Layout: If You Want to Get Ahead ...

Hi, hi.

There seems to have been something of a flurry of purple activity going on in the last few days with people directing me to their purple posts - thanks so much! As we head rapidly toward November I still have plenty of purple posts and palettes to share [try saying that fast three times!] to share along with two special guests ... so there's plenty to come. But until then ... here's something with only the smallest hints of aubergine visible!

This was one of those pages which developed as I went along. No grand, overarching plan and set of supplies from the start. Nothing was set in stone.

Nothing except that photo.

Because, let's face it a photograph of me wearing a hard hat was always going to find itself at the top of the 'To Scrap' list. Always. But I didn't know how to scrap it or what story to tell.

Stories I considered telling included:

• I was wearing a hard hat because I was waiting to go down a drift mine at Beamish.
• It was approximately 30 years after I did the exact same thing as a child.
• Family lore tells that when I was there the first time I got the giggles when a man in front of me banged his hard hat on the low ceiling of the mine; [This is highly likely to be a true story as I did the same thing as an adult on a tour of a cave once when the man in front kept bashing his head like some sort of cartoon character! Clearly I find hard hats humorous.]
• I also remember being smug when I went down t'mine as a child because I didn't have to stoop like everyone else as I was so small.

But instead of telling those tales ... a phrase my Grandma used to say came to mind and seemed to fit perfectly:

I won't swear that I know exactly what it means but it fits and it tells a story of its own which is quite different to that of me laughing down a mine!

At the time I made this page I'd just hit a bit of a dead end with something workwise:  

But you can't win them all, I know this. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to use this sentiment stamp I bought months ago but had never stamped: "I couldn't wait for success, so I went a head without it".

So, the story I really wanted to tell using this photo, on this page, was the one about:

• not relying on others to offer me success, but seeking my own, no matter how hard that feels at times;

and, most importantly ...

• If you want to get a head, by all means get a hat ...but
• You might as well make it a hard one, because then, despite the inevitable bumps to the head ... you can then carry on regardless!



If you've had a dent to your armour lately I wish you luck in finding a hard hat that fits.

Then we'll have you back down that drift mine making 5 year olds crease up with laughter in no time!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Julie x

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p.s: this is my 3DJean Design Team project for this month, if you'd like details on some of the products used you can visit my post on their blog here.

Other products include Studio Calico papers, FabRips and alphas and vintage paper/ postage stamps from the packs I'll be offering in my etsy shop ASAP.