I know it’s been a while since I posted last. I discovered how difficult it is to be creative when under an enormous amount of stress. I tried to analyze where the stress all came from. Could it be the two job changes in the past year? Or was it having my baby graduate from high school and move away to college? Maybe I was merely experiencing the much dreaded mid life crisis everyone speaks about. I do know having to deal with my Dad and siblings in regards to my mother’s estate is what pushed me over the edge. Taking on the responsibilities of my mother’s estate as co-executor and trustee wasn’t exactly an easy task. In an effort to deal with life’s stresses I took a leave of absence from my scrapbooking. I resigned from being a part of Helmar’s design team, something I loved dearly. A side note, thank you to Tracy at Helmar Adhesives for her love and support. She even sent me a going away gift full of Helmar adhesives. I’ll put them to good use soon! This time I spent away from scrapbooking was spend doing something positive. I devoted my time and energy to gardening!
Will I return to scrapbooking? Of course, I find crafting as a form of therapy. I found gardening to provide a different kind of healing. Spending time outdoors I discovered all kinds of wildlife. Deer graze and sleep in my back yard. Mice live in my compost bin. A snake lives under my deck. Humming birds feed on the flowers. Toads live in my garden and I hear the owls hoot in the trees as I walk around in the garden. I have overcome some of my fear of bees, I no longer panic when I hear them buzz by my head. I love spending time outdoors listening to the trees rustle when the wind blows. I love the feel of the sun on my skin; it reminds me of my youth growing up in Texas. It is so relaxing to watch the sun set. If I stay outside long enough, the deck lights come on. I experience the ambiance of country life to the fullest.
With all that said, I would like to share some photos of the fruits of my labor.
To create this album, I used fabric that was designed for scrapbooking. I cut two strips of fabric to 6 x 8 wrapping it around the album cover. I mitered the edges allowing a clean fold around the corners. I cut a scalloped edge on the red velour fabric and placed a strip on the spine of the Cover-All. Helmar Acid Free Adhesive was used on all the fabric to attach it to the cover. The 6x6” inner pages were cut using the Zutter DreamKutz tool. The pages were bound together using the Zutter Bind-it-All and ¾” Red O’wires. 
