Wednesday 31 July 2013

Travel

I grew up in the Tennessee valley of the Appalachian mountains. We are descended from Scots-Irish immigrants, and it is said that we are “mountain, stay-at-home folk.” So traveling was not very common, unless it was to visit my grandparents 90 miles away in Kentucky.  It seemed like such a long trip in the earlyl 70s, with no freeway or interstates, so on this tag I tried to capture what I saw and did as a child on that very long trip.

We played the “state” game, where you try to be the first one to find a license plate from each state, and the ABC game where we vied to be first to find all the letters of the alphabet on billboards and highway signs).  Holiday Inn and Stuckey’s were iconic in the South and the Midwest, as were Shell gas stations, so these signs were so familiar to us. I used Google Images to find the graphics, and I was lucky enough to find this postcard for the base, with words that I probably would have written in my diary:

I copied a variety of images into Libre Office Draw (free, open source software that is like Microsoft Office),  resized, printed, cut, aged, distressed, trimmed, and glazed for the final result.  I made the match book by cutting and folding and popping out the pieces with foam tape. The pin on the tag is just like the pins they would give you at the city pool, the number of which matched the basket where you had put your towel and flipflops. I loved those little pins.

Glad you could take a trip down memory lane with me!
                                                                                                                      Laura

19 comments:

  1. AWESOME tag! I love the story behind it too.

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  2. Very nice! I kind of miss those old Holiday Inn signs.

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  3. Great story, and love all the images. Fun tag!

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  4. I LOVE your road trip tag! My wife and I still play that abc game and others when we are on the road with our 2 girls… and one of them just turned 20! Blessings!

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  5. A great story to go with a lovely tag.

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  6. Great post and well interpreted on this terrific tag

    Chrissie x

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  7. I too am a country girl who travelled very little as a child. I love the memories that you shared with your lovely tag. No matter where you are the games from childhood are so similar.

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  8. Lovely tag with lots of nice memories! Valerie

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  9. What a FUN tag. I spend quite a while just looking at all the elements. WELL DONE!

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  10. Love your story, the tag tells it so perfectly.

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  11. Wonderful tag!!!
    Sandy

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  12. this reminds me of road trips and all kinds of summer fun! this is fabulous. xo

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  13. Fabby retro travel tag ;) Dxx

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  14. Such a lot of memorabilia to look at. We didn't/don't have those signs in the UK but I do remember playing travel games in the car as a child :0)

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  15. Laura, this is a brilliant tag. The great images, Kentucky road map, the diary, the key, the Holiday Inn = it works together so well!

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  16. Fabulous tag and great story behind it! The game sounds fun. X

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  17. Omg, i haven't thought about Stuckey's in years, but yes, what an iconic symbol of all those road trips I remember from my youth, too! I love your tag, and the past tags you have posted... so very clever!! The chain at the top is pretty awesome, too. And thank you so much for your welcoming comments on my first post!

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  18. WOW...Amazing tag... Full of wonderful images... the design is Brilliant... Hugs May x x x

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  19. Fantastic! Just love this tag!

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