OUAS October Sketch Challenge

Hey there awesome folks!

I'm in today to share my take on the Once Upon a Sketch challenge for October. I took a break from it in September because of some crazy in the schedule but I'm back! Nadia has another beautiful sketch and theme for us to play along with this month.

Here's the theme:

Journalling Theme: "The women/girls etc in our lives..." 

You are free to interpret our theme ANY WAY you like. It is for your inspiration and this theme word DOES NOT need to be part of your title or journalling. But please make sure your layout is based on the sketch below and includes journalling (hidden journalling is fine). Acceptable journalling is MORE than just a sentence, or generic writing such as date/place etc. It needs to be present and at least 3 lines long. Remember, hidden journalling (under a photo/tag or behind your page) is perfectly fine but please DO let us know in your post where your journalling is! 

So for the August challenge, I scrapped about my Dad so it seems almost natural to scrap about my mum this time. Well, no. I chose to scrap about my Dad's Mum instead (that would be Grandma, by the way) because this is an emotionally overwhelming topic for me. Memory-keeping doesn't always have to be about the happy stuff, but also lessons that we keep deep in our hearts that we hope we never ever forget. 

So here's a photo of Grandma with my brother, because I couldn't find a photo of her and me. She has been such a pillar of strength in the family with a fierce character, but beautifully tender-hearted when it came to the poor and needy. As a devout Buddhist, she would travel to the temple everyday to cook for the people there (for free, and her culinary skills.... OH MY.....). Once she had a dream about an orphan who was wandering in our backyard searching for its family (I never knew the gender) and during the Hungry Ghost Festival, she put out an extra meal for the orphan. Being a Christian, I didn't buy into all these but it was quite something witnessing her unconditional kindness and generosity. My aunt, whom I'm closest to, was one of the two children Grandma adopted into the family just so that they won't be left alone in the streets. Although, you have found it ridiculously hilarious to hear stories about how she chased Grandpa down the road with a meat cleaver because of something he said. 

We all lived under the same roof, so Grandma took very good care of us. So some family issues came up along the way as Grandma got older, and we grew apart. Can't really say what those were as they are personal family stuff, but I was filled with tremendous regret that I hadn't been a better granddaughter to her while she was still alive. I was respectful and all, but things could be better and it weighed heavily on my heart that I didn't manage to build a deeper relationship with her. Like my Grandpa, she passed away suddenly but peacefully in her sleep without any pain or suffering. It still tickles us to think that just the morning before she passed away, she was still yelling vulgarities at her BFF (this old auntie who lived near us) for doing something stupid.  Such was the extreme ends of her character, which we found so endearing and incredible. 

Anyway, some closeups:

I don't usually scrap red, but because of the photo, and also because of the sacrifices she made to keep the family going, and also ... because of the terrifying amount of chili and spice she would put in her cooking, I used some really hot colors here. "Lifetime" from Blue Fern's Chunky Words as my title, just to celebrate her life of kindness and loyalty to the people around her.

A floral cluster. I used lots of 13arts paints and chalk mists, especially my favourite Gold pearl paint because of Grandma's heart of gold.

Another Blue Fern chipboard which I did lots of altering by layering paints. My journaling is all the words that I never got to say to Grandma, and it's written on the back of one of the layers of paper (from 7 Dots Studios) matting my photo.

So that's all I have for you today. If you have the time, why not take part in this month's challenge and celebrate the women in your life?

love,