I'm Your Advocate

TGIF my blogger friends!  Today I am sharing with you a scrapbook page.  Yes, you read that right.  It's not a card.  It's a layout!  This is the first one I've done in quite some time, and I so enjoyed it.  This is my submission for the latest die cut challenge over at Stuck On U Sketches.  Our theme is "Love."  Who can't do a card or a layout about love?  So, come on, join us!  Let's see your project!

Here's the story behind my layout.  We have a beagle named Lexi.  She was given to our youngest daughter for her 19th birthday by a boyfriend.  Six months earlier, we had lost our Yorkie of 14 years, and of course I was still grieving over her.  When our daughter brought Lexi into our house late one night, wrapped in a towel, she weighed 2 1/2 pounds.  She was the cutest little puppy ever!  But, I told my daughter that her Dad would not allow her to keep her.  She kept her in her bedroom for 3 days before he knew about her.  When she finally showed Lexi to him, he told her that she could not keep the dog.  She asked if she could keep her until she could find a home for the puppy, and my husband agreed to that.  Of course she never found a home for her -- because she never tried!  During the time that Lexi was a puppy, our daughter was never home, and she became my responsibility.  Then at age 22, our daughter got married.  Her husband is not a dog lover and would never have a dog in the house.  So, Lexi officially became my dog.  You can read my journaling below.

Details:

Card Stock:  Bazzill Dotted Swiss
Patterned Papers:  K and Company Classic K Charlotte Paper Pad
Large Heart:  Sweethearts Cricut cartridge cut at 10 1/2" with a shadow (p. 73 of the handbook)
Scalloped Border:  Martha Stewart Birthday Cake Art Cricut cartridge cut at 1 1/4" (I think -- I forgot to write it down.)
"I Am Your":  Computer generated -- I used the corner of a square punch to get the banner notch on the end
Advocate:  Martha Stewart Birthday Cake Art Cricut cartridge cut at 1 1/2"
Dog:  Paper Pups Cricut cartridge cut at 3 1/4" (p. 116 of the handbook)
"I Love You" Banner:  Paper Pups Cricut cartridge cut at 1 1/4" with the shadow
Little hearts:  Various punches
Flowers:  Flower Shoppe Cricut cartridge cut at 3 and 4"

I used the one page sketch #18 over at Sketch Support for the sketch.

Click on the photo for a better look.

Here is my journaling:

When you came to our house in 2005 as a two and a half pound puppy, I didn’t think I could love a beagle.  Boy, was I wrong.  I fell in love almost immediately.  Even though you were Whitney’s dog, I was the one that took care of you most of the time, chased you from under the bed, took shoes away from you before you chewed the toes out of them, took toilet paper from you, etc. because Whitney was always out with friends. When Rick said you were dumb, I said you were smart.  I tried to prove to him that he was wrong.  You learned tricks.  You proved that you were a good dog.  In my eyes, you are stubborn, yet very smart.  In fact, I’ve called you “Rick, Jr.” numerous times when you have stood on the steps and looked at me as if to say, “Maybe I’ll come inside; maybe I won’t!”  When others thought you were a pest, I told them you were sweet.  When others thought I was crazy for having a dog in the house, I defended you and said, “But you’re just not a dog lover like I am.”  And when something happens to you, I will be heartbroken, even more so than when Sassy died.  Why? Because I am your advocate.

I hope you like the layout.   Thanks for your kind words.  And, of course, be inspired!

P.S.  Come join us for the challenge!