Use Your Words - Tough

Hi!

I hope you're having a great holiday weekend, so far!  I'm excited to have a day off, and be able to sleep in for three days straight.  Sometimes it's the little things, right? lol  We don't have much planned for this weekend.  I was hoping to take a road trip, but I couldn't make my budget work.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful daughter, who doesn't complain or get upset when things don't work out as planned.  She really is an amazing person.  So, we're going to cook lots of good food, and watch tons of movies together.  That's pretty cool, in my opinion.  I'm thankful that at almost 17, she still enjoys doing things with me.  Gosh, I love my girl!

Anyway,  it's the start of a new month (can you believe it's September already?!) and we have a new challenge posted over at the Use Your Words blog.  For all of the details, click HERE.

The challenge word this time, is TOUGH.  I knew I wanted to include a picture of my daughter.  I wanted to document how far we've come over the last year, and how tough she is to overcome everything she's endured over the last few years.  But, she's very private and doesn't speak to anyone but my mother and I about things she's struggling with, which makes it difficult to journal sometimes.  I didn't want to expose her in any way.  I decided that I would just include my feelings on the journey we've been on, and how she's maintained her composure, and strength, no matter what has happened.  I really like how this turned out, but I did have a bit of a time trying to get a good picture.  I love this photo of her, doing what she loves...swimming.  I took this picture of her while we were in Denver.  In my opinion, you can see the calm strength in her eyes.  I am thankful my new Studio Calico kit arrived shortly before I created this.  It had lots of great elements in it.  I used THIS sketch, although the challenge is now closed.  I tried not to overdo anything, as I wanted to focus on the photo and the meaning behind the layout.  She loved it, so I'm good. :-)   

I was able to combine the following challenges in my layout today.

Crafts Too Challenge You #2 - Sumer Days (Twist: Beach Colors)
Inspire Me Fridays #118 - Anything Goes
Happy Campers Challenge #21 - Use A Stamp
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon # 200 - Pretty Polka Dots

I do hope you'll head over to see what my friends have created over at the Use Your Words blog.  As always, they're absolutely gorgeous!

Have a safe and happy rest of your holiday weekend!
Hugs!