Turn Around
On January 23rd, this project took a completely different direction than I originally planned. My initial vision was to build a “2013 Forward” layout which listed my goals for the year and provided visuals to support my plans. My direction changed while I was preparing for my grandbaby girl’s second birthday. The melody and lyrics to an old Kodak camera commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWVWjdNWC0) started meandering through my mind. I changed the lyrics to accommodate a boy:
Where are you going, my little one, little one.
Where are you going, my baby my own.
Turn around and you’re two,
Turn around and you’re four,
Turn around and you’re a young boy going out of the door.
Turn around, turn around, turn around and you’re a young boy
Going out of the door.
Where are you going, my little one, little one.
Where are you going, my baby my own.
Turn around and you’re tiny,
Turn around and you’re grown,
Turn around and you’re a young man with babes of your own.
Turn around, turn around, turn around and you’re a young boy
Going out of the door
Before I was even aware that I was doing it, I was pulling pictures from my files and building a sketch.
My plans were to put this together and take it with me to Baby Morgan’s second birthday party on the 2nd. That didn’t quite happen, but did I ever get some unexpected photos at her party. I almost changed this up again, but opted to leave it alone.
An overly active vending prep schedule scooted me into procrastination mode, so I didn’t put the layout together until the evening of the 26th. For some reason, I thought we had yellow tiles in the packages we received, but I was mistaken. I think the cream worked quite well.
I printed my letters on my Cricut Expressions using the “Street Sign” cartridge. Some of the photos are pretty old and were damaged during various moves. My kids found a drawer full in an old wooden desk in our garage. I was heart sick when they brought them to me. Some of the photos were damaged and almost salvageable. The lower left picture is our middle child, Matthew, feeding his baby brother. Above is Leslie feeding Matthew. 
My second layout was meant to mirror the left, only now Matthew is on the other side of turn around. He’s grown; a father and step-father, 32 years old, and celebrating his baby girl’s second birthday. His stepson, in the upper left hand corner, was about seven years old when Matt and Sara got married. He’s 12 now. Baby Brayden, in the lower left hand corner, is now four. That picture was taken the day after Sara miscarried a 9” little boy. Turn around.
Once I finished the layout, I started applying the embellishments. I had to see what I had and how I could use it to forward my story. Of course, it all comes back to the song. So I retrieved my trusty EK Success music punch and went to work. I tried to strategically place the music so you could follow the turnarounds on the page.
I ran the notes through my Xyron and then strategically placed them on the MM Tiles. Then my wandering mind brought me to some musical brads I had in my stash. I placed the clef beside the song but decided I didn’t really need in more notes. The punched ones were fine. While I was poking around my brads I came across the silver embellishments. I had tried die-cut U-turns for my “turn around” symbol, but I didn’t like the way they looked on the page. The silver embellies seemed to do fine.
When I first heard Harry Belafonte sing Turn Around in the 60s, an emotional tidal wave unleashed itself on me. I was in high school and college at the time; children were not part of my plans. Yet, the song resonated with a solid message – Our life is made of memorable moments that are all too fleeting. Don’t wish your life away; live in the moment fully, remember the past fondly, and look forward to the future with a sense of adventure. Life is too short to waste.
That’s all. I’m done.
