Your Last First Day of School, 12x12 Layout (12x24) -- Batman, Learning Curve, Making the Grade

Click on the photo to enlarge!! :)

Well, it's the very first layout that I've ever posted complete with pictures...  Why did I post it with pictures?  Or why don't I usually post with pictures?  Well...  both answers are a little bit involved, but I think the first question is super-important for this particular layout...

I created this layout for the Paper Cutz Challenge #89 (anything goes) AND Challenge #33 -- Journaling over at Lasting Memories Layout Challenges...  Recently, I noticed that LMLC was having a DT call...  I love creating layouts.  Of anything I make, the layouts are the most rewarding for me...  I love getting an idea and watching it come together...  This is very therapeutic for me because I am not able to do the whole 'idea-in-my-head-make-it-happen-in-real-life' thing with anything else!!  My mom can look at a room and redesign it into something amazing...  I look at the kitchen table (the catch-all for everyone's STUFF as they walk through) and decide I should just go back to bed, as I may never find the bottom of the pile, and I certainly don't have a clue where to put the stuff in the meantime!!  LOL...  But with layouts, I can see the finished product and I L-O-V-E working towards it...

The Journaling challenge at LMLC was actually the one I was most looking forward to doing...  There's something about journaling that really finishes off a page for me...  In some cases it completes the story and makes the memory much more vivid...  In a case like this layout, it allowed me to say things I want The-Girl-Child to know about how I felt that day...  This wasn't a challenge I could do up ahead of time without having the pictures for it yet, so I embraced the fact that I would be allowing you to see The-Girl-Child through my eyes...

As she stood on the porch and posed for the last pictures I would take of her on her first day of school, I saw her as that little kindergartener waiting for the bus with her big brother...  She's since ditched the 45-minute bus ride for a 6-minute drive on her own (she was even gracious enough to pause for a picture as she got into the car -- there's one as she's pulling out of the driveway and driving down the road too, but I saved those for another page!!)...  I also remember realizing that she really was a young lady now -- with a future full of opportunities and adventures!!

Sure, I still pack her lunch every day (exactly as she likes it with even numbers of everything, including the egg full of jelly beans that hopefully surprised her today!), even though she's capable of doing it herself the night before...  There's just something about sending a part of myself with her to school each day...

So as I worked on this layout to fulfill the four challenge requirements to apply for a DT position at LMLC, I decided this wasn't a layout that would speak without the pictures...  And journaling really is about speaking to everyone who sees your precious memories...  I personally prefer to handwrite all of my journaling -- There is nothing so precious to me as receiving a card or letter with a family member's or friend's familiar scrawl across the envelope...  Because of this, I try to use my own writing when I journal -- This way, I feel that every time a loved one looks through a scrapbook that I made, it will be like I'm right there with them...

On to the details of my layout...  I love creating great big die cuts for my pages!!  I found this apple on the Making the Grade Cricut Cartridge -- How perfect!!  There was a (red) leaf attached to it, but I cut that off and hand cut a green one instead...  I added a fold line down the center and some wrinkles to make it look 'real' and finished it off by adding some pop dots to give it some dimension on the page...

That fantastic lined paper is from the Creative Memories Cheerful School 12x12 Additions...  The fact that it's rainbow colored will not escape The-Girl-Child, for 'rainbow' is her favorite color!! :)  The "your LAST" is the font found on the Batman Cricut Cartridge (also great for POW!, BAM!, and Kazowie! should you need those phrases for a layout!!), and the "1st Day of School" is the base font on the Learning Curve Cricut Cartridge.

Page two of this layout features The-Girl-Child's silly personality, but no Cricut cuts...  The journal box was created using the coordinating photo mat paper from the Cheerful School Additions and was accented with some glitter brads from Stampin' Up!...

That awesome cardstock sticker can also be found in the School Additions (as well as a host of other photo mats, more paper, and a whole bunch of stickers and phrases!).

There is a pull out tag behind the top left picture...  I sometimes add these in case I think of something later that I really want to say on a finished layout...

I hope you have enjoyed this peek at The-Girl-Child through my eyes...  And I hope you've found some inspiration to do some journaling of your own...  The real reward for me comes when both of my kiddos will sit and read every word I've written over and over again...

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!  If you have any questions about the layout, or if you'd like to share a thought, please leave a comment...  And if you have a blog, be sure to leave a link as I'd love to come and visit you too...  Until next time,