Using AE Story Stamps & Story Kit “Firsts” | Part Two

Hi there! I’m back with my second layout created from the Ali Edwards Story Stamps & Story Kit “Firsts.”

I am so loving these kits. The theme of “firsts” flooded my mind with possible layouts and stories to tell! Hopefully I’ll have a chance as the year goes on to keep making layouts around this theme. If only making scrapbook pages was all I had to do every day. 🙂

This layout is about the first time I felt really small in this world. It was also a first trip to Alaska for me, so it seemed like a great story to tell around this theme. I knew I wanted to use a large photo of the lake and the waterfall that I mentioned in the journaling.

The journaling reads:

My first time in Alaska was with Bea Jo in July 2006. The excursion we chose to do in Ketchikan was a sea plane site seeing trip. It was a small plane built for only a few people, and it was Bea Jo’s first time on a sea plane. We flew around for a while taking in all the BEAUTIFUL scenery of the Misty Fjords. I was in complete AWE about how many trees there were and how many logs you could see on the waterline—they looked like toothpicks!

Part way through our tour we flew up to a small lake nestled on top of some mountains. Just at the edge of the lake the water fell into this amazing waterfall. It was so beautiful. And it was in that moment, as we approached the lake to land, that I began to realize just how small we are as humans. I overwhelmingly felt, for the first time in my life, the grandeur of the earth and the universe and how we as humans are just a blip on the map of existence. I realized that the trees, mountains, waterfalls, everything I was seeing had been there for thousands and millions of years before me and that the earth is ever changing and evolving, even if I’m not there to witness it. The earth, and what it does, would continue to happen without humans. I realized for the first time I am small, and in terms of earth and the universe, mostly insignificant as an individual.

After we landed on the lake we were able to step out onto the floats of the plane—I soaked in the still and the silence around us. We were truly in the middle of nowhere and it was AWESOME! The silence was deafening & spiritual all at the same time.

I’ve since gone on to have this feeling many more times—it’s a feeling I LOVE to feel. I can find this feeling in nature—in the mountains, on a glacier, or near the ocean. Sometimes the best therapy is the chance to see the earth up close and personal. It helps me put my own life in perspective.

I wanted to keep the supplies simple and let the photo and the words be the focus. I used two of the chipboard sticker phrases from the kit along with a wood veneer geo tag. The patterned paper and card stock are from old Studio Calico kits that I had on hand.

I played around with the placement of the journaling quite a bit. I finally decided to put it on its own 6×12 page. Oh how I love the 6×12 size! I left some room at the top for a stamp from the kit, but it wasn’t really large enough. Instead, I used the digital version of the stamp, printed it on the same card stock as the journaling, and attached it using a pop dot to give it a little more pizzaz.

The other small red phrase label on the top left is one I’ve had for a long time. It’s October Afternoon I think. The last thing I used in the bottom right is the “words aren’t enough” phrase stamp from Ali Edwards Thanks stamp set.

I still have SO MANY supplies left in these kits! I could keep creating for days, but I really want to move forward with the next Story Stamps/Kit, “Gatherings.” I’ll be sure to post those layouts here when they are done.

As I said in this post, I’ll be really happy if I create at least two layouts from each AE Story Kit this year. Being a subscriber and sharing my layouts here is definitely keeping me on track for scrapbooking…so far. 🙂 I realize it’s only January, but I’m trying hard to stay consistent this year.

Have you had any time to make any scrapbook pages so far this year? Be sure to let us know what crafty goodness you’re up to in the comments.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading here!