Paris is Always a Good Idea

I FINALLY began scrapping our trip to London and Paris last night only to realize my darling 8 year old daughter has taken almost ALL the good pictures. She made a mini purse chipboard album titled "Keep Calm and Carry On" that came out GREAT and the best part was that she did it all by herself! :) BUT the downside is that she picked all my favorite photos and left me without the ones I had planned on using in my mind...

That being said, I DID make doubles of these pictures featuring Melanie and Ariana, Melanie, and Me and Ariana in front of the Eiffel Tower the day of Ariana's 18th birthday. I guess it's safe to say that Ariana is by far one of the most special students I have met in a long time... I think the last student who became family was Sasha... and she is basically my Dominican sister and the ONLY outside person in the world we would trust our home and children with who is not blood related. True story...

SOOO Ariana and Melanie bonded when I took a group of girls to Salem, MA last year. Ariana has a five year old brother (and a 15 year old one too) so she was super amazing with Melanie and they kinda just became close from then on... I had to warn Melanie not to hover over Ariana during our London and Paris trip, and for the most part she was ok with it... but Ariana was still the first person Melanie looked for at each major monument and, well, I can't blame her because I too was looking for Ariana over and over again, especially when we got to Paris on April 10th right on time to celebrate her 18th birthday!

At this point, Ariana and her whole family are truly my family as well. And the though they probably aren't aware (although her brother might have realized when I kept hugging him...), they can't get rid of me now... At Ariana's graduation dinner, my hubby and Melly kinda all melded together with Ariana's family dynamic; it was then that I realized the conclusion of our "professional" relationship became the start of our friendship, and although I already miss Ari as a student, I am looking very forward to seeing my friend soon!

This layout was created using the Little Miss papers, stickers, charm and rubons from Bo Bunny... Yes, I said STICKERS! :) I actually ended up scrapping this entire page more because of the Scrap Fit stickers challenge... I HATE using stickers. They are like my arch nemesis and my good friend Sherri uses them SOOOO well in all her work... Just the other day I commented on how she is able to incorporate stickers into her work seamlessly... This was definitely a challenge for me but the title sticker and the "Paris is always a good idea" sticker weren't SOOO intrusive as to make it difficult to include.... this time! :)

Here's a closeup of the clustered corner featuring pieces from my stash including Prima blooms and two mini tags created using Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, and Victorian Velvet), the Bo Bunny Sticker, and umbrella charm.