cleaning pages

We've been working at going through stuff around here and DE-CLUTTERING our lives....clear clear clear it OUT!!!

Anyways, I have come across a number of the pages that have gotten sent back to me after publication over the past couple of years and haven't quite made it into scrapbooks yet...I really need a better system for that cuz they tend to just come home and get a smile from me and the girls and then get set aside for sometime later, tsk tsk to me....sooooo I thought for those of you who maybe don't read CK or for our sweet family out there who love the stories ON these pages and the cute cute little people in the pictures I would post a few of them to share over the next while :)

This first layout above was in June '08 CK and is about the struggles My Tiara faces with her Sensory issues. She calls them her "Tough Days" and the journaling is about how the tough days she is facing will make her into a strong and beautiful woman, how her amazing strength and beautiful love give her wings and will help her to soar through it all while she learns and grows from each step of the journey. I decided to document this in her scrapbook because Tiara's struggles with anxiety and sensory issues were so very real for her right at the time I was making this, as much a part of her story as all of the happy smiley stuff I usually scrap about. I think that the page really captures her feelings and is a great encouragement to her. She kept coming to look at it as I was working on the detail bits, and telling me that it really is how she feels sometimes and that she will get her wings pretty soon too.

I just kept on telling her that she already has them.

sweet girl :)

The page design was inspired by this cool shell chandelier that hangs at My in-laws place. My little hanging bits represent her many tears, and the hearts on the wings represent her love and strength giving her freedom and helping her to fly through those tough days.

Quick technique notes: I painted a few different shades of blue and green with watercolors onto a full sheet of cold press paper, inspired by the chandelier colors of course, then ripped them into tiny pieces and hung them together with small jump rings. The drippy masking tape is the stuff I used on my edges to hold the paper down while I painted, re-enforcing the mood of the layout and providing an exact color match to balance out that bottom right corner of my page.

And the good news, Tiara is not worry free but is doing so much better this year than ever before...her "Tough Days" are much fewer and father between.