One of the ways we learn what love is (and isn't) is through the advice of those who know what love is (and isn't). In honor of this week's "Love is..." theme on the October Afternoon blog, fellow DT member Patricia and I have taken on the "mother lode" of journaling prompts, giving love advice to our daughters. That's right. It's time for a heart-to-heart, in the form of a scrapbooking layout.
Prompt: Think back through your romantic history and reflect upon how you came to know what love is and is not. If it helps, you could structure this as advice from a parent to a child, based on experience. You could reflect on what your parent(s) taught you about romantic love and what you hope to impart to your own children.
Patricia's layout shares her love story while also teaching her daughter a little something about how to write her own.
Patricia explains:
"I was very young, 22, when I met my future husband. What I wanted to say to my daughter was don’t get married so young, wait, take your time. But I was also a mature 22 year old and stood my ground on what I knew as a whole I needed rather than doing only what my heart wanted. With having an only daughter, I know there will be plenty of opportunities to have heart-to-heart conversations about love, self-respect, and desires, so I picked this photo to depict these talks we will have. My journaling only skims the surface, telling my daughter how my husband and I met, how we both knew we were ‘the’ one, and how he wasn’t truthful to me or another girl. I had basically written him off."
"I used Saturday Mornings to tell my story. The block from the front side of the Scones pattern paper is perfect for the journaling. I layered it on top of the rich dark brown and honey weave from the Crepes pattern paper, then fussy cut the flowers from the reverse of that same pattern paper to dot above and on top of my journaling."
"I used the chipboard hearts instead of spelling out the word for my title from Daily Flash, pulling in more from Daily Flash and Public Library to help embellish my page. I love how the long grey border sticker worked in perfectly for the theme of my layout from Saturday Mornings I attached it vertically to either side to go with with the design of the layout and not take away from it. Other products I used: Apple Cider. Thanks so much Jill for having me and giving me a creative push to create from the heart."
Isn't her layout incredible? It's apparent how much of her heart and soul she invested in the page.
Like Patricia, I have a daughter, but mine is of an age at which romantic love is no longer in the hypothetical future. She's been "crossed in love," as wise father Mr. Bennet once put it, but she hasn't yet known the kind of heartbreak that I experienced at her age (thank goodness). My journaling offers another kind of heart-to-heart.
Since I knew that I would have a lot to say, I chose to print my journaling on a series of October Afternoon label stickers. I started by recollecting the advice my mother gave me, and retraced my history of heartbreak and the way I learned what love is and isn't.
I then shifted the focus of the journaling from my heart to my daughter's.
I opted for a warm color palette on my layout, and pulled together papers in warm hues from the Saturday Mornings collection. The design is a mix of turbulence and order; I suppose it's like the way that good advice can bring clarity to one's emotions. To create the background, I painted a sheet of cardstock with large brushstrokes of acrylic paint, and then pressed the sheet onto another, which became the foundation for this layout.
This week's prompt is definitely a worthwhile one to explore. Both Patricia and I got so much out of creating these projects!
We'd love to see what you come up with. Be sure to share your projects with us in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery.
Thanks for visiting today!