Bathing Beauty

Hello my friends! It's time for a Color Challenge at Ella's Pink Scrapbook! And the challenge color is PINK!!!

I missed last week's challenge, which was to make a layout celebrating motherhood, so I've sort of combined the two in this week's page. That gorgeous woman is my mother, Frieda Clark Allen. This picture was taken while she was working as a civilian for the military in the Panama Canal Zone. My mom had previously served in the Army. I think she ended up in Panama as a civilian because of an earlier marriage that ended in divorce.

I only recently found out that my mom was married twice before she married my dad... she took that secret to the grave. Well, not from my dad, but certainly from us kids...although my sister Linda later confessed that she found out by accident somewhere along the line, and so did my brother, but neither one said a word to me or our other sister Kim. Anyway, this all came up in conversation with my dad when he visited us last year and we were going through old pictures.

I'm not upset. Just sad that there were things about my mom I never knew. And the circumstances of those two marriages and why they ended was rather shocking. But I guess we all have things we don't want to talk about, especially with our children. I know I have my secrets...

Anyway, my mom and dad met while he was stationed in Panama, and that's where they married. Dad believes this picture was taken around 1955. She worked in a photo lab and was the subject of lots of pictures. And no wonder... she was amazingly photogenic. I have so many beautiful pictures of her to scrapbook. This is but the first of many to come.

Once again, I turned to my scrapbooking idol Julie Bonner for the sketch. That gorgeous DP is by Prima, as are the chipboard pieces. The lace is by Websters Pages, and the ribbon is from Papertrey Ink. And check it out... the title "bathing beauty" is the very first title I cut using my new Cricut Expressions and Gypsy, which was my Mother's Day present. Woo hoo!!! The learning curve is a bit tricky, but I'm catching on, thanks to my friend Alicia's awesome video tutorials.

I tell you, I'm loving my return to scrapbooking!!!

Why not join us this week at Ella's Pink Scrapbook? What could be easier than incorporating PINK into your page? And be sure to stop by and see what the rest of Ella's girls have created.

Have a great day!