Time Flies! || August Challenge || Kathy McElfresh

This month's challenge is going to be a fun one! It's all about documenting stories over time using "then & now" photos to highlight time passages and how things change -- or stay the same. I hope you all have fun with this one. It was actually inspired by a certain adorable clock Perspective that I had an idea for!

I kept my design super simple and played off the colors of the Perspextives for my paper and embellishment choices -- even down to the filter I chose for the photos of our crazy dog Reese. She was a gift for then 10-year-old Ava to keep her company and provide a needed distraction when she started chemo in 2019 for leukemia. My journaling chronicles the changes in those 3 short years since Reese joined our family -- some happy and some sad.

I started with this close-up because it shows the inspiration piece for the challenge and my layout's color scheme: the adorable little alarm clock that was part of the May Fox Box. The hearts are from my stash, either previous FoxBox sets or one of the many heart sets in the shop. I love layering tiny Perspextives on coordinating flair pieces to add dimension and textural interest! This corner was where I started my layout because it would seem the tone and color scheme with the Perspextives and hearts. I chose dreamy mixed media papers from a Jane Davenport paper pad for color and distressed the edges for texture. And I brushed on a tiny bit of subtle texture using Fox Cut Stencil #5 -- a really versatile matrix design that can go bold or funky as well.

The title piece his one of my all-time favorites -- the sentiment, the color, the mix of fonts -- and it seemed perfect for the page about how Reese has changed from a crazy puppy to a crazy doggie. Although I didn't use any pet-themed products on this page, there are lots in the shop to choose from. I just ordered both the Dog Treats and Cat Treats sets and I might go back and sneak in a tiny bone or two on this page before storing it!

I've again topped a flair piece with a heart and matched it with an ephemera word strip that's been hanging around on my desk for a bit. I typed the year strips for a quick reference to the passage of time and I used a Paper Snip to sum up both Reese's happy little life and our lives that she's enriched.

I'm ending on this close-up to show the color and detail in the paper strips I used to anchor my corner clusters and how well they highlight the colors in the Perspextives, ephemera and flair, not to mention the colors in the "Street Art" filter in the Prisma App on my iPhone!

I hope you are inspired to tell a "then and now" story for the challenge this month! Be sure to upload your page in the album in our Facebook Group before August 31 to be eligible for a nifty gift certificate to spend in the store. And if you have pet stories to tell I also want to point you to some awesome title pieces in the Pretty Kitty and Woof You sets!