Keep It Coming

Although Thanksgiving is over,

why shouldn't thanksgiving continue?

Keep counting those blessings.

Keep expressing gratitude.

Keep creating layouts

that document those for whom you are thankful

because they have shaped the person that you are.

Keep saying, "Thank you."

This is my "thank you" for one of my favorite people, Laverne.

Until I switched schools this year, she taught next door to me for seven years,

and within those seven years, she was so much more than a co-worker.

She really was my teacher,

profoundly changing my view of teaching

by showing me how teaching can be a true vocation, a calling.

Although I don't see her as often I would like these days,

this layout is my way of saying "Thank you"

to one of the most incredible people I know.

This page is also a "thank you" to Lily Bee,

for helping us all to tell our stories,

for pushing us to put ourselves out there on each page,

and for giving us colors and patterns that add vibrance to our creative lives.

Who knew that a page about teaching

would also be a learning process for me?

As I mixed and matched papers and accents

from the Christmas Town, Domestic Bliss, and Catching Fall lines,

these are a few of the lessons I learned:

(1) When the idea of planning an entire page celebrating a person seems daunting, break it down into manageable parts and pieces. Break up a layout into squares or rectangles, and use those as "homes" for embellishments. Add paint, rub-ons, and stickers. Collectively, these small "spaces" create a unified "big picture." I took the same approach with the journaling, using small sections based on lessons that I have learned from Laverne.

(2) Lily Bee papers really take to paint and mist well. Have fun with that! Knowing that Laverne's favorite color is red, I wanted to use a lot of red-based papers and patterns. Lily Bee's current lines contain lots of reds, but I also added my own "reds" by using paint and mist to "funk up" a few pieces.

(3) Don't feel as if you have to use a product "as is", straight out of the packaging. With some help from Helmar (including the always-versatile Zapdots), I "repurposed" a few of the Lily Bee chipboard stickers to create bases for other accents, like the "Service with a Smile" sticker and the rose accent above.

(4) Although I knew this already, this page affirmed it for me: above all else, ENJOY the process! You'll thank yourself for it later.