Smile

I finally broke out my June SC kit for this layout and played along with Shimelle's sketch of the week (which you can check out here if you'd like).  I am not going to lie...this is probably the most difficult layout I have put together to date. Not in that is was difficult to get everything together and assemble (hello, I was using a sketch and a kit), but in that the subject matter was very difficult. However, that being said, this is one of those times when the memory and emotions must be captured right away and not put on the back burner for a few days, weeks, months, years. I knew I had to do this now, as hard as it was.

Just over two weeks ago, my husband and I had to let our beloved Apollo go. I say that we had to let him go to play in endless fields of sunshine. It was the hardest day of my life to this point. We do not have kids, our pets are our kids. He was our second pet and our first dog. We got him just after we got married. This page will hold the final place in his scrapbook.

I knew that I wanted to use the smile tag because of the number of smiles he brought to our faces over the years! So many happy memories. I am sure, however, this is probably not the way Amy Tangerine had intended this tag to be used, but I ran with the idea. I paired it up with the blue October Afternoon letter stickers and Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" to create the title. Instead of a journaling block, I made the envelope from the SC exclusive pattern paper in the main kit. The day after we lost him, I wrote quite a bit in my journal...memories, thoughts, emotions. Again, I knew I had to get it out while it was all still raw. As hard as it was, and with as many tears that stained the page, I knew that it was something I had to do. That envelope hides the journaling, hides my thoughts from that difficult next day. Somethings deserve an envelope!

For the little cluster of embellishment at the top, I used brads from one of the add-ons. The sticker from the add-on was also a perfect fit!!

I will be back tomorrow with some happy Lawn Fawn cards. Sorry to make this such a sad post, but thanks for stopping by!
Deb