Tell Your Story: Emmi Ballerina

• Featuring Patterns #131 symmetrical & #179 puzzle

Tying Two Tales Together with the Chevron Die

Our features this week are the Chevron Die and Petal Pink Grid Paper.

Some families have generational interests…fishing, football teams, alma maters. You may want to connect the stories with grampa’s big fish story and then the first time you baited a hook to your child’s first catch. Perhaps, you are a diehard Cleveland Browns fan just like your family before you. (You have my sympathies.) Maybe the tradition has been for the family to attend a particular college for many generations or attend a favorite summer camp they helped to build.

Whatever the tale you have to tell, consider linking your story of the past to a present story so the ones living it now will remember where it all got started.

MM Tell Your Story Tying Two Tales Together: “Emmi Ballerina” Two Page Layout Chevron Die Petal Pink Grid Paper

For me this is the story for my granddaughter who loves to dance and pretend to be a ballerina. When the girls were all small I made them tutus in multi-colors for dress up. When the music began we’d twirl them around like “faerie princesses.” (You might recall a layout I did with that theme featuring my oldest two granddaughters.) Well, “Miss Emmylou” has truly embraced being a ballerina and has added all sorts of movements to her performance. Granny has contributed to the fantasy by showing her several steps and positions for arms and feet for her to practice. Things I knew and practiced when I was in ballet school.

Today’s photos are almost exclusively of my granddaughter, with the exception of one small photo in a slide frame, just as the original is, of me when I was 5 in my first recital outfit. The Dance studio had professional photos taken of all of us that year. It must have been a special reason as there weren’t any taken again. I included a few details of my own, but talked about her in the story and the photos on the page.

Maybe one day she’ll remember as we would stand together and practice, or how she would float around the house. If not, I’ve captured a few of her special moments to remind her.

Key elements to Tying Two Tales Together:
• A Story for each of your people related to the subject
• Photos: Then and now and anything in between
• Memorabilia that is linked: tickets, programs
• Choose papers and colors that reinforces your theme: the classic black leotard and pale pink tights and white ballet slippers or pink pointe shoes
• Embellishments that are associated with the subject, like ribbons and tulle for ballet.

Mosaic Moments Chevron Die and Petal Pink Grid Paper

I began with our feature grid color for this week Petal Pink Mosaic Moments Gird Paper. Pattern Paper by Creative Imaginations “Ballet Positions” worked great with the photos of her foot positions that I turned into 2×2 B&W photos to drain color that didn’t fit with the rest of the page.

Burgundy, Teal, Black and White cardstocks and stamped chevron images using “Square Prints” stamp set from Papertrey Ink round out the supplies for this page. The stamped images reinforce the Chevron Die that is this week’s featured die. It’s a directional die and suggests movement, both consistent with my story.

I also used our Corner Tile Die for photo corners on my journaling block, and the 1.875” Squares Layering Die to trim my ballet positions blocks for a narrow border mounting on the 2.125” Square Die mat below.
A bit of tulle snipped from the tutus I made covers a portion of the journal block and helps to add a touch of the teal to the second page. A burgundy mat for a 2×2 square accomplishes the same thing on the first page.

MM Tell Your Story Tying Two Tales Together: “Emmi Ballerina” page 1 Chevron Die Petal Pink Grid Paper

TIP: All the 2×2 B&W’s were originally directly mounted to the grid, but later wanted to get that teal punch of color added so recut all and mounted them except the patterned paper tile. My daughter said add a burgundy mat under the patterned paper there, I said no, I’m leaving it full square. I thought both pages would hold just the one color, until I added the teal tulle on page two. Sometimes you play around with it a lot before you get it just the way you want. It also doesn’t hurt to take advice, sometimes.

I included on the journal block a definition of ballet I had from a page by Karen Foster (ballet words pink.)

My photos weren’t perfect even in my fast mode, trying to capture a 2 or 3 year old in motion is a difficult job. In this particular case her bowing and twirling in a blur add to the story, so don’t toss a less than perfectly focused photo out if it adds to your tale!

MM TYS Tying Two Tales Together “Emmi Ballerina” page 2 Chevron Die and Petal Pink Grid Paper

My choice for patterns for this layout was Patterns #131 a symmetrical pattern and #179 a puzzle pattern. They both have a nice variety of sizes for photos and will accommodate the 2×3 Chevron Die too.

Mosaic Moments Patterns # 131 and # 179

Finally, I had her story that is right now real to us and my own, in only a few brief words of my beginning and end with dance.

MM Tell Your Story Tying Two Tales Together: “Emmi Ballerina” Chevron Die Petal Pink Grid Paper

Telling Your Story doesn’t have to be long or complicated and of course if you are Tying Two Tales Together it could easily become a series of pages or a whole album. Don’t hesitate to get started on Telling Your Story today!

Andrea Fisher

Mosaic Moments Tell Your Story: Tying Two Tales Together with Chevron Die Petal Pink Grid paper