Inspired by "A Sweethaven Summer"....

Have you heard of the newly published book...."A Sweethaven Summer"?
It was written by Courtney Walsh, and I must say, I am beyond excited
to read it! It's about scrapbooking, memories, and old friends. And how
perfect, that a group of my scrappin' friends and I are going to each get a
copy and read it at the same time....then we can share our thoughts on it!!
Our own little scrappy book club!

Well this very book is the reason I have posted this LO! Courtney has
issued a challenge/contest on her blog (find it HERE). You are to choose
one of the scrapbook pages she has posted as inspiration for a project of
your own.

My inspiration? Leslie Ashe's "It's A Tradition" LO. It spoke to me in
so many ways!! I LOVE traditions, and we are so blessed to have a
tradition of going to the beach in North Carolina every year! It's an
absolutely beautiful place, and just being there, I can't explain it, but
somehow you just feel closer to God!! We have had so many of our
best family times, and family memories there.

Our beach album is the ONE scrapbook album that I truly keep up
on year after year (course it's not "one" anymore....lol). We do so
many things...fishing, walking, shell collecting, boating, the aquarium,
the ferry, feeding the gulls, and oh do we eat seafood....lol. Even tho'
we do some of this year after year, it's always a unique experience
every time!

Another way Leslie's LO inspired me was with it's symmetry and design,
love the different layers of scalloped edges....you can see these in my LO.
And honestly, something else that really just "hit" me....Leslie is the name
of one of my truly best friends growing up.....and she passed away this year.
Just another reminder, to me, of why memories and traditions are important....
they are a little piece of something that we can leave behind, for those we love,
even when we are gone.

Yep, A Sweethaven Summer sounds so much like our story....returning to
a seaside cottage, year after year, and documenting the memories, I can
see how my boys have grown and changed, we can reflect on the amazing
things we did, and the time spent together as a family. It's truly why I love
this hobby.....why I love to scrapbook.

How about you?

(Items used: Fancy Pants Rusted Sun, BoBunny Popsicle, Glitz alpha,
buttons and twine from my stash, epoxy set, Queen & Co felt border,
LYB journal box, DCWV ribbon, Reminisce Under the Sea alpha (blue),
Creative Imaginations Epoxy, Scattered Straw & Vintage Photo Distress
Ink (on journaling).