Endings and Beginnings

The beginning of summer and the ending of another school year has put me into a reflective frame of mind.  Both DramaQueen and her sister BabyOfTheFamily are moving on to new schools next Fall, high school and junior high.  BoyGenius will be in his final year of high school, and our nephew has just graduated!


After attending DQ's Grade 9 Grad celebration, she said, "Make sure you put photos of me on your blog!"


Of course I will oblige....because preparing the perfect dress ensemble for that day was a tremendous feat!!


And here she is....in all of her splendour...

I'm proud to report that my colouring skills now extend to the canvas called "hair"....2 boxes of drugstore dye and DQ was thrilled with the result! whew.


Now hold onto your hats, people, because here I am in MY Grade 9 school portrait...(promise not to laugh)

Grade 8

Grade 7

Yep.  That's me.  At least I look like I'm in Junior High!! Unlike DQ who is 15 going on 21! yikes.

Although these photos are hideous, I have contemplated creating a layout based on these 3 pics and the glasses I'm wearing.  The title would be "Big, Bigger...BIGGEST."


But enough about me and my unfortunate adolescence.



I also want to share something very special that DQ created by herself as part of her Grade 9 Farewell celebration...

All the students were asked to do something similar, and of course, it warms my heart when I see a little bit of scrapbooking surface in my teenage daughter who is now too cool to be crafty :)


And here is my own layout, which is a reminder to me of how quickly they grow and how time is fleeting...

The background paper is Bo Bunny Vintage Double Dot called "Ocean."

I actually designed this page as a group class/project for the Scrapbook Your Heart retreat in June.  The theme of the retreat was "Garden of Life"....it was an amazing weekend spending time with a wonderful group of women.  The organizers Christy, Allison and Kandi hold this annual retreat as a fundraiser for a number of charitable causes.


The vintage seed packets are images I downloaded from the internet.  There are quite a few websites that have them, but you can click HERE to find a large variety on Creative Country Mom's blog.

These seed packets are actually pockets that hold journaling tags and are glued to inked craft sticks.

To create the dimensional garden soil along the bottom of the layout, tear 3 strips of black Tim Holtz Kraft Core card stock, crumple and then sand.  I also inked the torn edges a little with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The sun is my favourite design element, and was fairly simple to create.  Here's a little tutorial...

Supplies:  Tim Holtz black Kraft-Core, Tissue Wrap "Terminology", Distress Inks and blending tool, paint brush, Mod Podge

First I tore long strips of Tim Holtz Tissue paper until I had a bunch to play with....

Cut a 1/3 circle from the Kraft-Core.

Then I Mod Podged them to the kraft side of the TH Kraft Core card stock.

Since the Mod Podge dries quickly, I worked in small sections at a time.

When completely dry, I inked with a few different yellow and orange hued Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge.

The quote is a few lines from a poem written by one of my favourite poets, ee cummings.

I printed the GROWING title using my computer, then cut out and doodled borders with a black pen.

The letters are inked and mounted on pieces of black Kraft-Core, sanded sides and torn bottom edges.

I am thankful that the school year is over and look forward to enjoying some lazy summer days.

In fact, I plan to do some "growing" myself...in my scrapbook studio...and will be exploring some new techniques to share with you in the future :) 


Wishing you warm and sunny summer days filled with new beginnings and possibilities!