Tale of Two Sisters 1929

It has been a while since I have posted here, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my wonderful friends a very happy and healthy New Year!! And to thank everyone for their continued encouragement and support! A blessed 2013 to all!
Here is a layout I did a while back, about my Mother, and her life story. It will go into the book about her along with the other pages about her younger years. The journaling, which will be on the page opposite this layout is:
"We were the youngest. I was known as "Tootsie", although my real name is Suzannah. Pauline, my younger sister, was known as "Babe." And was she ever a baby when it came to pouting and getting her own way, as you can see by that expression on her face in this picture!
We were having our picture taken by our oldest brother who was all grown up. And even though we were wearing our brand new "best" dresses, which were pale blue voile with "Bertha" collars, she was still pouting about something or other! That's Pauline for you, just plain contrary!!!
It was a real sacrifice for Ma to have those dresses made for us. Ma worked every day except Sunday in the mill, from 6 to 6!! Ma is pretty iron willed, and maybe this is where Pauline gets her bad temper from. Anyway, they say it is a "Great Depression", and that Ma is lucky to have this work. We don't have a Father. We did have one, but he died before Pauline was born, and I was only 2 years old.
But for us, this "depression" doesn't seem so sad! Our days are mostly fun, and because our older brothers and sisters work too, we can go to school, and have other comforts that Betty, one of my older sisters, is always reminding us she didn't have when she was our age. Although Betty is really spoiled because she is so pretty.
When we weren't in school we liked to play "make believe house" in the deserted lumber company building. To make our house look pretty we swept the earth floor in each timbered cubicle with branches. We gathered wild flowers and filled thrown away bottles and tin cans with them. And then we placed the vases along top the flat beams. Shiny stones were our jewels. To decorate our little houses we wove together wreaths, and used tree branches, lichens, acorns, bird's nests and feathers. Because we were poor we didn't have "real" dolls. But we did have little celluloid baby dolls that cost 5 cents. Our little doll babies were cradled in leaves for their naps. While our babies slept, we visited with our "neighbors", usually Harriet or Janet. We sang songs and complimented each other on how nice our "houses" looked! It was all so much fun, until someone would say - "oh! it's time to eat", and we would cast aside our vases and stones and run home to our supper!
When we were lucky enough to get 5 cents we ran to "Blind Bill's" candy store. It was a real serious business to chose the right candy. The more we got for a penny, the fuller our tiny paper bags got! We usually chose Boston Baked Beans or jelly beans, but we coveted Maryjanes, which were expensive, only 3 for a penny!
Some of our favorite "girl games" were hopscotch, jump rope, Drop the Handkerchief, and London Bridge. When we played with the boys it was rougher, kick the can or Nipsey, and they were always so serious about playing Marbles!
So you see, our days were always fun, and at the end of the day, even though I had to share a bed with Pauline, who tossed and turned and made funny noises all night, I never minded that, because she was my baby sister, and I did love her the bestest! That is, after Ma, of course!"
I tried to give this layout the look of carefree childhood, used bits of dried flowers from my garden, feathers, and other natural materials to embellish the twine wreath. Also used transparent gel mediums, molding paste, inks, sprays and fibers.