Friendship...

Michael Buble's in the BUILDING!! Oh, I so wish.  He is singing in the background though, and that's good enough for me.  For now.  I love a good crooner, and he's my favorite.

Today I'm posting, as my title says, about Friendship.  These are the pages and the picture that confirmed to me that my memory keeping was missing something.  The first picture is the design and layout that brings me peace and satisfaction.  Yes, this page I fussed with and played with, BUT, I worked around the picture and the story.  I kept the focus on my goal.

When telling my story, I remembered how good it felt that Debbie took time from her day and met me for lunch.  She knew I needed her.  I feel the colors of the layout are also saying this.  The colors bring softness to mind.  Kindness.  You can't see it in the picture, but I also used a shimmer brush on the stamped saying and that speaks to me about classiness. Treasure glitters and friendship is a treasure. 

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - A.A. Milne

Love, love, love this!!  Sometimes, it's the simple actions that we can do or give, but it's so much more than that to the person receiving them. Kindness is so important.

The part that I played with, is the marbled rectangle in the background behind the saying.  To be honest, it was laying on my desk from that mornings card class.  My guests and I took shaving creme and ink refills, stirred it up and then laid a piece of watercolor paper on top.  Pushed gently, pulled it up and used a ruler to get the excess shaving creme off.  A beautiful piece of paper to complete a story that reminds me of a beautiful friend (and the friends that I spent time with that morning making cards)!!

This is memory keeping.

As you can see from the picture right above me, or the second layout, I was focused on the products.  I love what I do and share it with others, but you always have to remember that memory keeping is about the picture and the story.  The design and creation is the celebration of the two!!

Have a fantabulous and wonderful day!!

xoxo Gwen

*Please note that all products are Close To My Heart products!  This is the company that I am an Independent Consultant with absolutely LOVE!! 

I'm Not Just A Scrapbooker...

I'm back. I have no real good reason as to why it's taken me so long to blog again, but I think that you need to know me.

Yesterday I was asked...

"Why do you do what you do? What drew you to it in the first place?"
When you think about it, I think we should all take a step back and routinely ask ourselves this question, to see if we're on the right track, or if we have lost our way a bit, as it does happen.  When pondering this question, I realized that I may have lost my way a bit.

I can honestly say that 26 years ago, I started scrapbooking because I loved the papers, the playing and designing, reliving the moments that the pictures brought to the surface, seeing the changes (some good, some not so good).

Yesterday, I realized that something was missing...

"Why do I do what I do?  What drew me to it in the first place?"

Telling my story.  My story is important.  All of our stories are important.
 
All the reasons for starting scrapbooking, for me, are the same, but what was missing, were the words.  The words that tell the story.  The words that tell the feelings.  The words that tell the memories.  A picture without words is just a picture.

A picture with words is a story.  It's a journal.  It's a life.  It's a piece of me.  It's my heart.  It's my soul.  It's MY life.  My legacy.  My memories.  

One day, those memories may fade.  They may disappear.  Unfortunately, it happens.  One day, the memories are just gone.  These memories matter.  My husband and my kids know that I love them, but with my pictures and words, they can hear and remember why I love them. 

I'm not just a scrapbooker.  I'm not just a woman with a hobby.  

I'm creative.  A designer.
I'm a photographer.
I'm a journalist.
I'm a reporter.
I'm a teacher.
I'm a business owner.
I am so much more than a scrapbooker...


I am a memory book designer and teacher and I am good at what I do.

I'll see you tomorrow as I restart my blogging journey!!


xoxo Gwen