Lifted - A Turning Point

The layout I'm going to share with you is really special to me, not just because I feel the end result is beautiful, but because the story behind it is beyond meaningful. I think I can say with relative certainty that this layout documents a point in my life that I will look back on and say, "Wow. That was when my life changed."

It all started with a Symphony Church retreat... I honestly didn't expect much of it. Sure, I knew I would learn a few things, and it would make me feel great for a weekend, just like all other retreats... but change my life? Nope, because I thought everything in my life was just jolly and nothing needed changing.

I was so wrong and I probably would not have realized it, except for the fact that God spoke to me through other people that weekend and convicted me of things in my life that, deep down, I knew needed to change, but I simply did not want to. For those who don't believe in God, this might sound like craziness. It might seem ridiculous to change one's life based on some feelings you get at a secluded retreat. But let me tell you, there is nothing fake or "emotional" about someone you have never met speaking truth about your life as if they knew you... because God had told them all about you already. Something like that is so real and, at the same time, supernatural. Honestly, it freaked me out a bit. But it was also exactly what I needed - that push in the right direction.

So yeah, that was a bit of background about my story... now onto the scrapbooking! I used what I call the "punch and piece" method, inspired by the always-amazing Paige Evans. All you have to do is punch a whole bunch of 1" circles from pretty papers (I used mostly the Maggie Holmes Flea Market 6x6 paper pad) and piece them together in whatever way you want! I tried something like my last layout, where the photo is pushed off to the side (rather than in the center, like I usually do) - but it's still the highlight of the page because of the amazing border of circles around it! Just check out those wonderful layers...

I'm just really having fun playing with this kind of format, because you have so much room to play on the rest of the page, while still letting that beautiful background paper show! There's also a lot of room for journaling, which of course I needed for my story.

I've been getting a lot of use out of my circle punch lately, and I'll have a really cool tutorial up next week where I make a fun, dimensional border out of this one punch!

A turning point, captured.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my story today! Hope you have a great week!! :)

xx Michelle