young teen. I spent time visiting with great grandpa on the porch swing that he built. I enjoyed playing in the yard, swimming in the creek, gathering eggs, and picking vegetables that he and grandma grew. I did not enjoy using the outhouse, but that was part of going to their house, too. I always saw him wearing overalls, never any other type of clothing as far as I can remember. I was the same age that grandpa is here when I last saw him. He made an indelible impression on me and I still miss him.

For this arch I used a variety of things: denim, photo printed on muslin, vintage button, grungeboard swirl with crackle paint and distress ink in faded jeans, vintage lace, vintage sheet music, K&Co letters, the base is a bark like paper that I picked up at the thrift shop, and a date stamp down in the corner.

If you'd like to see what I am doing with all these wonderful arches, I posted about it on Craft Critique today. I am using a product called CardKeepers that is just perfect for the arches.