On Cherry Street: August Special Release

Hi everyone, I'm super excited to show off this awesome kit celebrating Nicole's 30th birthday and self reflection.  This Reflections kit is wonderful and gorgeous and super fun to play with.  My creation today is really personal and I was hesitant to share it in the beginning but I'm slowly embracing my weight loss journey and accepting that it actually is a part of my life.

I have struggled with my weight all my life but never as much as I have since having kids.  I had a million excuses for how I got to where I was but they were just excuses.  I was so embarrassed about my weight that I never took pictures of myself or allowed people to tag me in pictures on my Facebook page.  I didn't want anyone who knew me "before" to see what I had let myself become.  It makes me sad thinking about untagging myself from pictures my nieces and nephews were so excited to share because I couldn't stand anyone seeing the real me.  Then, my niece tagged me in a picture from her high school graduation party.  I immediately jumped on Facebook to untag myself but I froze when I saw the picture.  That couldn't be me.  The picture was shocking and it was the turning point in my life.  It was time to make a change.  I've worked my butt off since seeing that picture to get to where I am today, a place where I will gladly share pictures of me.  I love being in silly pictures with my family and I'm proud of where I am.  I know I have a ways to go but I'm SO happy with my hard work and so proud of the changes I have made that I want to show it off.  To really be proud though, I need to embrace and accept where I started and admit that I needed to make this change.  I can't just act like I never went through this challenge.  So, I'm embracing it and sharing it with you now and the Reflections kit is the perfect kit for starting to embrace my journey and document my progress.  Here goes nothing...

This page celebrates the work I have done.  I didn't weigh myself around the time of the top picture because I was afraid to know what I weighed.  Because of that, I don't know my true starting weight but 236 was the number on the scale the first time I decided it was okay to weigh myself.  That's the number I have used as my starting weight but I know it may be more.  Since then, I have lost over 50lbs, got back into running, and started crossfit-like workouts 3x a week.  I've also revamped my view of food.  I no longer think of it as a way to cover my emotions.  Now, it's fuel for all the things I want to do and there are tons of things I want to do.  ;)

I LOVE the "you are enough" card.  It is exactly what I have been learning through this weight loss journey.  No matter what, I'm enough!  I thought this card needed just a touch more sass so I got out, Stuck On This, to add a little fun.  I stamped, colored, and cut my cute cactus and layered it with the stamped "Can't Touch This" and "Duh Nuh Nuh Nuh" sentiments as well as a button and some bling.  It really helped me personalize the card to show off my rockin' transformation.  I used the soon to be retired, Numbers - Symbols set to document my starting weight on my motivation picture as well as the "Ouch" sentiment from Stuck On This.  My next 4x6 card uses the 3x4 "Nothing worth having comes easy" card from the Reflections kit layered on some patterned paper to fill the pocket.  I LOVE this card because it sums things up perfectly.  For a glimpse of some of my hard work, I added a picture of my friends and I running the Midnight Madness run.  I added a strip of vellum stamped with a stamp from the Magical Kit.  I love how all the kits can work together. 

I used the "Right Now" card to show how far I've come by adding an arrow and 50 indicating that I'm down 50lbs.  My "now" picture was taken two weekends ago and I had just as big of a reaction to seeing this picture as I did when I saw my "before" picture.  I again, didn't realize I looked like that.  Wow, I've really come a LONG way.  It made me think of the Chris Brown song, "Look At Me Now".  I went with that and used one of the adorable polka dot cards in the kit to make my "look @ me now" card as a transition from the before and during pics to the after pic.  I love how it turned out and it totally gets the song in my head every time I look at it.

My final card was another stretched 3x4 that couldn't contain a truer quote for me.  I can now officially say that I measure up and no matter what, I'm proud of myself.

I hope you enjoyed my layout and will go check out the rest of the team's work on the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog.  It was fun showing off my creation and my struggles and just so you can see the difference, here is the before and after pics together.  Enjoy and have a great day!!