Happy and sad memories...

... I capture them all in my pages. This past week I have had my Papa on my mind alot. He's been gone for a long time now, but I have found myself thinking alot about him lately. So I thought that it was time to actually get some things down on paper.

This first layout was based on a March 2010 PageMap. I found this photo whilst looking through some older photos that I have on the computer. This is the last time a photo was taken of my Papa before he died. It evoked a lot of strong memories for me, and it took alot of scribbling down in notebooks to find the right journalling, as I didn't want it to just be about the celebration, the who what where when how. I think he knew that this was the last time he would see alot of the people gathered there at their Golden Wedding celebration.

I used MME paper and a Making Memories journalling page. The flowers and ribbon were from my stash, and the alpha stickers are Pink Paislee.

The second layout I did was pretty simple :) I went through my photos and found 4 of Papa (one with my Mum as a child, one with me as a baby and 2 later ones) and used a square punch to crop them.
I then made a list of all the things I remember about him, all the quirks and the things he did. I just wrote them onto the page. I used some Chatterbox paper to add a bit of colour, and the alpha stickers are Scenic Route and American Crafts, the "memories" sticker is one I have had for eons... I then used my Zig pen to draw a border. Simple, yet effective - just like me :P

Doing these layouts was cathartic for me, and getting the memories down is important to me. My kids never met my Papa, so I think it's good for them to be able to read what kind of man he was.

Moving on now, to something a bit less melancholy LOL. I got the chance last weekend to meet up with the girls from Fraserburgh at Mayne House in Elgin. Last year I spent a weekend at the house crafting with these ladies, but this year I was unable to repeat this as I was due to be working. As it turned out, I was given holiday, but other things had been planned for the weekend, so I was still unable to go :( As luck would have it, I bumped into the girls as they perused the stock in my LSS - the Papercraft boutique - a.k.a Mrs Mac's crafting emporium ;) and they invited me over on the Saturday night for a Chinese takeaway and games night. So off I went, and I had a ball. I took a bit of crafting to do - namely Tom's birthday card - which I actually finished, and then had a good old giggle playing games with everyone. Just call me the Queen of the Anagrams, as Erika is Queen of Muffins, and Jo is Queen of Paper Recognition....

Anyhow, this is the card I made :) I used the sketch from this weeks Sugar Bowl Challenge.

I used one of the Diane Duda digital images, and this one screams Tom all over LOL. Originally I had used pencils to colour it in, usually I use watercolours, but the printer ink bled... So I then used another copy of the image and used my small collection (and yes, it is very small) of Promarkers to colour him in :)
The card is made from bazzill, and the paper is Basic Grey Color me Silly - I've always loved those frogs, and they are perfect for the image :) I used some ribbon, chipboard stars, and a foam thicker for embellishment, and the sentiment is handwritten. I know Tom will love it :)

So the rest of the week is all about the boy and his birthday - I can't believe he is 8, it only seems 5 minutes since he was born. They are having a wear green to school day tomorrow, and on Saturday he is having a swimming party for some of his pals. Sunday he is having a couple of friends over to play and to have tea :) Then we only have a few weeks, and it's Jemma's turn for a birthday....

TTFN

xxxx