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Layout Designed & Created by Noleen (myself!)
This page was inspired real while-I-sleep-at-night dream of a sick friend.

Everything has meaning: Elements & Significance
Layered Half-moon
- Circle of Life
- Bottom half – sun still rising on your life
- Top half – sun has already set on life (nice for a woman who has left us to join God)
- Layers – sun's rays, God's light shining upon you
- Separating the background and sticking layers together – sometimes our lives fall apart, and thanks to God's grace we are able to put our lives back together again, one layer at a time.

Crossed Ribbons
- Metal eyelets – Strong Anchors to Life
- Crossing Ribbons – Bound tightly to God
- 2 crossed ribbons – created 2nd by God after Adam

Metal Brads & Eyelets
- Strong Anchors to Life

Quotes
- Wisdom imparted by other women or for women, in honour of women
- Velum – Tenderness of a Woman, sheer, breakable yet strong, beautiful & a bit mysterious.

Ribbon Ties in different types of ribbon:
Each represents a different facet of woman's personality:
- Soft for caring
- Hard for perseverance
- Sheer for tenderness
- Wide for strength
- Solid for stability

Shaker Box
- Ribbon: feminine
- Metal Charms: Charming, Strong & Brilliant Woman
- Clear Plastic cover: Woman needs to be protected & shielded, but not hidden away or displayed like a trophy
- Your Name: Is written in the Book of Life – you are precious!

Flowers & Colour
- Soft & feminine, just like us
- Colourful, vibrant yet gentle, just like us


Double Layered Main Photo & Photo Variety
- Multiple layers of a woman's personality
- Widths: different physical shapes a woman takes on in her life
- Variety of Photos: The different masks / faces we wear – Mother, Wife, Sister, Friend, Nurse, Teacher, Cook . . . . the list goes on

TANIA'S STORY - warning: quite long, and you may need a tissue.

A few years ago, I worked with a wonderful, vibrant young woman, beautiful inside and out, so full of energy and life, always giving of herself, always laughing, always bubbly. She loves dressing to the latest fashion, Honey jewelry, beautifying her townhouse where she lived alone, and cats (2 eventually joined her home).

Few people knew that Tania had been suffering from Lupus for years. There are 3 grades of Lupus, and Tania has stage 3 – resulting in your body eventually shutting down. With the body shutting down, other illnesses develop, like muscular dystrophy. Tania had to receive infiltration treatment every 3 months – a procedure that placed her under anesthetic, and doctors playing pin cushion with her whole body, placing over 700 needles in her to drain fluid from various clogged glands in her body.

When I left the bank in 2007, Tania was already wearing a wig (styled to the latest trends of course), and had to walk with a crutch every other week when her legs battled to carry her where she wants to be. She was taking 47 tablets a day, consisting of cortisone, chemo drugs, pain killers and vitamins. I haven't spoken to her in many years, but that's not the base of this story. The journey of this layout spans over 5 days, and also a lifetime since then.

During my friendship time with Tania, I had a dream about her one Thursday night in July 2006. I dreamt that I scrapbooked a layout of Tania, all in shades of purple, with Black and White Photos attached to a half-moon shape in the background. 1 photo had Tania staring right at me with her big eyes, the other one she was smiling, and in between, were tiny black and white index photos strung down the page. Ribbons chris-crossed at specific places, there was a shaker box filled with all things Tania: Charms in the shapes of flowers and shoes and handbags, her name was attached to the box in silver, tied ribbon bits in 2 lines and tiny purple rose buds scattered all over the page.

Waking up the Friday morning, I knew this page had to be scrapped, and given to Tania.

What about the photos, you may ask. Get ready for goose bumps . . . . .

On the Friday, I told Tania about the dream, and she went pale. She opened her desk drawer, and took out the exact 2 photos I dreamt about, and an index card with tiny photos still attached to it. She had taken photos of herself while she was still “healthy” so she could send them to her mom. She wanted her mom to remember her as the beautiful woman she was, before she started losing her hair and muscle functions.

The 2 photos and index photos she had in drawer were the ones she kept for herself, and brought to work a week earlier to show her other friends. She just hadn't gotten round to showing them to me yet. By then we both knew why – God had to give me the dream first, so both of us could understand the significance of the photos she kept. Needless to say, we were both overcome with emotion for the rest of the day.

Saturday morning, cloudy and freezing cold, I went hunting for all things purple and all things Tania. My husband thought I was a bit nuts of course, but you try stop a woman on a mission! 7 shops later, I found everything the dream asked for: purple paper in 2 shades, cardstock in 2 shades, rose buds, tons of different ribbons in various shades and widths and textures, eyelets, brads, metal letters to spell Tania's name, and the best of all: charms – silver rose bouquet, purple and silver handbag and purple and silver shoe – all things Tania.

The page came together between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, with Hubby having to fend for himself, poor man! Luckily he understood that a mission from God shouldn't be ignored. Monday morning I couldn't get to work fast enough to give Tania her gift – it meant the world to her that someone else honoured and “immortalised” her this way.

For me, the journey didn't end there. I felt compelled (it can only be from God), to share this story and to teach other women how to do this layout. I taught this class in 2007, and again in 2010. I praise God for an inspiration like Tanya. I hope her story inspires you too.


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