Hi there! Here are a couple belated layouts from the last challenge, to scrap a favorite photo. Jen writes:

For this challenge, I had too many pictures that were favorites.  Especially with Katherine, who made it a point to take more pictures since her cancer diagnosis.  I chose to use pictures that made me smile, pictures that defined who my aunt and grandma were.

My aunt had always talked about wanting a talent show for her birthday … we had tried twice before, but had to cancel due to snow.  Last year, knowing it was likely her last birthday we’d be celebrating, we decided to surprise her with a  talent show!  It was incredible … from funny faces and weird body talents, to a book reading, to showing scrapbooks (that was me!), to my Grandma reciting a Swedish poem from when she was a child – it truly was representative of all of our talents!  We danced, we laughed, we were brought to tears.  Since it was a surprise, Katherine hadn’t prepared a talent to share, but came up with one on the spot!  Post-chemo, her hair had grown back much curlier than before… and she decided she looked like George Washington.  Off her glasses came, and she showed us all her George smile!  Sure, the picture isn’t the best quality: blurry and bad lighting – and no one would know by looking at it the memories attached to that night.  However this memory is one I never want to forget, laughing so hard as we celebrated her last birthday with us.

For the second layout, I snapped this picture of my grandparents over five years ago, as they shared a quick kiss at our Mother’s Day celebration.  I love it – it’s so unlike every other picture I have of my grandparents (i.e. not posed) but showed how they truly were.  I love my Grandma’s jacket, with a butterfly on her shoulder.  (We let off butterflies at her memorial service, and butterflies have since been special to me … they seem to appear when I ‘needed’ them.)  As I’m 31 and haven’t married, I realize I will never celebrate 57 years of marriage, I look to their relationship as a model of withstanding the challenges life brought them through the years.  I know it wasn’t easy, and I know I don’t know everything about their marriage, but I also know they showed me how love can last through the years. 

Now. Three more things:

1. Remember that we'd still love to see your own layouts from any of the past challenges! (If we miss them in the comments sections, drop us a line or post over at the message board to tell us to look!)

2. I'll be updating the original challenge post just so that all layouts are easy to find for each challenge. Don't freak out if you subscribe to the feed and end up seeing the post again as a result. ;) 

3. The next challenge will go up on Thursday morning! (woohoo! It's a good one...promise!)