The Studio: Final Round {and I need your votes!} (eta the card)

Last week I found out that I was chosen as one of the finalists for a position on The Studio design team.  Each of the final 8 (you can see the announcement here) were posed with this question:

Scrap about the bravest thing you have ever done. 

Have you taken a big risk in your life? Did it pay off? 

And THEN... make a card from the scraps left over from creating your page!

 

{Okay I just realized that I somehow spaced on that last part.  But wait, I had no scraps from my LO!}

So here's my page:

Journaling reads:

I'm not a very brave girl.  I tend to play it safe.  I've never bungee jumped, or sky dived.  I think I've recently discovered my fear of heights.  I've never been in the armed forces, never risked my life for my country, state, or even town.  I’ve never risked my life to save someone else’s, never been in a situation where I’ve had to, thank God.  I'm sure I've stood up for myself, but it happens so rarely that I cannot even think of a specific instance.  I've never jumped feet first into a business venture, risked the possibility of failure and loss of money to chase a dream.  Heck, I don't even like casinos and don't play the lottery.  But here I am posed with the question of the bravest thing I've ever done, a risk I've taken in my life, and what the payoff was.  Here's what I’ve come up with.  I got married.  In this day and age where half of all marriages end in divorce, I was brave, erred on the side of love and committed to spend the rest of my life with one person.  Forever.  I had children.  With wars waging, terrorists raging, drugs abounding, schools failing, and numerous other horrific things happening in our world, I was brave. I brought children into this world because children bring hope and happiness and innocence and promise for a brighter future.  I braved the discomfort of pregnancy, the agonizing pain of childbirth without any medications to bear three beautiful, wonderful children.  Three children, no less, because we were brave enough to be out- numbered 3 to 2. Brave enough to venture out alone with one less hand than I really needed.  Brave enough to take the risk that someone may be left out with the two’s-company- three’s-a-crowd equation.  And lastly, I quit my job.  We risked the loss of income, I left behind my dreams of teaching and sacrificed a piece of who I am to raise our children.  I can’t honestly say I’ve loved every minute of it, motherhood is hard and takes a league of bravery all its own.  But I can say I wouldn’t trade these years with my children for the highest paying job in the world.  We’ll never get these days back again, and I am so happy to have been able to spend them with my children.  So I guess, even though I’ve never climbed to the top of Mount Everest, or rocketed off to the moon, I am being brave every day of my life in my own little way.  And the payoff is huger than anything I could have ever hoped for.

And here is my card:

Had to get creative with my scraps because there weren't really any left from my LO.  Used the paper plate  I spray painted the roses on and the packaging from the flowers to punch the squares and 2 of the butterflies. 

You can read more about my process for my page at The Studio blog and see all the gorgeous creations everyone made.  While you're there,

please vote for my layout

I will be forever grateful!