A Beautiful Life.

She truly lived a beautiful life. Dicki was my mother's best friend. She was like a second mother to my brothers and I when we were young. She was a part of our family. So, when she passed away in December from an illness that overtook her in July, and at the young age of 55, we felt like she was taken from us much too soon. But, as I reflected on her life as we drove to the church for her funeral, the first thing that popped into my head was, "she truly lived a beautiful life." Then, as if to confirm what I already knew, at the luncheon later that afternoon, Dicki's son, Kostas, said "she lived a beautiful life" in his eulogy. I also remember reading the poem on her prayer card and the first line - "smile, because she lived" jumped out at me. And I did just that - I smiled through the tears.

This is the hardest layout I have ever scrapped. I've scrapped about loved ones who have passed away but for some reason, this was the tough one. I think it's because it hasn't even been a month since her passing. The wound is still fresh. But, I felt this urge, this need, to scrap this now. So, despite how hard it was, and the tears shed while doing it, I made her tribute page.

Dicki loved both flowers and the beach. And this particular photo - taken down at their beach house in Florida - happens to be my mom's favorite photo of her. So, I started thinking about flowers and the beach...and remembered I had a couple sheets of paper and a sheet of stickers from Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat collection. I pulled those supplies out and immediately knew that they had been sitting in my stash for months only to be used for this specific layout. Then, as I glanced at the sticker sheet, I saw what confirmed this to be true...

And here is the layout I created. My mom's favorite photo of her. Her prayer card. Her obituary. And a photo of the dried roses my mom took off the sprig on her casket (placed under the vellum, under the title as a sort of title spot). And I feel like I did Dicki proud with this. I know she'd love it.

(Supplies: Webster's Pages vellum overlay, paper, red alphas, stickers and sparkler flower center; Basic Grey purple script alphas; Prima flowers; Bazzill cardstock; StazOn ink. Inspired from a sketch by Wendy Antenucci for the Memorable Seasons Sketchathon.)