There are times we are reminded that the material things are not valuable, it is the memories they bring back that are priceless. —TJ Byrd
I love old things. Old newspaper articles, photos, greeting cards, everything. It’s exciting to me. I adore the story they tell, how they reveal the history of the person who has kept them and call back to a time gone by. I think it’s wonderful that people save things to document their story.
Here’s my story.
My parents named me Giesla because they wanted a name that didn’t have a nickname like Jenny or Susie or Katie. It was a suggestion from someone my grandpa worked with, but later on we learned that there was someone in my family history with the same name. They switched the spelling from the traditional Gisela to Giesla so it would be two syllables (Gee-sla) not three (Gee-sa-la). I have a brother, Adam, who got lucky and probably hasn’t ever had to repeat his name when people ask him what it is.
Fast forward.I received a degree in graphic design in 2001 and started my business, Inkblots, in 2002. I didn’t start doing custom work right away. It was only until I was asked to create something for the 75th anniversary of a local family owned service garage that I realized that maybe other people would be interested in documenting their histories, too.
My goal in creating personalized collages is to turn your history into a beautiful piece of artwork. I carefully construct the collages to be a timeline of your history or the history of the recipient of the collage, and to add depth so the more that it’s viewed, the more new things are noticed.
Tell me your story and I’ll bring it to life!