February Challenge by Malina

Design Team Member Malina submitted this 2 page layout for the February Love Challenge.  She said:

A Design on Love:

With the theme of LOVE as this month's design challenge I decided to scrap LOVE for my beautiful young daughter as there is nothing I love more than both of my children. For me St. Valentine's day or rather that day to celebrate your love for another takes place just one week prior to February 1st. On the occassion of my first-born daughter's birth, when we could meet face to face rather than her foot to my rib :) I fell in love for the first time for real and as each year passes...this one being the 14th actually...I thank God for BOTH of my babies and then I thank Him for not allowing my heart to burst as it seems to just keep growing full.


I am certain if you are reading this you, like me, have a pretty nice scrap stash on hand, and perhaps like me you are frequently digging through thousands of patterned papers or cardstock to find just the right piece for whatever project you are working on only to keep finding the same stack of papers in the way! And while beautiful, they just won't go away!!!. Thank goodness I now had the perfect photos to compliment the papers who complimented each other so perfectly but apparently nothing else till now. I used photos of Taylor which I had taken this past fall and for the first time saw a young woman staring back not a child. I moved forward with that theme of love and growing up as a way to journal her a Happy Birthday. The journaling which can be read on the face of the design was written by an unknown author, however the green half circle punch below contains the remainder of my journalling which is written by myself to Taylor personally as a continuation from the front. As my hand journaling could be hard to read this poem begins "When I held you in my arms, for the first time, I thought I couldn't love you more..but then you grew. In those precious baby times through your first smile, your first tooth, your first steps, I thought I couldn't love you more...but then you grew." For readers interested in the remainder of the journaled poem, particularly my original portion written for my daughter as a gift to her birthday I will post the entire poem on my own blog site 3-5 days after this design is revealed here at Scrap Our Stash. Visit my blog or connect through Facebook at www.facebooks.com/MalinaofReflections

I have hand stitched the heart on a piece of heavy paper that has journal lines making a perfect addition to the page, especially as this is true scrap because I don't know what it really is or where it came from to begin with. I complimented the large flower patterned paper and small flower paper with various heavy paper textured flowers and button centers. I broke up a perfect yet boring green paper with a flower patterned vellum and then added more visual interest and texture using my Fiskars scallop edge punch and a zig zag machine stitch around all the coordinating paper edges except where I tore the bottom of the lighter paper and then inked it for additional depth. My mystery journal paper already had the notebook torn look on the left so I balanced it using a Martha Stewart edge punch but keeping things subtle by using a cardstock just a bit darker than the paper direclty behind it. I knew I would place a title in the middle of the heart but again I didn't want to overpower the design or take away from my focal point with is my beautiful daughter so I used metal letters tinted green that were not very large but still stood out.

Now it's your turn to take the February Love Challenge - see all the details HERE.

Be sure to scroll down the page - Scrap Our Stash posts something new everyday.