Milestones

This month our Garden Girl theme assignment at 2Peas is milestones. I pretty much knew exactly what I was going to do from the start. Goodness knows milestones have had a significant impact in our lives over the past 7 years.

Nico was a preemie. Not a month early, but three. What they call in medical terms a micro preemie. Little miracles who survive, but who oftentimes suffer from the long term effects of their prematurity. So you never know if autism or ADHD or cerebral palsy is in your future. And so over the past seven years we've patiently ticked off some of the most serious complications. But no matter how big and strong he grows, in a flash I can still remember Nico as that tiny preemie.

I've done a total of three pages on this subject. It's too overwhelming and I don't necessarily want Nico to think that prematurity defines or limits him in any way. So that's the story behind the page...

The design was the fun part (it usually is). I started with a mood board that 2Peas provided. I loved the color palette of mint and navy. I added bits of kraft and yellow for a little pop. I used embellishments from the Lucky Charm and Unchartered Waters collections to get this layered look.

While you might think that anchors are just a nautical element, they are also a symbol of stability and strength. Constellations remind me of the future and dreams. Stability. Strength. Future. These were all things closely related to the story behind the page. I rarely use embellishments that don't somehow tie into the theming of the page. Sometimes you just have to look beyond the first layer of meaning.

The layers behind the photos include a calendar (the marking of time), an anchor (strength), a sun punch (happiness), and finally a round constellation die cut. I added a bullseye stamp and enamel dots to further embellish the die cut.

To balance out the huge title and embellishment cluster, I added a few rows of chipboard numbers to represent the months/years of waiting. The large jewel includes one of my favorite sentiments ('choose happiness') and adds a little pop of dimension to the rows.

Telling a story through photos, symbols and pretty paper. This is what I love about design.