Sunflower Fields Scrapbook Collection by Creative Memories

The Sunflower Fields line by Creative Memories is just so stunning and why wouldn’t it be? The focus of the line is SUNFLOWERS. Sunflowers start as weak little stalks that grow into giant beauties with HUGE blooms that seem to appreciate God’s handiwork as much as we do as they crave the warm sun rays that nourish them.

The line on this page embellishment, “I love you like a sunflower loves the sun,” touched my heart like no other for very personal reasons. I grew up in a strict home where I was supposed to look and behave a certain way. I am grateful for my upbringing and the boundaries my folks put on me that helped me to grow into the woman I have become. One of the things I remembered my dad saying was,” You don’t need more holes in your body than the good Lord gave you, and for goodness sake, NO TATTOOS”. When I was 11, a girlfriend of mine pierced my ears with a needle and an ice cube which took about 2 hours. It was a horrible experience, and still, she was successful at giving me only one hole which I never put an earring in! After all my girlfriends got their ears pierced, at 13, my momma broke down and let me get my ears pierced, too. I am pretty certain the good Lord didn’t mind!

As a mother of two girls, I was excited when it was time for them to get their ears pierced. I love jewels and couldn’t wait for them to put in earrings however, the judgment of tattoos passed on to me by my parents was one that my husband and I were strict on. We said, “As long as you live under our roof, NO TATTOOS”. Before any of my tattooed followers stop reading, please no worries, read on 😉

Fast forward, my girls grew up and became young women themselves NOT under our roof and one Mother’s Day weekend, my youngest daughter called to give me a heads up that my firstborn, Zoe, was now sporting a TATTOO. I LOST IT. I felt so shocked and let down that she would do something like that and not even discuss it with me first. And it was on Mother’s Day weekend to boot. I cried and threw a big fit and finally, Zoe called me. She said, “Mom…. do you still love me?” Well of course that is a silly question and was easy to answer and I responded, “Zoe, for the record, there is nothing…NOTHING…that you could do that would cause me not to love you but I am so hurt that you did this knowing how strongly I feel about it.” She explained that it was something she REALLY wanted to do and that it was BECAUSE of me that she really wanted to do it! WHAT???

Never forget, you have angels.

She went on to say that NO, to my disappointment, she didn’t put her tattoo on her rear or somewhere no one could see it …her tattoo was not HIDDEN because she wanted to see it ALL THE TIME. Growing up, whenever my girls were scared or anxious, I would tell them to not be afraid because angels were protecting them (Psalm 91). Zoe is an emergency room nurse and is often in situations that cause her stress, and she explained that her tattoo was inspired by me and it reads, “Never forget, you have angels”. She put her favorite flower, the sunflower, on her tattoo too, and explained that she chose the sunflower because of its symbolism of faith, loyalty, and devotion to God. How can something that made me so mad, make me so proud? Since then, some of Zoe’s patients have also commented on how her tattoo has given THEM comfort as well.

Needless to say, my judgment on tattoos has fallen away and in fact, my other daughter got one too, with the same saying. If there is anyone out there who doesn’t have the love of a parent that goes with no strings attached, please know that our God, and savior Jesus Christ DOES love you, no matter what! You can count on Him. I am by far, not the best parent out there, and as with any parent, I have made mistakes. I am grateful that my daughter is BRAVE and paved her way this time and followed her heart which taught me a great lesson on what is and is not important in this life journey of ours.

I now know more about sunflowers than anyone needs to know and, for me, it makes this line even more beautiful. It features paper, stickers, a mat pack, and beautifully layered sunflower embellishments. The limited edition gold shimmer paper line also was released at the same time and pairs with it perfectly. I hope you will love the layouts that I featured below and you will decide to throw some of your most unforgettable photos on Sunflower Fields.

Thanks so much for reading today. I appreciate the opportunity to share my heart and my gifts with you.

If you are looking for a second income, or just some fun money, or heck, just a really good discount to help support your habit while you serve a mom, a best friend, or a sister a state or two away, I would love to mentor you to success. No experience is needed. No parties or inventory is required. Just a love of photos and scrapbooking and a willingness to share your love with others.

Blessings to you.

Beckie Belote

This look is super fun and can be made using the newest tool just added to our cutting custom system called Jumbo Square Frame. I taught two techniques in this YouTube video. The one that goes along with this is in the second half of this tutorial. https://youtube.com/live/3ZToxTvya9E?feature=share

This shows an XL embellishment from the DAYS WELL SPENT embellishment pack. It’s a great pack that adds pop to any layout.

This look is EASY and FAST and can be done with ONE double-sided designer printed paper. You can just build this directly into your album or on cardstock like I did. You will use this idea over and over again. https://youtube.com/live/S5iyS-lJhvY?feature=share

The large brown embellishment was actually from one of the mats from the variety mat pack that I cut out with a circle pattern from our cutting system to make it an oversized embellishment, and added one of the layered sunflower embellishments to give it pop. The stickers, I clustered and popped on the other yellow-lined mat at the bottom.

This is a great example of how you can cut out the middle of a mat from your mat pack to get more out of your mats. The flowered journal box above was cut out of the purple mat below it. Slap a 4×6 photo on that purple mat and journal the white-flowered one and you just got more bang for your buck. The oval embellishment was cut out of another one of the mats.

This is another simple technique. Pick a piece of designer paper that you like on both sides together at the same time. Cut it in half at the 6-inch mark. Then fold like sides on each other. Grab your straight trimmer and cut out a hole that is 1 inch from each edge. However, don’t do all 4 sides. Do both short sides and one long side. So start by putting the short end in your trimmer so that it is lined up to the one inch and cut completely through one side of the paper but STOP 1 inch from the end of the other side of that strip. Rotate and now line the long edge that is not cut all the way through to the one-inch mark. Now cut from the point you left off to 1 inch from the end of this trip. Rotate one last time and line the other short side to the one inch, cut from where you left off to the END of this strip. One large rectangle will fall off of both strips. What you are seeing above is the GREEN RECTANGLE that fell off of the sunflower pattern. It was just flipped 😉 Hope this makes sense.

This idea can be done with many different border punches and even border maker cartridges along with your decorative trimmer. Check it out with this demo: https://youtube.com/live/ysWN-CS0MYA?feature=share