During January, I was deep in Disney album mode, and I got a lot done for that album! It was exciting–and I used that momentum to plan out more of that album. However, somewhere toward the end of the month, I found myself getting a bit burnt out, so I decided to switch gears to an entirely different scrapbook project.
When V was four years old, she developed appendicitis, and our ordeal involved emergency room visits, an ambulance ride, and a few days’ stay at the hospital. When I told her (now 7 years old) that I was working on this project, she said, “Why would you want to make a scrapbook of that??” And it’s true, it’s not something that you might think of right away to document in a pretty scrapbook. However, throughout the entire situation, we felt very blessed by the Lord: His protection and His provision, and I wanted to make sure to document the experience and how He was at work through it all. I’ve had the photos printed for some time, intending to make a mini-album, but I just hadn’t gotten to it.
Recently, a friend gave me a 7″x7″ Creative Memories album (strap-hinge!! I love strap hinge!!) that she no longer wanted, and I decided that it would be the perfect home for this story. In addition, one of the January Use-It-Or-Lose-It Stash-busting challenges from Crafty Jen Schow had me looking at my stash in a new way. The challenge was to use themed product for a non-themed project (or vice versa). When I pulled out an untouched collection pack of Echo Park’s Head Over Heels line, I realized it could work perfectly!
I made this album “all at once” in a vaguely batch-processed manner. I got out my photos and my Lightroom catalog (complete with photo captions, of course), and I sat down to write out the whole story on scrap paper. Once I had the story written, I determined my maximum number of pages for the album (dictated by the actual physical pages I had available), and I divided my photos and ephemera in story-order throughout the pages. I tore the journaling into chunks to lay with each of the photo groups so that I knew how much of the story was going with each page.
When I realized that I couldn’t come up with just one layout for all the pages, I started trying to make them all different…. but that was equally unfeasible! There are only so many ways you can arrange 3×4 photos on a 7×7 page! After I determined a few page designs I liked, I just tried to spread them out in the album so that no two neighboring pages (except the one double page spread) were alike.
Speaking of 7×7 pages—wow, that was a difficult size to work with! I can see why it didn’t catch on… you can only cut one full page out of a 12×12, and there weren’t enough papers in the pack to do a full background on every page, so it became a bit of a puzzle game for me.
This album used up almost the entire collection pack! I have two full sheets of paper left: one full-page pattern and one cut-apart, plus most of a second cut-apart. There are a few stickers and some letters… and a few smaller scraps!
I also decided to add doilies throughout the album; partly because I wanted a layer that I could carry throughout many, if not all, the pages, and partly because I was on a doily kick from the Belle layout I’d made just before this project!
I finally finished this album in May, when I completed a photo order that I’d been assembling since the beginning of February!
The title page has no photo, so I used one of the cut-apart cards with letter stickers and the word “appendicitis” cut with my new Cameo (did I mention that I have a new Cameo?). The font is Farmhouse Country.
Here’s a look at the whole album “at a glance:”
…and a look at the individual spreads. Almost all of the journaling (and there’s a lot…) is on the tags that tuck into pockets in the pages.
The final three pages are pockets to hold cards and notes that Vivian received from loved ones. We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of love that we experienced through this ordeal.
The finished album is quite thick, and I hope that my girl values it as a testimony to God’s provision and protection during this scene in her life.
