What greater gift in life, than to love, and be loved! It’s what gets us up in the morning and keeps us going throughout the day, even on the toughest days, weeks, or months of our lives. This layout features my son, Sean, and his beautiful fiance Tanis. They know first hand how love can be exhilarating, and heartbreaking. Sean is committed to his military career, which means there are days, weeks and often months when he is away from the love of his life. He was on deployment overseas January – July 2020, right when Covid hit the world. I can’t imagine how tough it was for this incredible, and loving couple to be separated at a time of worldwide crisis.

Sean and Tanis met after he returned from his first deployment in 2017 (and boy, are we glad they did!). Tanis is a huge pet lover, and she had a cat, Stella, and a dog, Lillie when they met. Sean had to win over more than Tanis in this relationship! As you can see from the pictures in the layout, he had no trouble doing so. Lillie is a gentle, loving animal, and I think she loves Sean now as much as she loves Tanis! She is a mix of Siberian Husky/Malamute and Maremma Sheepdog. Tanis shared “She liked him right away, but when we first started dating, every time we hugged she would stand beside us and whine or groan or grumble, and when we walked she would always try to walk between us. That’s the Maremma in her, guarding me, but Sean won her over with treats, hugs and chasing her in the backyard and the arena; she learned the sound of his car and loses her mind when she hears it up the street. One time, he drove by us while we were walking back to his apartment, so she (and in turn, I) chased his car back because she was so excited. Now she guards both of us and whines, groans and grumbles when we’re not in the same room together.” Lillie is such a big part of their lives, she needed to be part of their formal engagement photos. While I’ve scrapped several of the engagement photos already, I wanted to make sure that Lillie had her spotlight as well. This layout helped me achieve this.

Before I provide details on the products used in this project, I would like to give Tessa Wright (@tw829) credit for the beautiful engagement photos you see on the layout. Tessa is a talented photographer, and Sean and Tanis have lots of beautiful engagement photos from their photo session. I love how she ensured Lillie was well represented on this special occasion!

The papers and embellishments for this layout come from the Storyteller line by Vicki Boutin. This included patterned papers (background papers, and backing for the cut files), stickers and Gold Foil Chipboard Stickers from the coordinating chipboard sheets, Tell Your Story, by Thickers. As I planned this layout, I knew I wanted a grid pattern that would allow me to use multiple cut files. Each of the green square sections that make up the grid measure 5″ x 5″. I distressed the edges of the paper squares to give them more dimension and definition on the blue patterned paper used as the background. Here are some closeups showing the background papers.

There are 4 cut files used in this layout, and they were each sized to fit within the green squares. They all come from Peartree Cutfiles https://www.peartreecutfiles.co.uk/, however, a couple of these files (Love and String of Hearts), are exclusive files from my Peartree monthly subscription https://www.peartreecutfiles.co.uk/pearscription/. The monthly subscription is an excellent value and you’ll receive 5 exclusive cut files that will never be available in the shop. Additionally, you also receive the free cut file of the month, for a total of 6 cut files. The Oh So Special cut file was the free cut file of the month in February, you can now purchase it in the shop. The fourth file used is called Shelf of Hearts and is also available for purchase in the shop. Each of the cut files was backed with patterned papers from Vicki’s Storyteller collection. Here are pictures of the cut files used.

I wish Sean and Tanis a lifetime of happiness together! Thanks for joining me again, stay safe, well and Happy Scrapping!