We Made It! {CSI Case File No. 25}

We have reached Case File No. 25 at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration, and to celebrate this little milestone, we have a little bonus twist to our challenge this week: Choose a CSI Detective's layout that inspires you and scraplift that layout! We can't wait to see what you do with this special twist!

We continue our celebration of The Queen's Birthday Month with this Case File:

Here is the page I made. Clues I used: Evidence: Foliage, architectural elements, border punches, windows, spire/finial shapes, gold accents; Testimony: Write a letter to my former self; hide my story behind a window.

I started with the current sketch up on the My Mind's Eye blog: 

That gave me a start on selecting my papers. A lot of times, I'll start with my My Mind's Eye paper carts because I have so many of their papers, and they're bound to have the right colors. I used some of their older papers from the Wild Asparagus and Bohemia collections, and another paper from the Lime Twist collection, as well as some of their awesome brads.

Here are some close-ups of my page. The chipboard window is by Maya Road. I painted it with Making Memories acrylic paint and then rubbed some green and black ink on it to give it a weathered look. The little green and blue flags under the window are in the CSI Coordinates.

The window opens to show my whole story (8 little pages). I used gold jump rings to attach the pages to my window. That leather flower is ANCIENT, by Making Memories. I added that BasicGrey fabric brad to hold the window in place a little. The brad in the center of the flower is by My Mind's Eye and has a special meaning to my page, if you read my story below.

Here's my journaling: This is the summer I vow to get fit and healthy. Kathy Morris and I are going to walk together. We just started our first walk on Monday. We're walking the C&O Canal and heading out at 6:30 a.m. before it gets sweltering hot. 

Our first day, it was raining, but we went anyway. We walked about two or three miles, stopping only when the rain got harder because the forecast called for thunderstorms. 

On our second day, we talked about going the distance--to the Monocacy Aqueduct, which would make our walk five miles, but then we said maybe we should build up to that. We kept walking and said, Let's make it to the picnic tables. And then we said, Let's make it to that sunny spot. We kept pushing on, and to our amazement, the aqueduct came into view. We had made it. 

It was like a little epiphany that I can do this. Mom said the other day that I just might amaze myself if I try. So former self, I just want to say, I can  make it. I can reach the final destination of this weight loss journey. I have to take it one step at a time and just keep forging ahead.

Here's a peek at the upper cluster. That beaded flower is by K&Co, as are the cut-out leaves and flowers. The leafy branches are a die-cut by Cheery Lynn Designs. I was looking for gold accents for the Case File and found this goldish leaf that I added. I died some cheesecloth with some Tattered Angels mist and tucked a bit in there. The green brad peeking underneath is by My Mind's Eye.

I wanted to use a spire/finial shape for the evidence. I thought this EK Success punch sort of looked like a finial, and then I found this metal element when I was searching for gold accents, and I thought it had a similar shape, so I added it.

The other designers made some gorgeous layouts that you must come see! I hope you'll play along with us. Our sponsor, Little Black Dress Kit Club, is offering three kits as prizes this month!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and reading about my page!