Do you ever have photos from an event that call for a special treatment? It can feel daunting to scrapbook them which sometimes leaves us to push them aside in favour of “easier” photos/memories. I am here to encourage you to tackle those special photos and memories!
Recently two of my daughters had graduation ceremonies. My eldest graduated from high school and her celebrations spanned the whole month of June, were very involved, and required several costume changes LOL! I have made a tiny start in creating an album for her, but admit that the album as a whole is a project that I have yet to take the time to plan out in detail. So it is in my “later” pile. For now.
My younger daughter graduated from Grade 7 which meant a much simpler ceremony (especially now since Covid kind of killed a lot of the Elementary school functions) and not so much lead-up and fuss. But that doesn’t mean that her pages should look or feel any less special than my 18 year olds! There are many ways to create pages that look and feel special – both to the viewer and to the subject (because I want my daughter to look back on these pages and know I put just as much effort into her grad pages as her big sisters.) Today I used two techniques to add that special touch – a cut file, and some hand stitching. Take a look at how it came together.
And here’s the finished layout.
I freely admit that as I was fighting with the stitching part of this layout, I had my doubts that it would come together as I’d envisioned it in my head. Looking at the finished product though, I am so pleased with it! The vellum behind the wings is exactly how I wanted it to look and I love how it photographs as quite grey. Perfect! There’s even enough “stuff” on the layout to detract from that bossy green shirt!
When your background is as detailed as this one is, you don’t need a lot of extra papers and embellishments surrounding your photos. Keeping things fairly tight around the photo allows the rest of your hard work to shine. And since I know there are going to be other layouts in this album with more of the story, I can keep the journaling short and sweet.
Another thing that turned out even better than I hoped was the ink on the both the bees, and the background. I truly had meant to ink the bee cut files before backing the wings so using the “smoosh” method was a last resort. Sometimes events happen for a reason though and I think this was one of those times. The splotches of ink really add a lot to the overall layout. And I’m super happy I soaked up the excess ink on the background instead of trying to spread it out more.
Which begs the question – what would I have done if it had run everywhere and looked horrible? Well, at the end of the day, it’s just paper and there’s nothing preventing me from ripping it all apart and starting over. But in all honesty, after putting in so much time to stitch – not to mention all the filming – I would likely have just lived with it. It’s okay if not every layout is one that you love. What’s more important? Loving every layout you make, or documenting your stories to enjoy later?
Thank you for joining me today. I’d love to see what you’re working on right now. Leave your links and thoughts in the comments. And if you enjoy the process video, like and subscribe to see more.
Have a great week everyone!
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