One stormy spring day the sun came out at the tail end of a rainstorm. The effect was a gorgeous rainbow that popped against the gray clouds. Caleb was the only one close by, sitting in the dining room, working on homework, and I called him outside. I took some photos and then directed him to go wheel into the wet grass (which we typically tell him to avoid) and I took this photo. It looked like Caleb was sitting at the end of the rainbow - instead of a pot of gold.
As I looked at this photo, I realized how precious Caleb is. Raising a child with special needs is not easy. No matter what they do, from something as simple as going to the bathroom to something as complex as traveling, having special needs makes it exponentially harder. Being a parent is hard already, but it can be a even more daunting when you have to learn to be selfless and patient. There are nights you go to bed exhausted and overwhelmed, not sure how you can do this one more day. But then, just like this storm, the clouds part, the sun peeks through and a beautiful rainbow emerges.
While life with a differently-abled child is harder, it is sweeter. Small stuff doesn’t bother you as much. Simple little things that others take for granted, such as putting tooth paste on a toothbrush, opening a door, and ripping a piece a folded paper, become HUGE victories! You cry tears of joy when they succeed and you overflow with pride when you see others encouraged by your child. Your days become a blend of rainstorms and rainbows, and your life is all the better because of it.
Scrapbooking Tips
When I saw that Allison Davis was offering stitching templates and one happened to be this awesome rainbow, I knew immediately that I would be using the photos of Caleb at the end of the rainbow! This layout uses a string art style stitching and it was so much fun to stitch!
For my title, I found this saying in the Silhouette Design Studio and cut it out . . . twice. I was beyond frustrated as I tried to carefully pick up the fine letters from the cutting mat to transfer them to the cloud. I quickly gave up on that technique, but not the concept. I decided that rather than try to transfer the letters, I would cut the title out of the cloud. I easily removed the letters ( because it didn’t matter if they ripped) and then I backed the cloud with black paper. This was so much easier, and I will definitely be using this method whenever I can in the future!
To help the cloud from blending into the white background, I added a simple stitched border. I have learned that just a little texture can go a long way in the overall look of the layout.
I printed the photo of a Caleb out as a 3x4 inch print. I didn’t want to cover too much of the rainbow. But with that being said, I wanted it to have a big impact, so I matted it on golden yellow cardstock and die cut a pot of gold. I did add a simple black stitched border to the pot to keep it consistent with the rest of the layout. With all the stitching on this page, it looked like the odd one out not having any stitched details.
I added a simple journaling block against a white cloud. To play off the theme of gold at the end of the rainbow, I choose a yellow journaling tag.
I was really pleased with the finished result, and I’m looking forward to more string art stitched layouts in the future.
Supplies Used:
Base page and rainbow template - Allison Davis for Scrapbook Generation
Cardstock - American Crafts and The Stamps of Life
Embroidery Floss - DMC
Cut files - Title and pot of gold - Design Hooked Silhouette Design ID# 357391
Clouds - Studio Ilusrado - Silhouette Deisgn ID# 82713
Journaling Block - Scrapbook Generation
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