...the SIMPLE THINGS - Scrapbook Layout

I think I'm ready to share some of my scrapbook layouts that I work on.  I am so passionate about this craft.  I love all the sharing so many wonderful scrappers share, that I just feel like I want to join in!  This first layout that I will share is actually being submitted to 2 online challenges:

First, it is for Scrapbooking from the Inside Out October 2011 Achievement kit (http://www.scrapbookingfromtheinsideout.com/)

October Challenge #1: Fulfillment/Distance

Fulfillment: What makes you feel fulfilled in your life? Do you create goals to achieve that are different in your personal life and your life outside the home? Do the two conflict with each other or are they symbiotic? Are you someone who longs for something different than what you already have? Does fulfillment in your life depend on acquiring something or someone, or are you at peace with what you have?
For our first challenge -
Please create a LO about your level of fulfillment. Are you in possession of that which you need to be fulfilled, or is it far from you?
For the design twist, please surround yourself with your fulfillment or separate yourself from it. 


I created this layout using the Get Picky Sketch #13 Challenge from the Get Picky 1st Birthday Blog Hop: (http://getpicky.blogspot.com/)

All supplies used come from the October 2011 Achievement kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out.  Exceptions:  angel and music note stickers from my own stash, tea label, Creative Memories green pen, cricut cartridge/graphically speaking.

Here is a closeup of my journal box:

I discovered Scrapbooking from the Inside Out earlier this year.  I love, love, love their kits and the inspiration and challenges they have.  I have participated in their challenges for a few months now, and I will for sure be talking more about them here over time.

Thanks for looking!

Jaime

"Golden" Friend

These past few days have been heaven for me. I have reconnected with my oldest and dearest friend! We met when we were 6. We were inseparable for years! We grew up next door to each other and even had a pathway through our backyard lilac bushes to sneak to each others house whenever we wanted! We spent our entire childhood as best friends (with the exception of Gr. 6 - 7 where we each went out and made friendships with others on our own). By Gr. 8, we were back in sync and spent our high school years together again. Unfortunately, after high school, we ended up heading our own separate ways. We weaved in and out of each others lives for a few years, trying to find that friendship we had always had, as well as trying to figure out who we were and where we fit in the world. Those early years of adulthood found us struggling to remain friends. We eventually went our separate ways. Through our twenties we spoke a few times, again, trying to find "that" friendship we had. It didn't seem to work. I always had hope that we would reconnect. She gets me. I must admit, I don't think many people do. I have layers and layers to me that really need to be peeled back to really get to know me. With her, the layers don't exist. She grew up with me, she knows where I came from and both the triumphs and struggles I faced as a kid. I don't have to explain anything to her, because she just knows me. Over the past year, we have reconnected, and this time, it is the right time for us. We are both married, we both have a grasp on who we are and our friendship has blossomed again. We have spent hours on the phone talking about life and the important things. Talking to her, after years of not even knowing where she lived, is like there were no years in between. We are having fun filling in those years, and reminiscing about the past. I spent tonight at her brother's house, talking with the two of them about the "old" days. It was so much fun! My heart feels so much warmth right now. It is overflowing with happiness and that a piece of me is back because she is back in my life. Tomorrow her and I will have time together just on our own, and I am delighted about it! I am thinking of the song my daughter learned in her kindergarten class last fall..."Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. A circle is round, and has no end, that's how long I want to be your friend." My friend has always been my friend, for as long as I've known what a friend is. Even though there has been years and miles between us, she is my oldest friend and always has been, and always will be. I love that she is back in my life. I have many wonderful friends that have come into my life over the years, but I will always have my one forever friend, she is my "golden" friend.

Jumping in!

I am just going to jump in where I am. I like that I don`t have to catch up anything. I can start here and move forward. Move forward is one of my mantras these days. I have decided to join the blogging world. This will be my own little place of the cyber world, my cyber living room, if you will. I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Jaime. I live in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada with my husband Chris and our six year old daughter Marissa. Everyone has a story. This is where I will share mine. I look forward to blogging about anything and everything. I do not want to fit my blog into a box. I have thoughts and opinions on a wide range of things and will comment and share as life happens. We suffered a stillbirth of our little boy, James in March 2010, I will write about our experience. I will share our thoughts and feelings and truths about moving forward. I have polycystic ovaries (PCOS) and along with that comes infertility issues. I have struggled with depression for many years. We are starting to embark again on the clinical process of getting pregnant. We`ve been down this path before. We know the highs and the lows, well, the bottom of the earth, never want to get out of bed lows. But, we know we want our family to grow and know the risk of love is worth every bit of grief. If we learned anything from our son, we have learned that every moment matters, every piece of love you give, you will have returned a hundred-fold or more. My hobby is scrapbooking, and I will of course share with you my love and thoughts of this wonderful craft! Basically, I`m just your average woman, trying to learn to move forward and enjoy life to its fullest. I am real. I am honest and I am truthful. I`m happy to meet you! I look forward to getting to know you too!