Expectation of Life

This is a picture story about the 9 month wait (or maybe I should say weight gain) for our little expectation of life. This is one of the first LO's I've created in quite a while that wasn't for a design team reveal. I did create it for a e-pub call but I had free will with it. The only thing that it needed to incorporate was "real world print".

I got a page from the dictionary in a recent Scrapbook Circle kit and it couldn't have been more appropriate for me.  It's like they hand-picked it for me. Granted, I'm talking about the pregnant me from 2008 but regardless, I hadn't scrapped the photos yet and now I know why. 

Supplies: October Afternoon Thrift Shop and Schoolhouse Collection Paper; 7 Gypsies Numbers Rub-ons; Pink Paislee Artisan Elements Borders; Tattered Angels Charcoal Mist "Peacock"; Girl's Paperie Tinsel & Twig vintage button; CTMH Cranberry Ink; misc. bling and thread.

I really goofed up on this page.  I meant to do more of a tic tac toe grid and while I was just stitching away, I realized I sewed a top border that I wasn't supposed to stitch. My option was to rip it out and have holes in my paper or keep on going and add a bottom border. I actually like how it turned out.

If you look at the close-ups below you can see that the defined words on one of the circles are expectant, expectant mother, and expectation of life and the words on the other circle are expand and expanded. I also whipped out my new i-top tool to add a little punch to some of the patterned circles. Then I fussy cut 3 of the same red flowers from the patterned paper and cut them in various sizes according to the pattern and then rolled them to make a dimensional flower.

I used a Pink Paislee border that absorbs the mist, which I then inked in red to add a bit more texture. What I love the most is all the symbolism in the layout - the measuring tape for the expanding belly, No. 2 for baby #2, pic of a girl since I was expecting a girl, 9 months of pregnancy and lastly the due date (but not the actual birth date) on the full body photo (see above).

Oh and now you know the story behind me and my tiara in my avatar. Thanks for looking.