ta_merkins layouts

Jan 4: Simple Template

 

Jan 1 Blind Scrap:
1 photo, 2 frames (one is a 2 slot, one is a single), 3 ribbons/bows (2 ric rac, 1 bow), 4 papers under photo (bkgrd, plain circle, chevron pattern, dot pattern), 5 flowers, 6 leaves/branches, 7 lines of words (title, date, 5 lines journaling), 8 additional elements ( heart, key, paint, green button, orange button, scatter, bubble wrap, screw)

 

Jan 3 Crazy amount of frames: 9 stitches, 1 circle

 

Jan 2: list

 

Jan 5 grid challenge I used orange, red, blue and green colors

 

Jan 7 Magazine Inspiration

 

Jan 6: scrappable stackable

 

Jan 11: Vision Board

 

Jan 9: QR code

 

Jan 8: build a tree

 

Jan 10: Altered tags

 

Jan 13 : by the numbers

 

Jan 12: filled template

 

Jan 15: Vellum over photo

 

Jan 14: photo technique challenge (silhouette)

 

Jan 17: Journaling challenge: Hindsight is 20/20


journaling reads:
Our last house owning experience wasn't great. The house was nice enough…in Bird Island which is a nice small town with just enough amenities to make it not the boondocks, but still safe and you can walk lots of places. But life snowballed into not a fun time. I had undiagnosed and untreated depression….our relationship deteriorated….and the financial crisis of 2008 hit us. These three things caused us to lose the house (and we split up for a couple years).

Life moved forward and we fixed our relationship, I got my depression diagnosed and treated….and we lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment. Our boys were getting bigger and we needed more space. So…time to look at a house again. I was scared. I didn't want to go through the heartbreak of buying another house, making it a home and losing it again.

Cainan REALLY wanted to buy a house instead of rent. The boys wanted their own rooms and we wanted another dog. So, after looking at our finances, we figured out what we could spend each month on a mortgage and I decided that we could buy another house. We've learned some things since that first house buying: Live within your means is the biggest one. Know what you can spend and stay there. Don't let anyone influence you.

We bought this house just 4 months ago….it's a trailer house on a basement. It's certainly not perfect and I find myself wondering from time to time if it was the right decision. But it feels right and we are making it our home. Hindsight being what it is, I think we needed the first experience to truly learn the lessons we've learned to make this house buying – and home ownership- experience the good experience it's been. We are pretty happy here.

 

Jan 16: Quote inspiration

 

Jan 18: Create a Cluster
cluster: scatter, tall leaves, 3 leaf set, teal ribbon, white ribbon, green frame, white frame, heart, notebook paper, 4 flowers: pink, teal & graph paper, pink and blue, teal and pink

 

Jan 19: Cut out background

 

Jan 21: organic botanicals