The Whatever's #1 or Secret in the Attic

By now you may have heard about this new challenge called The Whatever's, an idea created by 3 friends who love to collect old photographs. It's a genius idea to incorporate old photos, paper crafting and creative storytelling. Here are the stories from the creators Catherine Matthews-Scanlon, Nathalie Kalbach & Vickie Chrisman. 


I've decided to create mine in a 9x12" format utilizing watercolor paper. I will bind the pages and create a cover as I work through the 12 months of this challenge. Here is how I interpreted Challenge #1 and the 1st photo:

The Whatever's or Secret in the Attic

Materials Used:

Balzer Designs Stencils ~ Peacock Feathers

Tattered Angels Paint Products: Chalk Chalkboard, Nougat, Partridge in A Pear Tree, Woven Burlap & Cinder Glimmer Mist

HELMAR Professional Acid Free Glue

Misc. Kraft Envelope

Strathmore Series 300 Watercolor Paper

Here is the story that goes with this journal page:

This will be the summer I will never forget…see I spend all summer at my Grandma’s beach house at Nags Head, NC. Usually days are filled with sand, sun and surf…some fishing and reading and just being lazy…the perfect thing for a 12 year old. But this summer would be different and let me tell you why.

I had just finished reading my favorite Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret in the Old Attic, and was getting ready to go find another to delve into but I couldn’t find one. Grandma wasn’t home but I knew where she hid the key to the attic. Now I know that I’m not suppose to go up there but I was hot on the trail to find another mystery…little did I know what awaited for me.

The attic was dark and you could see cracks in the roof, probably from all the wear and tear from seawater, rain and the tropical storms that would pass over the island called the Outer Banks. I quickly got busy looking for the box of books that I knew was kept up there but for some odd reason my eyes fell upon an old trunk that I don’t remember ever seeing before. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It was covered with dust and cobwebs and I almost turned away but I noticed that it wasn’t locked…in fact it was slightly ajar.

Now being a Nancy Drew fan, wanting to grow up to solve mysteries like her, my curiosity got the better of me. The top looked heavy as I tried opening it…to my surprise it was quite light. I was disappointed to find that it was empty or at least I thought it was empty. I noticed what looked like an old piece of wallpaper at the bottom and as I turned it over, to my surprise was a picture of two children with a tattered envelope.

Who were these children, what were there names, where did they come from, why did they look so sad?

So starts the summer I will never forget...

I would love for you to join in! Here are the details for the challenge along with the 1st photo for the challenge & a video describing the concept.

I really enjoyed creating this page and can't wait to see what photo we will get to work with next month. 

Thanks for stopping by!