Grateful for this Journey / My Mind's Eye

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I wanted to share my latest layout created for My Mind's Eye with you today.  It was up on the blog last week HERE.  I love all of the Jubliee collection...all the different lines within it are all so fun and different.   This layout features the Mint Julep range, and I just had a lot of fun creating this.

I know so many of us mothers usually scrap photos of our kids.  For the longest time, I never had any interest in doing a page about myself.  I thought it was a waste of time and kind of pointless.  But then one day I had to create a page for a DT assignment about myself.  Once I did it, I realized how therapeutic it was.  I realized that I do want to document things about myself...things I do, things I like, things I feel.  It does matter, and I have discovered that I love documenting these things.

This page is about stopping and smelling the roses, so to speak.  Taking a step back and just being thankful for the simple things you have in life that we take for granted most days.  Our health.  Our home.  Food to eat.  Family who loves us.  It's easy to get caught up in the rat race, and sometimes we need a reality check.

Onto the layout!  I started by doing what I usually do...haha...give the background a makeover.  I added gesso and then used a Crafter's Workshop stencil and modeling paste to add those big circles.  Watercolors were next, and I also did some heat embossing with gold powder.  The pattern didn't turn out as nice as I'd expected...probably because the background wasn't 100% dry when I did it.  Note to self...don't be so impatient and DRY it completely first!  Then you won't have gold smudges everywhere.

Here you can see more of the gold smudges...oh well.  On the bright side, you can't have too much gold, right?  I added some black and gold stitching throughout the page.  I also used lots of elements from the collection...including the Sticky Notes and rub-ons. 

Here you can see lots of the different pieces I used.  Chipboard, vellum (from Necessities), stickers, die cuts, brads...I just love going through it all and using as much as I can without going overboard.

Now this big "Journey" rub-on I adhered to a separate piece of white paper. I knew I wanted to layer it and overlap it, so I did it this way.  The "Grateful" stickers are from the Just Sayin' line.  I like that dimension this technique gives, and these rub-ons really go on very smoothly.

I hope this inspires you to create some layouts about YOU and things about YOU.  It really is fun, and it's neat to document all the things you love and feel.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!