All scrappers are storytellers, and it occurs to me that all of us have a tale. Mine is one of blessings and hard times, of despair and of hope.
About three years ago, I became mysteriously sick, too sick to do my job as a communications manager for an electric utility, too sick to take care of my family, to sick to get out of bed. It would be several years before I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. What do you do when you can't do the things you once did? Well, you cry a little, you get angry, and then you figure out how to cope.
I was lucky in that I had a lot of people supporting me, including a husband who went out and bought me a Wacom tablet and a copy of Photoshop Elements. "I think you can use this," he said. Life turned around for me that day. Digital scrapping allowed me to be creative; it filled my time; and most importantly of all, it gave me a social outlet that has kept me going and thriving.
Today, I'm on Kathryn Balint's creative team, and on the Scrapbookgraphics Studio Crew. I'm active at Digital Art Quirks, and I hang out at DigiShopTalk. On a personal note, I'm married to my college sweetheart. We have a 22-year-old daughter, an 18-year-old son, and a 14-month-old grandson. I'm still fighting illness, but life is good, too good not to scrap, and too good not to share. That's why I'm starting this blog.
Here's a layout I did this week with the lyrics to one of my favorite Carly Simon songs. The lyrics remind me that I’m living the life I always dreamed of, and that I have so much for which to be grateful.
It goes: "Take a look around now. Change the direction. Adjust the tuning. Try a new translation. Don’t look at your man in the same old way. Take a new picture. Just because you don’t see shooting stars, doesn’t mean it isn’t perfect. Can’t you see?"
Background paper from Meredith Fenwick’s Random Bag of Scrap; bow from ON Design’s Bow Set No. 3; frames from ON Designs Frames No. 1; flower from Maya’s Origami Bouquet, Volume 2; and glitter overlay from Ztampf’s Sparkle Sprays 1. Fonts are Dear Joe Four and Bernhard Modern. Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake for the glitter action used on the text.
