Crate Paper Sketch Challenge

Today is the last day to enter the March Sketch Challenge at Crate Paper. I recently got a couple of their new lines so thought I'd give it a go. I've been sitting here working on this layout since 7am....almost 4 hours. It's not that its very detailed or labor intensive, it's the pictures. And the memories. My husband, Michael, passed away unexpectedly from a stroke just a few short years after these photos were taken. Wednesday was his birthday and he's been on my mind constantly. It's very hard being both a mom and a dad to my kids. I have a great man in my life now but he's not DADDY. I miss Michael so much. I haven't scrapped but a single photo with him in it since he died. I just couldn't do it. I can look at the photos and smile and remember, but to put them onto a layout was just more than I could bear and I didn't want to upset my kids, as they always want to see my newest layouts. When I saw the sketch, and decided to go with the Emma's shop line, I knew I had the perfect photos. I edited the photos to be black and white with the exception of my daughter, simply because there were way to many colors going on between Daddy and Susie's "baby soups" as she used to say. Now that its done, and I've shed my tears, I am happy with it. As I said, I used Emmas Shop papers, stickers and border stickers. I added lettering by Thickers and Echo Park, some pink ric rac and two flowers by Recollections.

Here is the original sketch I worked from: