"Love is a fabric which never fades"...

Grandma Trudy

My grandmother was awesome. She was a very practical lady, and growing up through the Depression only strengthened this trait of hers. As a child, it seemed like Grandma had a solution for just about everything, and that included holes poked into our socks by our nonstop little feet. Whenever a sock got a bit worn, Grandma would darn them (and I'm pretty sure that had nothing to do with cursing at them) and give them back to us with new life in them.
A trait that I'm sure my mother inherited from my grandmother was her stash of fabric. Every size, color, pattern and texture imaginable is *sometimes* neatly stacked away in my mother's craft room. Bits from this project here, pieces from that project there...and she can look at each piece and tell you what was originally made from that remnant (I would love to have that kind of a memory!). See, that's what I love about fabric: even after a piece has sat dormant for 20 years, it still has life; it still has so much to give!!
I guess the tradition is continuing, because I had the privilege of sorting through mom's 'stash' and creating the beginnings of my own. It sits in a storage bin underneath one of my crafting tables, where a piece happened to catch my eye one night while I was in Scrappersville (a.k.a. my basement):

Journaling: you're such a little guy right now, but someday (all too soon) you'll be a daddy, too, with your son playing in his daddy's shoes

Let me start by saying that I love, love, love this page. It's probably my favorite page I've ever done, possibly more for sentimental reasons than anything.

A lesson that my grandmother taught me was about priorities. If all of your obligations were rocks of differing sizes, sized based on their importance to you, it's impossible fit all of the rocks into the 'container' you call a day if you don't start with the biggest (most important) ones first.

Let's apply this to a scrapbook page (not Grandma's intention, I'm sure...but none the less...). Start with a good base (biggest rocks). Add your picture(s) and title (medium rocks), and then embellish like crazy (a smattering of pebbles and sand!!).

I was lucky enough to have this great piece of red with white polka dot 12x12 paper tucked away in my stash. The edges were already distressed perfectly to my liking, and I love the juxtaposition between the print of the brown fabric and the polka dots of the paper.
On top of the patterned paper I added my brown fabric. It wasn't my original intention to have a torn look at the bottom, but when i pulled out the fabric from my 'generational' bin, that's how it was! --Either someone needed to enroll in The Basics of Fabric Cutting or needed a new, sharp pair of scissors!!--
I knew I wanted to sew around the edges of the fabric to permanently adhere it, so I chose to tack the fabric down with a few Glue Dots in the center section only (adhesive + sewing needle = sticky, jammed mess!!) and then add the stitching.
On to my medium rocks...next came my pictures and title. I matted my main picture with two additional scraps of complimentary fabrics and spelled out my title using various fonts of {naked} chipboard.



Next, the pebbles!! I'm a sucker for ribbon and thread, so those are usually my go-to elements. Some ribbon went up by the main picture (the lightest ribbon has some knots tied along it to add some depth and interest) and I sewed a thick ric-rac along the bottom edge. I added a few threaded buttons (see my July 24th entry for my feelings on not threading buttons) and a Stampin' Up! mini library clip to finish off the pretties.
My journaling was added onto a semi-circle journaling card, and the words that I pulled from my text to use as my title I emphasized using some scrap cardstock (this is also a great method to use if you misspell or othwise make an error in your journaling!!).


So where will inspiration find you? In your grandmother's teachings? The community fabric stash? Or maybe the best page of your scrapping career will be created when your rocks all seem to fit snuggly into the 'jar' of your day.