As a Design Team, we were each asked to create something with a “Mother Angel” theme for the Heart2Heart blog, and, to be honest, I struggled. As I was working on a project, my sweet twenty-one year old son came into my craft space to ask me what I was working on. I told him how I was struggling with this layout – photos of him as a child.
He asked me what I thought was wrong with it. “Well”, I said, “I am not fond of all the different types of butterflies, but they are all I have in my stash.”
His response: “I like how you put the kid-like butterflies next to the kid pictures and the pretty butterflies next to the mom. It works.”
That’s when I knew that this would be the layout I would use as inspiration for the Heart2Heart challenge. This twenty-one year old kid still has the sweetest heart just like he did when he was gently holding a moth in these photos.
The design for this layout came from the weekend SG Scrap Squad inspiration challenge. I loved the mix of papers Allison Davis used on her 3″ x 4″ grid layout, and chose to mimic it with some four-inch Mix-Ins and Aurora papers along with a few Aurora PML cards.
This is one of the first layouts I have created with SO MUCH white space and, as much as I love the look, I fought it the whole time. I did add a little splatter onto the left side with a Lagoon Shimmer Brush to reduce the white space some, but it still has quite a bit of white background showing.
One of my goals this year is to use up my stash♥, so you might recognize a few older CTMH items mixed-in with some new ones. On the left page, I have a butterfly from the Sweet Girl collection and an old Canvas Banner mixed with our current Stitched Together stickers. On the right page I have mixed a few really old, recent, and new items.
The title holds an old Canvas Tag and some much older polka-dot butterflies, mixed with a trimmed down Aurora PML card and Stitched Together heart sticker. Not only did I use a trimmed PML card for the title, I used two from the recent Yesterday & Today collection on this layout also – one behind a photo and one for the sentiment below the photo of the two of us. (The chevron pattern was a portion of the trimmed Aurora PML that I just couldn’t throw away.)
The Wood Round is a sticker from our current Aurora collection that I used to hide a portion of the photo that wasn’t very flattering to the layout and the pretty butterflies (as my son put it) are from the Stitched Up collection. All a mix-match of items from my stash to record a memory of my son’s sweet heart.
The gentleness my son shows in these photos really tugs at my mom-heart strings. This kid has always crashed through life right and left, yet he has the gentlest heart for all creatures.
I hope that this layout has inspired you to create something for the Angel Mom Heart2Heart Challenge. You have through May 31st to link your photo to the challenge. While you are visiting the blog for more inspiration, make sure to check out a few of the other challenges we have for you this month.
I just love the story behind your layout – your son sounds like an amazing young man. This is beautiful and the amount of white space is just right as it doesn’t detract from the photos but rather, it enhances them. Beautiful work!
Thank you, Alyson. He is a great kid and I am blessed by him each day.
I love this layout, Carrie. Your story is so sweet. 🙂
Thank you. This was a fun memory for me.