Fall Blog Hop

Back a few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Bearnson at the Scrapbook Expo in Utah.  Now, at the time, I was a mess...I was dealing with a lot of personal issues, including my father getting really sick and a "family situation" that was not going away, getting worse in fact.  My sister and I had stopped in to Heartland Paper Company in Utah March 2004, my dad's birthday.     We had spent the day with him, and when Deb and I were going home we stopping in to the Grand Opening festivities at the store for a moment.  I had just started my Book of Me album, and was using it for therapy reasons, with no support system to help "deal" with it, and wanted to see the new stuff that had came out.  I had a few dollars to spend, and could spend my money wisely there with the punch card! 

I showed my album to the "owner", in hopes of getting a job, or seeing what she thought of my stuff...someone outside my family circle so to speak.  I lost my dad to Altzheimers on 8/5/04, 3 days after my birthday...5 years to the day after my ex-husband committed suicide.  Meeting Lisa that October, well, you can understand where my mindset was...but the Expo was something Deb and I did every year that we could.   After meeting Lisa, and sending her a few things that I made, she sent me 2 of her assistants with a bit of a "gift".  The gift was the women she sent to me...and a bunch of American Crafts paper to play with! 

The above layout was made with the items she sent me....a fun layout showcasing my 11th grade school year.  I had found the frame in an article from Creating Keepsakes, and I wanted to try it.  I loved the look and wanted to recreate it..only with a twist like I normally do!  Underneath the photo is hidden journaling, showcasing a few things that I do not want the world to see...things I went through, more "personal" stuff. 

My reasons for showcasing this layout, is not to brag about having a person such as Lisa Bearnson, but to show you how you can use scrapbooking for therapy...to help you dig through issues in your life.  I am so glad that scrapbooking came into my life, and helped me through issues that nobody else would.  It is funny how a "thing" helped me to heal... 

Directions for the frame:
Step one:  Take the size of frame you want to make and cut the shape out, depending on the photo you want to use. 
Step two:  Take a ruler and place an X with a pencil corner to corner. 
Step three:  Take an exacto knife and cut the x out, leaving an inch around all 4 sides. 
Step four:  Take a pencil, starting at the tip of the X, and curl the paper around the pencil.  Repeat all 4 sides, creating the above look. 
Step five:  Take white cardstock,cut as needed so you can fold the cardstock in half to create the hidden journaling part. 
Step six:  Add buttons, ribbon, or other embellishments as needed to finish up the look. 

Originally found in an issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine...loved her original idea, so tweaked it to this!  Take your ideas and tweak them to be YOUR ideas...and use scrapbooking as a therapy tool, it truly does help you to deal with the issues that need to be dealt with! 

Lynda Jeffs

Memories in Tyme