Creativity Heals...

I received my January Creating Keepsakes in the mail yesterday - I was so excited. I have written several articles for CK, but this is the one I was the most happy to have published. CK has started a monthly column about how Creativity Heals, so it was the perfect time for an article about how our trials help us grow and how documenting them helps us with the healing process. I made this layout a couple of years ago during a difficult time and it still remains a favorite of mine:

I loved selecting pages for this article - so many great ones were sent in! It is nice to see that so many scrappers take the time to scrap their challenges as well as their happy times. There is a page in the article by the oh so talented Kelly Goree about how she felt when she lost her beloved father. There is a page by my favorite scrapper, Maggie Holmes about how she has grown through her sons diagnosis with Autism. Lisa Vanderveen has a creative page about how difficult it has been to move away from her home and friends and adapt to life in LA. Jamie Harper scrapped about how hard it is for us to love ourselves and feel comfortable about being in photographs when we don't look the way we want to. Megan Hoeppner had just lost her first pregnancy and she scrapped about it even when the wounds were still very raw, so her page is full of emotion. All of the pages in the article were so inspiring to me and I know you will love them. I have to admit - it is nice to realize that everyone doesn't have the "perfect life" our scrapbooking and blog world sometimes portrays! We all suffer through challenges and difficult times and these times deserve to be documented and remembered just as much as the happy times do. 

I have two pages in the article. This one is about how my brain tumor diagnosis two years ago has improved my perspective on life. My other layout is a page that is dedicated to my birth mother and the things I would want to tell her if I could.

Check out the January CK to see all the wonderful pages and read about how scrapping our challenges can make us stronger and help us to heal. Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend scrappy friends! Suzy

Comments

[dawn]

I am so sorry for your past loss and for your health scare. You are very good at hiding all these sad times. I've never met you but can tell by your l/o and your journaling what a fun, bright, sunny, warm, loving woman you are. I love how you did the first layout with b/w and color. That is perfect for these kinds of depressions we all get into at sometime in our life. I've been there many times myself and love how you expressed yourself here. Now you are going thru tough time again with your dad/brother so keep your chin up and remember to look for that rainbow it's always there sometimes we just have to look harder. I'm sending you big hugs from my side and many prayers for your family.

[Helen Tilbury]

Oh I am very happy to see that CK has embraced this. Real pages that are so important as part of our family history. I love both those layouts & have just stopped & quickly typed up the journaling for 2 of my own & saved them for future use. Thanks for the great inspiration. The story really does matter!

[Keshet Shenkar]

I am excited to read this article--sounds so meaningful and wonderful. Out of curiosity, does CK generally only seek internal submissions for these types of articles?

[Sandra A]

Beautiful layouts in both the visual and written word. My world right now is in B/W mode, and I anxiously await its return to color. I think I will scraplift this one very soon to just give myself a visual of those things that are indeed color already. Gotta count the blessings I do have, and this really helps.

[Kristi Smith]

I love these layouts, Suzy. I hope you are doing well. And Merry Christmas. Guess I should get to bed! :)

[lizzy kartchner]

pretty sure I took these pics and deserve some sort of credit!!! :D haha xoxo