Belinda Jane

Memorykeeper. Mother. Maker

Hybrid layout – Believe in Myself

This layout is taken directly from this blog post back in 2016 which was sparked by the Ali Edwards “Believe” story kit. It’s just taken me this long to make it into a layout.

I struggled a little bit to get it to look the way I wanted it to. I dug through my stash of Studio Calico kits and found some papers that I wanted to use with nice, soft colours. I really loved the grid paper and knew I wanted to use it for my journalling. But when I tried printing straight onto it, the journalling just got lost on it. So I tried printing on vellum instead and laying it over the top. It’s ok, but not really what I wanted. I would have preferred the vellum to be a little more translucent. And then there was the problem of how to adhere the vellume to the paper without being able to see the adhesive. If anyone has any awesome tips for that I’d love to hear them.

I thought I’d pull embellishments straight from the physical products that came in the Ali Edwards story kit but the colours just didn’t work and I couldn’t pull enough out of the kit to make it work. So instead I grabbed the digital kit and decided to make my own. I picked a couple of different colours that I liked and recoloured the elements to suit before printing and fussy cutting them out to add to my layout. I really loved doing it this way and expect I’ll start dabbling in more hybrid work from now on.

More detailed photos of the layout are below.

I Want to Remember: Part 4

Life with Jack

 
I want to remember how quickly he has found a place in my heart.
 
I want to remember how all the fears and worries that I had about bringing a new baby into the world and having a little boy melted away the moment I laid my eyes on him.
 
I want to remember those precious days that I had to spend with him in the hospital.
Although I so desperately missed being at home, missed Violet and missed Lee, I am so grateful to have had a few days alone with my baby boy.
 
I want to remember how much my heart swells each time I look at him.
 
I want to remember how his sweet little breath smells.
 
I want to remember his hilarious cry with the high pitched girly squeal.
 
I want to remember how small and sweet and fragile he feels in my arms.
 
I want to remember that he is going to grow so quickly and that I will never again have this time again.
 
I want to remember to take every opportunity to slow down and just BE with him while I can.
 
I want to remember how beautiful it is to see how much Violet loves him and how affectionate she is with him.
 
I want to remember that although things are going to get tough over the next few months and there will be times that I will struggle to cope with caring for this newborn soul, it will all be worth it.
 
I want to remember that although I know I will end up wishing the time away when things are difficult, I need to cherish every precious moment that I have with him that I can.
 
I want to remember to make time for him, that he needs me to hold him and love him as much as possible.
 
I want to remember how happy I am to have him here to complete our family.

I Want To Remember: Part 3

Life with Lee

I want to remember how much I truly love this wonderful man.
 
I want to remember how hard it was to be away from him for the two nights I was in hospital and how happy I was to be in his arms and be sleeping by his side again when I came home.
 
I want to remember how much my heart has swelled watching him become a father again.
 
I want to remember how wonderful he has been with Violet these last few weeks.
 
I want to remember how much he has sacrificed to be here with me, making a family together.
 
I want to remember that I feel stronger and more able to tackle life when he is by my side.
 
I want to remember all of the things that he does around the house and let go of the the things that take him a little longer to get to.
 
I want to remember that although there have been rough patches in our relationship so far, and that there will no doubt be more rough patches to come, my life is infinitely better with him in it. And that working through those rough patches will always be worth it.
 
I want to remember how happy I was when he proposed and how excited I am to be marrying him.
 
I want to remember how much he can make me laugh, and to allow myself to laugh with him more often.
 
I want to remember for us to have fun together. To not always be serious.
 
I want to remember to make time for him.
 
I want to remember to make sure that the things that I say and do show him how special he is to me and how much I value him and everything that he has bought to my life.
 
I want to remember to show him how much I love him and to make sure that he knows that he has my whole heart.

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