Labor of Love - Finally Done!!!

When my little (step) brother died a few years ago, I knew that I'd want to create an album for my step-dad. After my mom gave me all of the pictures we could salvage last spring, I was thinking I'd be able to create the album in a month or two, tops. Well, here it is 10 months later and I'm FINALLY done! I didn't realize how hard it would be to create it. Every time I'd sit down to do a layout, I'd want it done perfectly and that really prevented me from inspiration and completion.

I was surfing Teresa Black's "Fabulously Artsy" blog recently and stumbled upon her Memories post. It was just what I was looking for to help tie in the final page! I lifted the idea and applied it to the layout that I started way back 10 months ago when I started the whole project, and I love how it turned out. (Thanks for the inspiration, Teresa!)

This layout uses the Free Spirit papers & Stickease from CTMH, CTMH stamps & inks, plus a little Cricut action for the title and a clear "unforgettable" sticker from Creative Memories.

Here are a few more of the layouts in the album. It's been so long ago that I started and I used a bunch of stuff from my stash, so I don't know all of the companies I got supplies from. (Like on this Baby Steps layout.)

For this Father/Son page, I had a sheet of patterned paper that had all of these fun circles on it. I didn't have enough to use it as the base of a two-page spread, so I cut some of the circles out and scattered them around the layout. It was time consuming, but the finished product turned out fun.

The Giddy Up page is one of my all-time favorites. It's using cowboy themed paper from Stampin' Up. I "lassoed" orange twine through the Cricut letters and added eyelets to the pre-designed sheriff's badge thing in the corner.

The Look at you Grow layout was another where I took circles from one patterned paper to tie my layout together. Luckily these circles fit into my Creative Memories punches. I added CTMH Outdoor Denim to the edges of the circles to have them match the original patterned paper.

This is another layout using Stampin' Up products - this time from one of their page kits. The letters are CTMH Color - Ready Alphabet Stickease.

This layout was used with all Making Memories products. I love the little chipboard crown - way fun.

The Senior Prom/Graduation layout featured paper and stamps from CTMH, silver ink, and a fabric flower I had laying around. The glitter letters are Making Memories and the glitter swirl is K and Co. (I think!)

Thanks for looking!