Do you know the word framily? Or is this a new word for you? Either way, my title here will become clear shortly. I promise! (By the way Danielle’s post this month talks about a similar topic if you want another take on this idea.)
In a previous blog post Alison talks about family and travel. Well, it just so happens that the above layout was created about my framily while traveling! Go read Alison’s post filled with tips on scrapping trips. (Say that fast 10 times!!) Then come back and include my tip for you: you don’t need to bring your entire craft room to scrap on the go! This layout was made with a travel scrapbook kit which included:
- scissors + trimmer
- glue
- cardstock
- watercolor paper
- a set of watercolors + painbrush
- a couple of stamp sets + ink pad
- journaling pen
- portable printer (optional as long as you know how big your photos will print later)
We took a little bit of a detour on our way to talking about what framily means. Hold on for just a bit longer because I’m going to get real on you now. I grew up in a household that had a lot of troubles, especially in my teen years. I won’t go into details but I will say that I spent over 12 years in my adulthood having zero communication with my parents. So the word “family” can bring up some conflicting emotions. I share this honestly because I’m sure I’m not the only one.
My challenges growing up lead me to a family focused lifestyle including homeschooling. I needed to do things differently to create healthier connections! Have I done it perfectly? Absolutely not. Yet it has led to some important opportunities. A huge part of that has been our homeschooling community. We’ve connected with some other homeschoolers over the years so deeply that they are now family to us. We’ve been through illness, school changes, vacations, divorces, game tournaments, deaths, camping trips and many, many, many birthday celebrations. These people are more than just friends. They are friends AND family.
Now my title to this post should be clear… friends + family = fr•amily.
In the layout below you’ll see that my photo is very orange. It was taken indoors at night under dim lighting. I could have done some color correction in an editing app, but instead I let the color work for me. I designed my layout with a complementary color palette. Colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary. In this case orange is a complement to blue. Using complementary colors creates a visual pop. Don’t forget this tip next time you create a project.
So, this story was captured a few years ago as our group was shifting. At the time I did not know how much or how far it would shift. It was a sad time as these people had been my support system through so many years of parenting. Luckily a core of us stayed together and our group continued on. Part of the glue that held us together is the relationships our daughters share.
These girls have grown up together. Meeting each other somewhere between the ages of 4 and 5, they became fast friends. Those friendships turned into much more as we spent daily life, holidays and vacations together. Now that the oldest three are adults and moving out into the world in various ways I wanted to capture their journey from the early days to today.
I can’t help but wonder, as our group has shifted in the past, what the next phase shift will look like. So far I think we will be supporting each other far into the future. That is what true family does.
Side note: Go ahead and click on the small gallery images to get a full scale view. You can also catch a process video (below) of this one on my YouTube channel.
Who better to call family than the people you spend so many of your hours sharing your life with? However, if calling them family doesn’t quite sit right in your brain, then do what I do and retitle them framily!
Now, all this is part of MY story, but how can my point of view help you tell YOUR story better?
- Scrap about hard times. You don’t have to show the pages to anyone at all. But the process of telling hard stories has healing effects.
- Tell a story of a long standing friendship.
- Tell a story of who you are spending most of your time with these days.
- Were there covid zoom calls you’d never miss?
- Who did you look forward to seeing the most when covid restrictions were lifted?
So I leave you with the challenge to scrap a story about the framily in your life. As always if you tag us with #scraphappyfamily then we can check out your work and cheer you on.
P.S.
If you want a fun take on the word “family”, team member April shares how she organizes her stamping inks into color “families”!