Close To My Heart's 2013 Album Contest - Entry One

One of my favorite elements of Close To My Heart's National Convention is the Album Contest.  The challenge to create your very best artwork and essentially to strut your stuff.  What a fantastic way to witness excellence.  I love having the opportunity to participate and seeing the inspiration of my fellow consultants.  For me, it is the chance to create.  To create without boundaries.  To create for myself.  Although I love creating for my classes, I have to abide by certain criteria--can the students complete the layouts in a timely fashion?  Can the materials used cost be kept within a certain budget?  Is the layout something that could be broadly used?  Instead when creating for myself the sky is the limit with possibilities!  And I love the challenge to go outside of my box to create something that is heartwarming to me.

This year, our Album Contest Theme was Viva! which translates to Live!  We were to create 5 two-page layouts that carried this theme.  The guidelines were: each layout should include journaling, have quality photographs and showcase unique uses of Close To My Heart product.  I am proud to share that my Album Contest entry placed in the Top Ten which was an amazing honor considering the amazing talent that was submitted.

All week, I will showcase my layout entries here on my blog.  

The first layout is my favorite. It is a layout I created of my son and daughter's dedication but the layout is intended for my daughter.  A little background on the layout.  The gown that my daughter was wearing was made by my mom from the train of my wedding gown.  I wanted to include this lace on my layout but knew it was too bulky and I didn't want to damage the gown (just in case any of my children's children would one day wear it).  I brainstormed and brainstormed and finally decided to scan the lace on the gown, load the scanned image into Studio J and print it as a panoramic photograph.  I was delighted that Studio J allowed me this capability.  I then created a 4" x 12" panoramic photo cell in the No Limits application, loaded my picture and printed it.  Studio J was also the source for the photo processing of my other photographs in the layout.  

Other supplies used in the layout:  La Bell Vie Paper Collection (now retired, but available in Studio J), Z1800 Colonial White Rosette Ribbon, Z1744 Pearl Flourishes, Z1336 Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems, Z1775 Glamour Glitter Alphabet,  Z1718 Color Ready Garden Wooden Shapes, Z1791 Dimensional Elements Album Pages, Z1707 Bitty Pearls, Z2503 Basic Exclusive Inks Mini Pigment Pads Set (black), and Z1683 Dimensional Elements Mixed Shapes.  Other supplies used:  Vellum (retired).

To see enlarged views of the layouts, simply click on the photographs.

The journaling reads:  

My dearest Abigail,

On this day, your dedication day, you looked

just like an angel from heaven—and to us, you  

are just that. Mommy and Daddy love you with

all of our hearts.  We cherish you and are honored

 that our Father has entrusted us with your keeping. 

There has been no greater gift than having you as our

precious daughter and child.  Having you dedicated to

the Lord, and Him in your everyday life, was and is,

 very important to us.  I wanted you, and your brothers,

 to be surrounded by the love that your Daddy and I

share for one another on this glorious day. So, I, being

the sentimental one, asked Grandmommy to make a

dedication gown for my children from the train of my

wedding gown.  She took on the tedious task and in

doing so her love was also woven into the beautiful

gown.  I hope that you, being our youngest, and last

child to wear this gown, will cherish how special

it is to Mommy and maybe one day give it to

your own children.   Love, Mommy.