Dear Old Ham ... Still Beautiful To Me - CSI #158

Hi Everyone,

Case File #158 has just been opened for investigation over at CSI Color Stories Inspiration and today I'd like to share with you my second page as a CSI Special Investigator for March.

Here's the Case File ...

In order to crack the case, you need to make a scrapbook page using all five colours in the Scheme, at least two pieces of Evidence and one from the Testimony list. I decided to solve this case by telling the story of Ham - not the kind you might have in a sandwich, no! Ham is also the name of a special childhood friend of mine ...

First things first - did I follow all the clues?? 

The Scheme: all the colours are there, plus some neutrals and a couple of tiny splashes of accent colours.

The Evidence: twine tied in a bow, three fancy fasteners, wood veneer bunny, stamped stitching (from my Georgie stamp set), vellum die cut splats (from my Quirky Kit), mixed fonts, long title, fabric print paper and fabric brad.

The Testimony: I had planned to handwrite my journaling directly on to the page, but after giving it some thought, I realised that I needed more space to document Ham's story, so I am going to print it out and stick it to the back of this page:

"Ham is about 50 years old. She has a wonky eye and wooden legs and her once glossy brown curls are now a little unkempt. Some people say she looks a bit scary, but she is still beautiful to me. 

I first met Ham when I was about four or five years old. A few weeks before Christmas, I found her hiding in a box under my Mum's bed. She was almost as tall as me, with chestnut curls and brown eyes which opened and closed. It was love at first sight, and I knew we were meant for each other. I didn't know if she was intended for me or for one of my sisters, so I deviously set about dropping what I considered to be subtle hints to my Mum, telling her how all I wanted for Christmas was a doll as big as me with brown curly hair ... years later Mum told me how hilariously UNsubtle my four-year-old attempts at hints were. 

Still, my wish came true, and on Christmas morning I became the proud owner of the beautiful curly-haired, brown-eyed doll. There was just a tiny pang of regret, just for an instant, when my younger sister opened her present and it was another doll as big as me, but this one could talk - first lesson in being careful what you wish for perhaps ...

We moved around a lot when I was a child and had to get used to leaving people, places and things behind, but somehow Ham always managed to stay with us throug thick and thin. 

Why does she have wooden legs? Well, that's because when she was about ten or eleven, there was a terrible incident where our Red Setter used her as a chew toy. I was distraught and would not allow her to be thrown away. Luckily, a kind old gentleman in the village who we called Grandpa Charles was an expert wood turner and he made a beautiful new pair of pins. 

Why is she called Ham? That's a bit of a mystery actually - until she was about 20 years old, she didn't have a name, because for some reason I could never decide what her name should be. Then my eldest son Richard decided that she was called Ham ... and that was that.

Ham lives in Cornwall now, with my niece Georgia. I don't think she gets to play with Georgie's little girl Leila, because she is a bit cranky-looking these days, but Georgie keeps her in the shed because she couldn't bear to get rid of her. Maybe I should bring her home and see if I can restore her to her full glory - apparently there are "Dolls' Hospitals" ... " 

You can see why there wasn't room to write this story onto my page! 

Thanks for visiting my blog - pop over to CSI to see how everyone else has cracked this case and why not have a go yourself, there are some lovely prizes to be won :o)

See you again soon

Annie xxx