More L.O.A.D.: Days 13-15

I am frankly amazed that I’ve managed to keep up with this project, and I must admit, I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Reading, doing the lessons in Photo Flow, and starting a daily practice with Copic markers, however, have taken a back seat. I keep up with all my commitments (which have been pretty heavy recently), but scrapping definitely takes me a LOT longer than cardmaking! Here are three more:

This might be the simplest layout ever, but it’s one of my favorites so far. (The mat is straight IRL; for some reason I couldn’t get the scan to straighten out.) The prompt was about earlier hobbies, and I don’t think I’ve ever scrapped about starting out with sewing. I had some articles and several other photos I could have used, but went with this one from a Project 64 prompt and one simple embellishment from Pink Paislee. The journaling reads:

I started sewing when I was ten years old and joined a 4-H club. Long before I was a 

• a cardmaker
• scrapbooker
• photographer
• cook, or 
• gardener

My mother taught me how to sew. She was a wonderful seamstress, but she was also colorblind so from a very early age, I can remember helping her match the thread to the fabric. I sewed for many years, and  made winter coats, suits, my prom dresses, both men’s and women’s shirts, and lots of kids’ clothes. About 15 years ago, I realized it cost more to buy the fabric and notions than it did to buy the garment. Now my sewing machine is used primarily for papercrafting, but occasionally I break it out for curtains, or to turn up a hem.

I wanted to get my Take Twelve photos scrapped. I used a template from the Ella Publishing kit Take Twelve, and cut it out by hand to add to the layout. The patterned paper is old Jillibean, the cardstock American Craft and BoBunny dotted. The only embellishment is an acrylic “button” from my stash with a camera cut from a Hambly transparency layered on top. Journaling:

We woke up to the first major snow of the year. I haven’t missed it! The walk into church was beautiful, but the drive was slippery. We did stop for breakfast at the South Wedge Diner. The Youth Presbytery Worship Service ended up being cancelled, but the roads were clear enough for us to get to dinner at Lynn’s. It was good to see Sharon, Jeff, and Barb, and dinner at Lynn’s is always excellent. I spent the afternoon working on L.O.A.D.  and going through more of the  family photos Dane gave me last summer. I also found an old recipe book, published in 1894 with notes and recipe cards from my great-aunts inside. The bright and cheerful tulips are an antidote to the gray skies in western New York in the winter. I made a German Chocolate cake for dinner on Saturday night and took the rest to Lynn’s today. Love my Happiness Project calendar!

This layout came directly from the day’s prompt: Love Lasts:  what love of yours has endured the passage of time. I knew I had this cute photo of me at 15 months, and decided to make my own background paper with a photo of the bookshelves in our bedroom. The embellishments are both stamps from “All Booked Up” by Papertrey Ink. The journaling reads: 

My love of reading started at an early age. I am exactly 15 months old in this photo, and I’m sure I’m modeling what I saw every day. My parents gave me books every year for Christmas until I was an adult myself. I remember how disappointed I was, at 40, the year my father didn’t include a book in his gifts to me. We are surrounded by books in this house, and now I have quite a collection on my Kindle as well. I never tire of reading a good book.