Challenging Myself: Pre-Printed Patterned Papers 3

Storytelling Sunday provides the perfect excuse for me to share a story that I scrapped using another set of pre-printed patterned papers. (Thanks Sian for continuing to encourage us to share our stories each month!)

I chose these two papers from the Friends & Family book of papers. The muted colors are not ones I normally work with, but I found a great set of photos that would work.



I had a lot of journaling for this layout, so I printed it out in small sections and scattered them around the two pages.

I even used a few of the punch-out pieces that came with these pre-printed papers (like the Laugh Out Loud label here).

 

Can you tell that this story has something to do with ghosts? Here's the journaling:

 

When we arrived at the Granbury town square for the Ghosts & Legends tour, I had no idea that Granbury was known for its paranormal activity. In fact, I had no idea there was even a paranormal following anywhere or that people actually believed in ghosts. So when Boots, the tour guide, mentioned that we could go ahead and turn on our ghost meters (or even download an app) before we started the walking tour, I almost laughed out loud. Seriously!?!

 

It turns out there’s a large number of people who chase ghosts. Throughout the tour, Boots would mention that a ghost meter should “ping” at a certain spot and he would go on to describe the death that had occurred there, leaving the ghost behind. For example, outside the real estate office (which used to be the town saloon) there would have been many “pings” because if someone tried to leave without paying his bill, the saloon owner would follow him out & shoot him. And there should have been just one “ping” under a two-story window where a lady fell (or was shoved) to her death. 

 

We also heard many of the legends surrounding Granbury, none of which were substantiated, of course. Here are our favorites:

 

*John Wilkes Booth did not actually die in that barn – he escaped to Granbury and lived under an assumed name until his death many years later. His ghost now haunts the old Granbury Opera House.

 

*Bonnie & Clyde once stopped at the local gas station. After gassing up the car and buying sandwiches for lunch, they walked across the street and picnicked on the courthouse grounds. The county judge saw them & called the town sheriff to come and arrest them. However, the sheriff never showed up and Bonnie & Clyde headed out of town and robbed the bank in Hico. When the judge asked the sheriff why he had not come & arrested them, the sheriff replied, “They are dangerous criminals, and there’s only me working alone without any deputies since you would not allocate funds for any deputies in this town at the last budget meeting.”

 

*Jesse James is buried in the cemetery down the road from the town square. He had an account at the local bank and after his supposed (2nd or 3rd) death (at age 104), if you could prove you were a direct descendant of his, you could claim your share of the 97 silver dollars he had in his safe deposit box there.

I have to admit that we enjoyed the tour, despite our apparent lack of knowledge about paranormal activity and disbelief in the myths! I used part of the brochure for my title block & the two tissue paper ghosts that were covering the lollipops Boots handed out at the end of the tour as embellishments. Here's a look at the completed layout.