Thank You Notes - Everyday Gratitude w/Sophie Crespy

Sophie here today with you dear CP Fans! If you've been a follower of mine, then you know I'm French, which is a plus most of the time; I get to eat fabulous food and am surrounded by century old buildings! However, there are times when I'd love to be an American. You partake in some really great celebrations, Thanksgiving included! I think it's marvelous to take time out of the year to be thankful. In truth, gratitude is an attitude I try to retain all year 'round. I find that scrapbooking is a way to be grateful. I usually record memories that express what I truly cherish and the things that make me most happy.

Today, I'm going to take you through a step-by-step process of how to make this grateful page on behalf of this week's theme, "Thankful Notes". The "thank you" part of my project is the journaling, which is central to the layout's design.

In general, the idea was to write a little note about the three most important people in my life; my two kiddo's & husband.

As to the overall design of the page, I was inspired by this beautiful packaging I spotted at Pinterest.

In getting started, I trimmed an assortment of leaves from Flea Market's 6 x 6 patterned papers.

This is the final result...

Then, I did the very same thing with my photos. They reflect the love and joy of our family. Though, the only real difference here is that I didn't use my Cameo to cut them, but my Bigshot Cutting Machine and some leaf dies.

I backed the photos with patterned paper cut in the same shape.

I wanted the leaves to look as if they were flying across the page, in the wind. So, I decided to scatter them every which way to recreate the look of blowing leaves.

Then, I thought about how to include my thank you message on my layout. I opted to create a template using Open Office Word; a simple 3-column template. I wrote my text inside the template, a thank you note for each of them: my husband and two children.

I chose to print my journaling on vellum becauses I wanted to keep the emphasis on the leaves. The vellum keeps the layout light and whimsical, and the design, clean and simple. When you print on vellum, remember to wait a little while for the text to dry before cutting and gluing it to the layout.

I chose a font that looked like real handwriting.

As a final step, I added a title and backed the white paper with a sheet of gorgeous Flea Market flower patterned paper. I then added a few drops of my favorite custom made pink ink. {Love the 'custom' bit!!}

I adore the end result. I'm so happy to think that all three of them will one day read this and know how much I love them and how much I am thankful for their company and presence in my life.