Two Page Scrapbook Layout - "Last Goodbye"

I used to only scrapbook the fun things... the events, happy holidays, and the other joyous occasions of life, but something about that seemed a little empty and unrealistic to me. Lately, I have forced myself to scrapbook some of the sad times. It's worth remembering the times that we feel totally raw and undone, not sure of what tomorrow holds for us, or how long the hurt will cloud our hearts.

 My Dad died two years ago in August. We had a memorial service, but my Mom was not sure what she wanted to do with his ashes. After some research, we decided to have the internment service at the Great Lakes National Cemetary in Holly MI.

 It was a very chilly day, but we huddled up together and sat through the short military service where we honored my Dad for the last time. It meant a lot to all of us to watch them meticulously fold the flag in my Dad's honor, and then kneel down and give it to my Mom.

We've been missing him for longer than the two years he's been gone. He was diagnosed with Alzhiemers ten years prior, and we watched him slowly slip away from us. The last few years, he didn't know our names, but I could still see a small twinkle in his eyes when we came in the room right up until the last six months or so.

Thankfully we have so many great memories to hang on to! Most importantly, I know that he is whole again, and that I'll see him one day when I arrive at my heavenly home. 

Do you scrap your sad memories? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Two double layuots - "Around Town" and "Miracle"

Happy National Scrapbook Day!!! I wish I were scrapping, but hopefully soon! Thought I'd better at least take time to post something. =)

This is another layout of Lake Placid, NY. We were there last fall and I'm still working on cranking out the pages. We took so many pictures. I'm trying to only scrap the best, but still have a lot to work on.

I had lots of fun with circles and faux stitching. The base is Little Yellow Bicycle's "Twig". All of the circles came from my scrap box, Cloud 9 Design, Deja Views, and more. I lined up the photos on a matt edged with the Fiskars postage stamp border punch.

The circles are made with SU 2.5" circle punch. I used journalling strips and inked the edges with T. Holtz pumice distressing ink.

The title font is from Cricut Cake's Birthday Cake cartridge.

Do you remember the 1980 winter Olympic games when the US defeated Russia for the gold medal in hockey? Okay, so I'm not a hockey fan at all, but those olympic games are a huge part of Lake Placid's claim to fame. You should check out the movie made about it called "Miracle on Ice". These pictures were taken at the arena where it all happened.

The paper is Coredinations and Paper Studio. I opted for letter stickers from The Paper Studio for the title. I matted the photos with two different colors of gray. The fun 3D looking star accent is from the Art Philosophy cartridge.

It's extremely rare for me to not use any patterned paper on a page. I wasn't even thinking about it at the time, but sure enough, there is none to be found. =) It lets the multiple pictures (9!!) shine through and be the stars of the page.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Enjoy your weekend!!