Happy Days and Hard Times

Someone once said while looking through a scrapbook of mine, that they wished they had a perfect life like my family does. What? You are kidding, right? I'm 52 years old and we're practically raising our grandchildren, at a time that most people our age have an empty nest and are traveling. I am not complaining, but we have made some sacrifices. We have one grandchild that is immature for their age and has different interests than most kids of the same age. We worry that they will not make friends easily the older they get and that they could possibly be the victim of bullying at some point. We have another grandchild that has ADHD and struggles everyday at keeping on task. They require much more attention when it comes to school work and homework. And we have another who is having trouble controlling their anger. They have started counseling so we can help them manage it now and form better life skills before puberty sets in and it won't be as easy. So perfect? Not so much. It could be worse, but it's far from perfect. 

So the other day I remembered what this person had said, and decided that maybe I needed to tackle those harder to tell stories once in awhile. I do prefer my photos and layouts to be more upbeat, but there is value in telling the not so great stories too. The prompt for LOAD day 8 was to tell someone else's story on a layout. The events of  the story happened to our oldest granddaughter, but it effected all of us in one way or another. The layout is an example of a story that is a painful memory, but it is a very important story that changed our thought process after it happened.

Products Used: Cardstock: DCWV - Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle (Paradise/Blissful Dots) & Doodlebug Designs (Boy's Only/Cool Camo) - Journal Spot: Colorbok - Foam Letter Stickers: American Crafts (Thickers/Daiquiri) - Wood Button: Prima (Song Bird) - Brad & Arrow: My Mind's Eye (Kraft Fun Day/Everyday Fun Brads) - Circle Sticker: My Mind's Eye (Miss Caroline/Fiddlesticks Love) - Lable Sticker: Jillibean Soup (Soup Lable Sentiment) - Digital Journaling Card: Torta Cialla (Vintage Journal Card).

The journaling card is tucked behind the upper photo on the right hand side of the layout.

This was a super scary day. We are blessed that it turned out fine, but we realized that you never know when you could lose someone you love. We also learned that we shouldn't sweat the small stuff. Today could be your last day.

Now onto more upbeat stories.....

Day 7 of LOAD we were challenged to create a layout in 30 minutes or less. Normally I don't think I could do it, but I was lucky in that I already had my photo printed out and the lyrics to the song I used on the layout were saved in a word document for future use. I was able to create this in less than 30 minutes.

Products Used: Cardstock: The Paper Co. - Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Designs (Boy's Only/3220 Digits & Cool Camo) - Letter Stickers: American Crafts (Thickers/Dear Lizzy Fantastic) - Die Cut Stickers: Echo Park (A Boy's Life) & Pebbles (Tooth Fairy Stickers) - Journal Spot: Pink Paislee (Captivating Sticker Book).  Note: Lyrics to Brush Your Teeth, song by Raffi. 

When my grandson saw this he smiled and said, "that's me looking in the mirror". And then he got a funny look on his face and said, "I'm in my underwear!" Oops, yes you are buddy!

Day 9 of LOAD, our prompt was to make a layout with 6 or more photos. Piece of cake for me. I used 2 Page Sketch #78 May 2012 from Sketch Support. Here's the sketch:

I didn't change the sketch up much at all. Here's my layout:

Product Used: My Mind's Eye (Lime Twist/Happy Go Lucky/Perfect, Together, Hello) & Echo Park (Little Boy/Rock Star) - Journal Card: Making Memories (Note-worthy Spiral Notebook) - Foam Letter Stickers: (EK Success/Sticko) - Calendar: Simple Stories (Happy Day 6X6 Paper Pad) - Chipboard Word Stickers: Bella Blvd. (Cio Chip/Asparagus & Pickle Juice) - Star Punches: Marvy Uchida - Foam Squares: ThermOWeb - Pop Dots - Chalk Ink: Colorbox.

Today's prompt was to create a layout with a cereal box for inspiration. Say what? I couldn't possibly find any inspiration on a cereal box. Again, I was wrong! Here's the cereal box that I used as my inspiration piece:

Good old Cheerios. And here's my layout inspired by this box:

Products Used: Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee (Hometown Summer/Summer Fun & House of 3/Soiree-Music), The Girls' Paperie (Jubilee) & Crate Paper (Emma's Shop Collection/Dresses) - Letter Stickers: American Crafts (Thickers/Cream Soda) - Rub On's: The Paper Studio - Cutting Tool: Creative Memories Custom Cutting System - Circle Punch: Fiskars - Banner Clip Art: Provo Craft - Camera Embellishment: Self made with clip art off Internet.

I'm happy with the way it turned out. Especially since I was a bit intimidated by the prompt.  I used the color scheme of yellow, green black & red like the box. I made my title bigger & in black. And I mimicked the heart with the banner. Very fun!

The theme of this round of LOAD is "Outside the Box". Lain has taken our imagination and creativity outside of our comfort zone and into different areas we may not have thought of other wise. At times it seems tough, but it has so far been super fun!

One more day before the weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all of you that are mothers. And may you all have a safe and fun weekend.