Hello OA Fans! It is Stacey here today with a challenge for you!
Long ago, I heard a mom say that she wrote down the things she wanted to remember about daily stuff on her calendar. It seems so simple now, but I was a young, overwhelmed mom, and it had really never occurred to me that I might want to remember all those little details about daily life some day. So I started just jotting down little things about our days on my calendars. Some things were as simple as my oldest daughter’s first taste of ice cream, and some were more special, like her first little understandable prayer (“Dear God, Thank you for the food. It looks good. Amen.”) Looking back, I know I would have never remembered those little things if I hadn’t written them down!
In 2004, journaling on my calendars turned into writing a blog, where I recorded even more about our days. In the following years, I have blogged faithfully and not so faithfully. Sometimes I still just write little things on scraps of paper and stick them on my calendar like I did so long ago.
When I scrapbook, I almost always start with the words. I go to my blog archives or my calendars and use the notes I hurriedly scribbled on my calendars or the entries from my blogs to create layouts that are full of things I want to remember.
So many of my scrapbook pages are centered around something that one of my kids has said. My little ones are always saying funny little things that have me stopping to write them down, and even my older kids and my husband say things that make “great quotes” that we want to remember. Sometimes my kids will stop a conversation and say, “That’s a quote!” and make me record something because they know we’ll enjoy remembering it later on.
The layout I have created for this challenge is of my youngest child. If I hadn’t written this silly (but completely serious to him) little thing down, I’d have never remembered it.
Of course, I don’t have a photo of him actually saying this, but I used a strip of unused photos that was sitting on my table from another project. I’m not thrilled with these photos, but this is a good example of how I can use my less-than-favorite pictures...
I hand cut some little random banner pieces out of a pile of scraps and added an owl because owls are wise and Corey was trying to sound smart! The quote itself is the title, and I didn’t journal much because it doesn’t really need any explanation beyond the quote. I enlarged the first and last words of the quote to emphasize the fact that he’s asking me a question. I also used the Buttermilk Sprinkler from the OA Art Box on the background.
I did add a few details at the bottom with a pen...I don’t love my handwriting, but I think it’s important to do something in my own handwriting on every layout. Sometimes I forget, but it’s something I usually try to remember to do!
Not that I’ll ever run out of kid quotes, but I also like to use literary quotes (some of my favorite ones are Jane Austen, A.A. Milne, and C.S. Lewis), scripture, and song lyrics on layouts. Our world is jam-packed with words worth repeating!
I sent fellow design team member Jamie Warren the challenge, and she came up with this fabulous layout based on the lyrics from the song “Perfect to Me” by Pink. I really like how she hand wrote the lyrics. Don’t you just love, love, love all the layering? And those photos...absolutely beautiful!
So...the challenge:
Create a layout with a quote – something from a family member, a favorite author, or a song...something funny or inspirational or just important to you in some way. Have fun with it, and make sure you post it in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery!