Love: Gratitude Documented Mini Album

During the month of November, I enjoy doing thankfulness activities with my kids. A couple years ago I realized I wanted to do something to anticipate Thanksgiving the way we do Advent for Christmas. So I went to Pinterest for ideas! Isn't Pinterest so addicting?! I found a beautiful thankful tree with real branches and paper leaves. But after using it for decor at church my branches appeared to have a bug so I had to toss them. And really that wasn't very kid friendly. But I knew I could tweak that idea to be the perfect fit for us. I drew a tree on poster board and cut a bunch of leaves with my Cricut Expression. (I have a Silhouette Cameo now and can do the same thing.) This tree is perfect to pull out every November and add more leaves each year as we remember what we're thankful for. And it's fun to look back at last year and see silly things like marshmallows!

I have often done an informal thankful project for myself this time of year too. I usually make a few journal entries and post a few pictures on Instagram without making it through the whole month. This year I was so excited to learn about the #GratitudeDocumented project from Illustrated Faith. They posted this list of things to focus your attitude of gratitude on for the next 30 days and also send weekly email updates with corresponding verses.

My ability to be thankful is completely wrapped up in my faith in Jesus! Without Him I wouldn't know true love and my thankfulness for the little things in life flow out of my gratefulness for His sacrifice.

I knew I wanted to create a mini album with this theme. I had this cute Insta sized teal album that I'd won in a giveaway a few months ago and when I saw all the colors in the October 'Woodlands' Take 10 Kit, I knew it was the perfect fit. The colors are a match and so many of the cards and pieces reflect thankful sentiments!

This page is about LOVE from day 8. I put down a thin layer of gesso on watercolor paper so I could get a nice creamy look with my gelatos. I combined 3 different shades and used water with my finger to get this gorgeous background color. I used pieces from the Woodlands glam bag and washi to embellish. The alphas are from a previous Take 10 kit. After adding the verse from Romans 12:9 I one bare corner that I filled with some hand drawn hearts. I had planned to use a heart stencil for a slightly different looking background but technical difficulties interfered. Now I'm glad because I really like how this turned out!

On the back side, I water colored a heart and some splatters with my gelatos. Then I used the 'love you' tag, label and leaf stamps to both cover and add interest to a space that I mostly filled with my personal reflections about love.

Thanks for letting me share this unique page with you! I will be working on this all month and look forward to sharing more with you! I'm so thankful for this scrappy community I can be apart of with you and hope you can find gratitude in today's big and small moments!