August 2008: Tolerance

[Kami]

Since we got off to a late start in July, I made the challenge a little bit easier for ya! But now that we have the WHOLE MONTH of August, I'm gonna take it up a notch!

As you know, the Summer Olympics are starting this month! We all love seeing the athletes compete and rooting our home countries on toward those shiny, gold medals! But more important than winning, is the Spirit of the Olympics! The coming together of nations from around the globe. Putting race, gender and religious and political beliefs aside, and uniting in a peaceful contest and demonstrating that there really is room enough for us all on this planet.

So this month's challenge is going to be "Tolerance".

How has tolerance (or intolerance) affected your life or the lives of your loved ones?
Show us what "Tolerance" looks like to you? What it mean to you?

I know this won't be easy, but I know you guys can do it! One winner will receive a $10 coupon to my store!!

I'm really looking forward to seeing all your layouts!!


Post your layouts in the Bring It Gallery (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=630) with a link here so we can all leave you lots of love!! The deadline to post is August 30.

[~Cathi~]

I know exactly what to do with this one :D Thanks for a great challenge Kami!

[scrappinmint]

IMO, I think this may be easier than the last one, at least for me. I've had to deal with a tolerance and intolerance. Now the hard part is which subject to choose.

[~Cathi~]

Kami, is it ok to do a double layout for this? I have quite a few photos I need to use for this challenge, and a double page would be perfect :)

[jaye]

This one will be easier for me than last months............what I do for a living is the perfect example.

[Kami]

cathi!! absolutely!! i can't wait to see what you guys come up with!!

[Jennifer]

I know what I want to do for this. I think this may just get me out of my rut!

[~Cathi~]

YAY, thanks Kami *hugs*.. I'm really excited about this one!

[Ginger_79]

That's a great one! I think, I will do this, too.

[~Cathi~]

Ok I got my layout done (spent most of the afternoon doing it!), but for some reason I can't upload it to the gallery.. So I have saved my layouts to photobucket and I'm just going to post them here until I can get them uploaded to the gallery.. I hope that's ok! This was almost a healing challenge for me, because until you experience something like this, you really don't understand the complexity of intolerance. I hope you like it :) (sorry if it breaks the board a little!)

Ok, I finally got them uploaded to the gallery (YAY!)

Don't Let Them Break You - page 1 (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=9257)
Don't Let Them Break You - page 2 (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=9259)

[ronandmary72]

Oh, my heart goes out to your son! Words can be so thoughtlessly said. I'm glad that he came thru with flying colors, with a new self confidence and that he has parents that are so proud of him. He is a lucky boy!! Wonderful, heartfelt LO!

[tallmich]

Cathi, such a special layout! BTW, your son is adorable in all of the photos!

[scrappinmint]

You did a wonderful job Cathi!! Great photos and I love the journaling!
(psst, have you tried resizing them? I have a problem uploading when my layouts are too large,even by just a little. I usually take mine down to 8x8 at 150-200dpi, makes them 1600x1600 I think)

[~Cathi~]

Thanks everyone :)

And yes Patti! I resized them to the size I usually do (they usually go through...) I might try downsizing them a little more and see what happens :)

[jeepmama]

Cathi, your layout is fabulous! It's so hard when people are mean to our kids...I'm so glad to see how things have turned out for the better for your son. I especially like how you noted that they didn't take away his character or his spirit...those are the true things that make him who he is.

Sounds like you have a lot to be proud of. Great job capturing it!

[~Cathi~]

Thanks so much Jeepmama :) I DO have alot to be proud of!

[Kami]

cathi!! thank you so much for sharing this beautiful layout with us. i dread zoe going out in the "real world" and having to deal with other kids because i know how cruel they can be and it breaks my heart that i won't always be able to shelter her from that. your ds is adorable and i'm so glad that he's feeling more confident, but you are so right, it doesn't change who he is at his core and it would be so wonderful if everyone could just understand that.

[~Cathi~]

Aww thanks Kami.. and its so true.. you can't always protect them, but if you have done your best as a parent to support them and love them enough, hopefully it is enough to help them hold their heads high!

[jaye]

Cathi, I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes for many reasons. For twenty years I have had children in and out of my office due to similar things, ears, hair, clothing, shoes. Your son is adorable, first thing I noticed about him in both pictures is that beautiful smile. I can't imagine how hard it must have been as a parent to go through that.

[Yam]

A very touchy and important feature!
My LO:
http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=9348
I hope you like it!

[jeepmama]

Ok, I finally settled down and decided that my goofball self should get serious....LOL!!!

The subject of tolerance is quite a sensitive one that I'm sure we could discuss for days. It's tough...sometimes negative and sometimes positive. I chose a positive angle for my layout because, despite our differences, there are still some great things about the US that I hold near and dear. We have a lot of freedom in this country that many others do not have, and I don't ever want to take that for granted.

So...with that said, I hope you enjoy Tolerance in Education (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10033)

[jemenifer22]

This was a rough one for me, but a good kick in the pants to FINALLY get a LO done about something I'm not looking forward to, but wanted to document. Gosh, it's hard even talking about it, but here it goes...my LO is about my son's upcoming surgery. So, for me, my layout is about something our family has no choice but to tolerate and deal with! (I'm hoping that the "tolerance" message of this layout comes through, but I didn't want to make it ALL about it - make sense???)

Here's the link:
http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10294

[Ren]

Finally got mine done.

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10314&ppuser=8540

[jaye]

You have all done such a wonderful job!

I need to kick myself in the butt and seriously think this one out and do one as well.

[Ginger_79]

Awesome LOs so far! I finally got mine done. Here it is:

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/data/630/Tolerance_Honeymoon_klein.jpg

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10392

[tkelley]

Here is my page for the challenge:

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll214/tkelley_photo/CJ-Toleranceweb.jpg

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10394

[tiffany scraps]

Here is my take on tolerance. This was quite a challenge Kami! http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10638

[jaye]

This one was hard......knew what I wanted to say but journalling it was quite difficult.

here's the link http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10711&ppuser=106

[LoriJ]

Here is mine... I wiffled and waffled about how to do this challenge but in the end I love how my layout turned out. Sometimes for me simpler is better. It is a conversation that I had with my daughter not long ago. If only everyone could see through the eyes of a 3 year old.
Here is mine:
Tolerance from a 3 Year Old Perspective (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10775)
http://scraporchard.com/gallery/data/630/tolerancesm.jpg

[chia]

Here's the link to my challenge LO. What a great challenge! All of you have inspired me with you layouts. So moving.

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10899

[Breeoxd]

here is mine (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11127&size=big&cat=)

This was really hard for me, mostly because it is about my INtolerance, the effects it has had, and my struggle to overcome it. For most of my life I have struggled with Bipolar disorder, and I felt as though I had no one in my life that understood. On a completely different front, I have had a very rough relationship with my 11 year old niece for most of her life. Everytime we are together we bring out the worst in each other, bringing on melt down after melt down ( for both of us). I know I am supposed to be the adult but she just brought out these feelings in me that I could not handle. Recently she was also diagnosed with bipolar ( though they technically can't diagnose that young.) I just feel so guilty about all the wasted years. I feel like I , of all people should have understood her better. There's no going back but hopefully we can relearn to love each other and help each other.

[jaye]

What an emotional layout. You've just won half the battle........recognizing it. Time to heal and then get to know each other again. Good luck to you.

[Kami]

omg guys. i am just blown away by these layouts. i'm going to have to try to really challenge you next month!!

[Kami]

OK Guys! This was tough (dang near impossible) to pick a winner. I can't tell you how touched I was by every single layout. So I had to do it the old-fashioned way (randomly draw a number)!!

The winner for this month is:

Chia with Small

http://scraporchard.com/gallery/data/630/tolerance.jpg (http://scraporchard.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10899)

[chia]

I wouldn't have been able to pick one from this months challenge. They were all so touching and beautiful! I think we should run for President as a team...make the world a better place together!

[Ren]

Well done!