As part of my University degree, I had to spend some time in France as an English Language Teaching Assistant. When we started dating, Craig and I always knew that it was inevitable, but we tended not to think about it, instead we wanted to enjoy our time together. After all, we were young and the future seemed so far away that many variables could have changed by the time we reached that fateful date. But as the day of my departure grew nearer on the calendar, we simply had to talk about it – we had to come to terms with the fact that we were going to be apart for at least seven months.
It goes without saying that it was the most sorrowful moment saying goodbye at the airport, and there were many lonely nights spent in tears, weeping because of the distance between us. I could go on and on about how miserable it was, but now when I think of my time in France, it fills me with hope and excitement. We convinced ourselves that if we could get through seven months of living in separate countries, we could survive anything. And we did it! Hurray!
Designing the page
This page was inspired by the chipboard embellishment from Bisous. I saw it and immediately knew that it was going to form the key element of this particular page in my book. Due to the bright aqua colour, I wanted a contrasting, subtle background, and this grid paper was perfect as it also reminded me of the paper in the notebooks that I used to plan my lessons. I used an acrylic border stamp to stamp the dotty trail, as you can bend these a little as you stick them to the acrylic block in order to get curvy shapes. This of course means more versatility – yet another reason to love acrylic stamps! Next I wanted to add a little touch of an antique feel so I distressed the edges using my distress inks from Ranger and some cut & dry foam. As a finishing touch I stamped the Eiffel Tower to my page to complete the picture!
Thanks for looking and come back tomorrow to see the next page revealed!
Journaling reads:
Seven months in a strange country without you. We always knew that it had to happen but that didn’t make it any easier. One thing we did know was that if we made it through those 7 long months, we could make it through anything…(and we did!)
Border journaling reads:
French market, Cold Feet dvds, Parc de la tete d’or, Smoking Dog pub, Frogslegs, sleepover at James’, lots of letters, gauffres, delicious patisseries, creepy french men, fete des lumieres, next door to Anne, Craigmas!
