One Heart, Two Homes

Happy Tuesday to you!
The sun is out, the kids are back in school and for the moment everyone is healthy and I am praying we stay that way. Chris was home from school every day last week and he was nice enough to share his little virus with his mom.  So far the other two have managed to escape the nastiness which is good because we have a busy week ahead.

Today is a Ten Things Tuesday at Practical Scrappers and our theme is patterned paper. I happen to love patterned paper. One look in my scrap room will give away the fact that I tend to buy and hoard it. There is something so delicious about the mix of colors and patterns that makes it impossible for me to walk away from certain pages and lines without buying. The problem is I fall in love with the paper and then don't want to use it, or I save it because I just know the perfect picture is going to come along.  Sound familiar? Anyone or I am I the only crazy paper lover?! Today we are challenging you to get that paper out and scrap with it.

The layout I created is a two page non-photo layout where the patterned paper takes center stage. This is only the second non photo layout I've ever done. It's not normal for me,  but the subject I wanted to scrap just seemed like one where I wanted the words to be the focus. I shared my One Word layout on the last post and plan to create a full album as I focus and work on this area in my life. This layout follows that word Connect. One of the areas I need to connect with is my own feelings that I've pushed down and pretended don't exist. We have moved 3 times in the last three years and with that I've had a hard time really dealing with the emotions that moving brings. Here I talk about the conflict I feel with being where I am verses where I've been. I'm finding that this is my form of scrap therapy! Cheaper than a counselor?? We'll see!

As you can see the patterned paper stands out on this page, especially against the gray background. The paper is from a My Mind's Eye collection that I had left over from quite awhile ago. I love the colors on it. I first cut the heart out of cardstock with my Cricut. I then started to piece the different patterns together on my heart to create the mosaic design. I love how it turned out. I wanted the words one and two to stand up off the page a bit so I cut the letters out several times with my Cricut using the Type Candy cartridge and then layered them on top of each other adding a bit of dimension to my title. You can see a little bit of what I'm talking about here. The letters don't lay completely flat.

Finally, I covered some Maya Road chipboard pieces with matching patterned paper and placed them on some cute ric rac I had in my stash.

The journaling reads: When we left Colorado for Nebraska 10 years ago, I thought my heart would break in two pieces. Denver was my home. It was family, memories, tradition, comfort. Now we are back and I am realizing that Lincoln has my heart, our new and amazing family and friends, the boys childhood memories and new traditions. It too is home. I'm happy, sad, conflicted and confused. One heart, two homes.

Deep, I know! I'm interested to see where this particular project of mine will go. For now, I think I am going to go scrap something fun and light.

Have a super day and please stop by the Practical Scrappers blog, give us a like and find some more ways to use that patterned paper!

Lisa

One Word

The first month of 2013 is over halfway completed and I am just finally getting my thoughts together.   Better now than never, I say.  I started January like many other people, thinking about what I wanted out of the new year for my family and also personally. I saw many people talking about resolutions and I also saw several posts about something called One Word. One Word is basically setting the list of resolutions aside and finding one word that you want to focus on that year.

Ali Edwards has a class she teaches with this concept. This is how she describes One Word:

"Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2013?
It can be something tangible or intangible. It can be a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word—this is YOUR word.
One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities."

I wasn't really headed in the direction of resolutions this year. I often will think about the last year and think forward a little, but I've never been one to do a huge list of resolutions or make a big deal about it. For some reason though this concept stuck with me and I just couldn't get past it. I didn't have a word come immediately to mind so for a couple of days I just kind of tossed thoughts through my mind of what my one word would be. Then one morning I was reading through a devotional that I follow, and the author had posted on this concept again. Here it was in front of my face again. It just seemed to be everywhere. So I began to think and pray about whether there was one thing that I need to focus on this year. One area I needed to grow in, learn about myself or work towards. I was actually in the grocery store when my word hit. Connect. I knew immediately that this is what I'm missing. Not sure how it just came up in the grocery store, but when it did I knew this is what I'm supposed to focus on. 3 moves in 3 years, pain issues and several other things too long to go into have caused me to retreat in ways that make me not a person I recognize. I can look at that and see that the pulling back is not healthy for me, my family, my relationship with God or my relationship with others I love.  I am missing connection and this year I am going to work on changing that. 

I plan to scrap my journey and see just how I do that this year. This will be different for me as I don't tend to scrap about myself or my emotions very much, but this will be good. I've even started with my first layout and it wasn't so bad!

There it is, my one word.  I added the two hearts overlapping to symbolize the need to connect.  I chose to make a little pocket for my journaling since it has some more personal thoughts and reflections in it. I also list the areas I feel I need the most connection in and how I plan to do that.

I ended up having way more to say than I thought I would so there are several cards of journaling that I have tucked away in my little folder. I used two brads and wrapped some twine around them so that the folder can be easily opened and closed to access the journaling.

Here is a closer shot of the two hearts. I wanted to add some dimension to the page so I layered the first heart and lifted the flaps up a little. I pop-dotted the center of the second heart. It gave the page a little more added visual interest. I love the Echo Park Everyday Eclectic line I used here for the bright colors.  To me connect also means adding some spark to my life and what way to better represent that than the bright colors against the darker Lily Bee chevron pattern and the Gray Color Coredinations cardstock used as the base.  

So here is to 2013. January may be more than halfway over, but there is a lot of year left and I intend to make the best of it!

Are any of you participating in One Word this year? I would love for you to share your one word in the comments below. If you've made a layout feel free to link it up. I'd love to see what you created!

Have a super Saturday.
Lisa