Tough

i've been subscribing to Ali Edwards Story Stamp on and off for a while now. i took a break for a bit when the themes didn't seem to suit the kinds of stories i wanted to tell. But I've been subbing again for the last 4 months.

i've created lots of layouts with the stamp sets over the last year or so, but not shared any of them here. i want to change that so i thought i'd start with the latest theme, Tough.

It turned out this was good timing for me as April has been a difficult month so i had a couple of stories i wanted to tell straight away. This isn't always the case, but the content that Ali provides with the subscription gets lots of ideas flowing. So  even on months when i think i may struggle to use the stamps, i still end up with a lot of ideas for layouts. i've also found that the stamps work well together and i often find myself using more than one set on a layout. 

What's a single girl to do with all those heart/love themed products out there? Use them on a layout about singledom of course! i've been having a bit of a tough time lately with boys. Hopefully this won't always be the case, but it is a reflection of my life now. Although this is ultimately a page about how hard being single can be, i also put a positive spin on my journaling. i went for a pink, white & black theme, mainly because i don't often get the opportunity to use pink! i knew i wanted lots of space for journaling as i wrote it out in advance so that i knew where i needed to place my stamps. That's a classic Ali technique, using stamps to form part of your journaling. 

Another layout in pink! Really liking this colour combo. Plus it fits my theme. i took on a promotion at work in January and i am in charge of 19 males. i take great pride in this as it's a male dominated industry and i'm a young woman that is thriving. But i am certainly finding it very challenging and i am learning & growing every day. For this layout i started with the 4x4 journaling card and built my layout around it. The title is stamped & cut out. 

This is another layout about work, but a specific week when i was on a training course. i knew i wanted to use that yellow paper. But the patterned paper strip on the left went down first. Once i figured out the photo mat, i did all the stamping. It came together really quickly. 

Please know that i realise these are all first world problems & i am very fortunate! But for me, it's important to have a rounded view in my albums. Life isn't always easy & i wouldn't want anyone looking through my scrapbooks to think that my life was all travel, fun times & celebrations. And i find scrapbooking can be therapeutic and help you work through things. 

You'll notice that although these are layouts about struggles i'm facing, i still try to keep things encouraging (like the use of the 'yes i can' stamp). It's about getting that balance again. Sometimes you need to be your own cheerleader! Even when things are tough, there is usually something to be learnt from the experience.