I'd heard rumors from a friend that dating was a complicated, tiresome process that involved a prerequisite amount of time and lots of babysitters. Not surprisingly, she was right. Two weeks ago, I said good-bye to a four month dating relationship. I had really liked the guy, too. The break was painful, more so than expected. Upon hearing of the disconnect, I fell apart, almost entirely. Eventually though, I gathered my senses and today, I feel tremendously improved, and what I've learned from the experience is that my heart is still very fragile. It's broken state from the original loss still presents scars that are susceptable to reopening - not surprisingly, a few of them came to fruition during the recent event. I took great care to mend them..and already, I'm back out there, braving the dating world. I still wholeheartedly believe there's someone that'll aspire to join our small family - and he'll embrace me with the recognizable love and compassion of a genuine, meaningful relationship, which I deeply desire to have again.
Sometimes, to get over life's hurdles, artistic endeavors are an absolute must! One of the reason's I originally started scrapbooking was because of the journey we took on with Eric during his battle against brain cancer. Scrapbooking became a means of externalizing the story and the feelings it brought about from inside me. Because the healing process is always continuous, I find that sitting down in my studio is one of the most therapudic activities I can do for myself. So, a few days ago, I pulled together ideas to promt a new mini album about the tumultuous dating voyage I'd been warned about. Inside are my pursuits and dreams for finding love again...take a look.
I'd like to shift the emphasis to the album itself and some of the techniques that went into it. First, this lovely fabric flower. It's so easy to make - all that's required is a sharp scissors and some fabric. I trimmed five or six "imperfect" circles, scrunched them up with my hands and sewed them together with a large button. To tack it down, use either a hot glue gun or a strong wet adhesive.
Beneath the pretty flower are two pink hand-trimmed ribbon tails. Clear glitter was added to the edges of each one.
Do you remember these adorable epoxy alpha stickers from old school "KI Memories"? Yes, I've a sizable collection of vintage scrapbook supplies that I absolutely refuse to get rid of!! As someone who works on the manufacturing side of the industry, I appreciate "retired" designs, these cute alphas included! The large "W" is also a number of years gone - some of you might recognize it as belonging to Making Memories. I *heart* their old stuff!!
Tone on tone designs are some of my favorites - One of my good friends, Tara Anderson, frequently creates with it's subtle effects via her beautiful layouts. It's also with great frequency that she uses Martha Stewart's "Starbust" punch - I took to both with this album. Strewn about the cover are tone-on-tone hand punched flowers that are topped with buttons, epoxy stickers and pearls.
You might have to squint your eyes to notice the transparency beneath this page. I took an old Fancy Pants transpareny mini-album page, cut it in half and added a patterned paper extension to it's left side. I stapled the two different materials together as wet/dry adhesive just didn't cut it! To the pattern paper side, I positioned Studio Calico's kraft butterfly stickers, Paper Trey Ink's stamped label, Pebbles pretty pink flower and a framed bird from Chatterbox. And if curious, the leapord oval belong to Basic Grey. Isn't it fabulous?! And one last item - the "I Remember" label is Elle's Studio - a great place to by labels, by the way!
Don't have a sewing machine or wanting to save time? Impliment a white gel pen instead of a sewn line to create direction between various elements on your project. In doing this, I seek the assistance of a ruler :)
I hear it time and time again that "less is more", though for some reason, I can't get away with this popular motto on my own projects! There are occasions where it "just happens", as in this instance. The quick addition of a Jillibean journaling card, a few AC stickers and a subtle Fancy Pants "love" transparency appears to work really well! I sprayed the transparency phrase with OA's pink mist and embellished it with an OA die-cut heart.
And just beneath the introduction page, is my very first briefing on the subject. I added a small tab created from a label punch to the upper right side of the page - I then overlapped it with a second SEI page tab sticker - yes, you can double up your page tabs! :)
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving my friends! We're to be on the farm for the day! It's always great when we have an opportunity to catch up with family - I hope to return soon with another installment!
