Almost done....

A little late night birdie told me that I made the Sassafras design team. Something about my name on a blog and a welcoming hedgehog. Seriously, I'm loven' the news. I think it's wonderful. I wasn't expecting it because a lot of people tried out for the team. I knew they were adding only a couple of new designers and signed up on a whim thinking it wouldn't really happen. I feel very fortunate because I know Sassafras is beloved by so many scrapbookers. I've been an avid fan of their wares for a few years now and it's been a heavenly dream of mine to be on their design team. Their designs are some of my favorites within the industry. So, I'm sending out a huge thank-you to Sassafras for selecting me to be a part of their design team. If you haven't already, be sure to check out their latest releases, which should be up for grabs really soon. They're continuing on with the die-cut edges and cute animals. Gotta luv that.

There's been no "couch time" for me these last few nights. I've made it an effort to complete the mini album I've been working on for the last week or so. I have two pages left that need finishing and I plan to work on those tomorrow evening. The last two pages will be mostly storytelling with an addition of a pocket to hold extra journaling pages.

 

I took this photo of Eric while on our last camping trip together at Gooseberry Falls. He's standing on the shores of Lake Superior amongst rock and trees. Both of us were climbing around and investigating the terrain. It's beautiful up there. We left our problems at home while on the trip (this was four months before Eric passed away). We had great time, as usual.

I used this photo to represent Eric's liking of being alone. He was a prideful loner. He liked his surroundings quiet and peaceful...He kept things simple. He didn't involve himself in a lot of social activities. We were both that way while together. We didn't hang out with huge crowds, just with ourselves. We didn't mind it this way, it worked out perfectly for the both of us. I sort of think that's the primary reason the two of us bonded as well as we did.

One of my favorite elements on the page is the letter "L". It's a 7 Gypsies Rub-On Alpha set titled "Monogram". I applied the "L" to a vanilla scallop circle (I have quite a few scallop circle punches) and distressed the circle edges with Ranger Distress Ink (walnut) using a round orange sponge. I adhered the scallop circle to a slightly larger black cardstock circle because it's one of the focal points of the page. I then applied a Hambly Red rub-on circle frame underneath the letter.

Something I haven't noted yet is that I added quite a few transparency pages to the album. It does come with a couple of transparency pages, but because I included a lot of gold in the design of the album, I added some Hambly gold  frames to supplement what was already there.  They're obviously not as "thick" as the ones that come with the album, but I'm ok with that. I think the transparencies provide an additional window in which to express further detail onto the pages that sit beneath them. I only added a few extra elements to each of the transparency pages. I mostly used rub-ons and not much else.

Below the black scallop chipboard circle, I laid down two layers of rub-ons. One is yellow and the other is black. Before adhering the chipboard circle to the page, I sanded it with a nail file (wide size file), outlined the interior frame using a white gel pen and gold gel pen, and placed a few dots of gold stickle glue inside each of the scallops. I then added a two layer butterfly. The butterfly is from Heidi Swapp. The bottom layer is a dotted thick cardstock version of the butterfly and the top layer is a dotted transparency version of the butterfly. I kept the bottom butterfly wings flat and creased the top wings out from the page.

The large scallop chipboard circle is from Maya Road. I painted it Forest Green, backed it with pattern paper, applied a Jenny Bowlin flower rub-on to the center, along with a large size Doodlebug rhinestone.

The word "thoughts" is a Scenic Route rub-on. With the help of my handy-dandy multi-size circle template from "Template Designs" (You can find them at your local office supply store), I traced a circle around the word "thoughts" using a Slick Writer (American Crafts). I can't draw a perfect circle for the life of me, so I depend on my template to make it happen. It's one of those supply items I can't do without.

The large photo of Eric and Ethan is one of Eric's last moments "fully interacting" with Ethan (having the ability to hold Ethan and right up next to his face). I remember this moment vividly. We were sitting in the office and I felt compelled to grab a few photos of the two boys together. I'm not quite sure what instilled the idea to photograph this moment, but it felt necessary at the time. Eric was entertaining Ethan with the usual wide smiles and funny noises. In response, Ethan giggled and smiled back at his dad. Following this interaction, I took a bunch of pictures of Ethan on Eric's lap, both boys facing me. I'll never forget this exchange of father & son. A perfect way to finish the last pages of the mini album, "Just Dad".

Once again, I used my circle template to draw circles around the mini stamped flowers (Memory Box) along the bottom of the page. I neatly added tiny dots around each circle using a fine tip pen. The tiny scallop border beneath the photo is also from Memory Box-isn't it cute?! Small stamps are great for mini albums..they can easily feel lost on a large 12 x 12 page.

Everything on this page was an experiment in progress. Seriously. I'm not always quite sure what to expect when I'm scrapbooking. Things "just happen", as is the case here. First came the circle label, the hambly transparency and then another circle label (on top of the transparency). I added the ribbon, chipboard flower (KI Memories), word stickers, and acorn rub-ons (Cosmo Cricket-they're the leaves sitting beneath the flower) last. The journaling was done on Vanilla cardstock and I adhered a thin Black cardstock border above the journal strip to stabilize the assortment of items on this side of the page.

I cut a little window from the transparency to make room for the title, "Together". I then added a 7 Gypsies ornate rectangle rub-on frame around the opening. I really like how it turned out. A total surprise.

Took this photo of Ethan today. It was the end of the day and we were just getting him ready for bed. One of my favorite facial expressions he often makes when something grabs hold of his attention. A total doll. Good Night everyone!