CF#108 - home.

I have been waiting so long for the perfect color scheme to scrap one of the most special photos I have. This week's CSI case file was finally the one!  This photo was taken towards the end of 2003 when my husband returned from Iraq.  If there was ever a picture that could sum up the emotion I was feeling when I finally saw him, this is the one.  And if ever there was a blog post to tell the story, this is the one...because TODAY IS OUR 10 YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!  (Awwww!)  :)

Here is the scene this layout is based on, as well as a couple of closeups.  You can CLICK HERE to play along!

I've covered all of the colors in the scene, and for my evidence I used mixed media background, birds, newsprint, and stamps.  I used "tell a story you've never told before" for my testimony. Okay, so I have told this story before.  I confess.  But I haven't scrapped it. Plus this case file with its colors and evidence list was just too perfect for this photo for me to pass it by!  LOL

As luck would have it, when I grabbed a newspaper to use on my background, the World & Nation section just happened to have article headings that flowed perfectly into the layout like they were meant to be there.  Talk of budgets, peace, buses (seriously. what are the odds that day's paper would have an article on bus shut downs on the very page I opened up to?!), riots, conservative values...perfect.  I layered gesso over a piece of plain cardboard to get my foundation.  Then I just started tearing pieces out of the newspaper and adhering them to the page, layering them in some spots, then covering them with another layer of diluted gesso so some of the headlines would show through.  Then I added modeling paste, gelatos and Tim Holtz distress ink in spun sugar.  Tim Holtz got a lot of play on this page, actually.  I used his ink, his clock mask, and his birds in flight stamp.

I added the marine corps. insignia that I cut from an old pad of 6x6 paper, and then added my title, using white fabric Thickers inked with the Tim Holtz in spun sugar.

I finished the page off by adding my journaling strips, shaded with black chalk to look a little dirty/soot covered.  Lots of inking and chalking around the edges of the page as well, and then it was done!  I love this reminder of how far we've come in our 10 years of marriage (and 12 years together)...we were just kids in this photo - 23!  Ah, time flies. :)

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!  I love hearing from you!

xoxo,

Shawna