Scrap Happy Member LOAD Event Day #16

 I volunteered and was chosen to create a layout as a featured designer for Scrap Happy!  I was so intimidated but excited at first but when I got my prompt and technique, I was ALL IN!!!  This LOAD event is themed "Motown"! How fun is that???!!!???

My prompt was "The Jackson Five" and the story was to create a layout about school or how you are continuing to learn now.  The technique was "use Distress Crayons or watercolors" on your layout.  

SO MUCH FUN!!!!! 

I really need to play with my Distress Crayons more often and this gave me a great excuse to dig them out and play!  I decided to do a resist technique.  First, I have cut down a piece of Vicki Boutin Foundations paper to 3x12".  Then, I used a Faber Castell glaze and a star stencil to create a transparent resist.  I let that dry overnight before coloring strips on my paper in strips using: Squeezed Lemonade, Chipped Sapphire, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, and Worn Lipstick alternating until I filled the entire 12" border.  Then, I used a baby wipe to create a watercolor effect with  alternating bands of color and removing the color from my stenciled stars.

 

Here’s the finished border:

 

The layout I completed is about my journey as a homeschool mom ending at the end of this school year.  I printed photos of myself and my children (current photos). I created a grid with the photos. I used Fancy Pants Take Notes collection for my layout.

This was such a fun prompt and technique to play with.  I really enjoyed creating this layout.   Here's my journaling from the layout:

Learning…it’s something that we all do. Throughout our lives, we live a life of learning, not just while we are in school or college.  I have spent the last 22 years homeschooling my five children.  This year is my 23^rd year and my final year as a teacher. 

I have learned right along with my kids as we navigated the historical timeline of our world.  I have gagged with them as they dissected specimens (ew).  I have cried big tears over them as they struggled with learning to read and even bigger ones when they “got it”. I have farmed out the hard math courses with a curriculum that self-grades all of it (YAY!!). We have researched online and read tons of lovely books together.  We have made messes and wonderful memories as well.

I cannot imagine doing school any other way than we have.  It’s been hard, but very fulfilling. It’s been beautiful, but messy.  Just like life always promises to be.  I also want to pull in my life verse, which is Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

This scripture could not be more reflected in that the things that were hard in our homeschool but later became beautiful.  For example, when a teacher told me that my oldest child was “too stupid to learn to read” and I taught him to read within six months, at grade level. Or when I was told I had no business teaching my children, but then successfully taught all five!  Education is important to me and teaching my children was the most important lesson of all!! I will miss this part of my life when it’s finished, but I will never regret one  second of it!         September 2022

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!   Have a GREAT day!