Scrapbooking Pregnancy or Infant Loss: Interview with Diana Gardner-Williams
From LoveToKnow Scrapbooking
Although many people associate scrapbooking with chronicles of birthday parties and family vacations, the act of creating a layout has significant therapeutic value. This is especially true for women who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss.
Just a Cloud Away
According to Diana Gardner-Williams, owner and founder of Just a Cloud Away, women coping with the pain of pregnancy and infant loss often feel like no one understands their grief. However, she is committed to using her passion for scrapbooking to help women realize they are not alone during this difficult time. “I truly hope that Just a Cloud Away, Inc. can ease some of their pain and provide hope for so many broken hearts," she said. "It is a difficult road and so important to be surrounded by supportive family and friends. It is OK to talk about your babies and to cherish the time you did have with them.”
Even if this is your first scrapbook, Diana believes there’s no reason to postpone creating a memory album for your child. “I feel that anyone can scrapbook,” she said. “There are no rules or guidelines, just suggestions. Scrapbooking is a creative and visual outlet to document important experiences or events to be preserved for a lifetime, including short lives. This activity is expressed and visualized on pages from individual perspectives. There are unique stories behind every child as it is told through the eyes of different family members.”
Scrapbooking Pregnancy or Infant Loss: Interview with Diana Gardner-Williams
Recently, Diana Gardner-Williams took time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions about scrapbooking pregnancy and infant loss for the readers of LoveToKnow Scrapbooking.
What is Just a Cloud Away?
Just a Cloud Away, Inc. is a support website for those grieving early pregnancy and infant loss. On the site, there are pages of scripture, pictures and helpful articles that provide inspiration and hope. The site is full of unique and creative ways to memorialize a child’s short life, including those a bereaved parent can participate in.
What inspired you to create Just a Cloud Away?
I was inspired to create Just a Cloud Away, Inc. for several reasons. Tanner, our first child, was born still. I also experienced two early pregnancy losses before Tanner. At the time, I decided to journal and scrapbook. However, I did not find any craft products to assist me in telling the story of my children in heaven and still include them in our family album.
In your opinion, how is scrapbooking useful as a therapeutic tool for women experiencing a pregnancy loss?
It was so thoughtful when people bought us flowers, plants, jewelry and books to help us on our grieving journey. I found through my own experiences that making something with my own hands gave me such a great sense of accomplishment at a time when I needed my spirits lifted the most. I drew a pencil sketch of Tanner, designed and installed a memory garden and participated in constructing a shadow box with my husband to display his angels, butterflies and stuffed animals. I had a tremendous sense of worth when I gave my cousin’s wife a pencil drawing and scrapbook page I created for her stillborn daughter. Those memorial keepsakes have a piece of us weaved into their creation, making it special and unique.
Most scrapbooking magazines and idea books showcase layouts documenting vacations, holiday celebrations, and other "happy" times. Where can I get ideas for creating this special album?
To create an album for your babies that left too soon, visit the Just a Cloud Away website at http://www.justacloudaway.com. Go to the menu buttons, “Remembrance Gallery” and “How to Create Precious Keepsakes” to view several sample scrapbook pages and other unique suggestions on how to use Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits.
There is also a “Remembrance Idea Sheet” on the “Product Page” which provides suggestions on how to get started, especially if you do not have a picture of your baby.
What is the best way to design my album if I'm not an experienced scrapbooker?
Many bereaved parents may not be avid scrapbookers and just the word alone may be intimidating. I like not to think of the process not as scrapbooking, but “remembering”.
Do you remember when you found out you were pregnant? Do you remember who you told first? Do you remember that feeling of flying or being on top of the world? Your sweet little baby was the reason behind your jubilation. All of this information can be used in telling their story.
I would strongly recommend 12x12 albums to hold your baby’s pages. It is better to have more space than less.
How can I create a scrapbook documenting the loss of my child if I have no pictures?
If you have no pictures of your baby, please don’t think you are not able to memorialize your baby. Pictures are just one aspect of “remembering” or scrapbooking. I wish I had the chance to see all of my children and someday I will. I have a journal filled with sadness and also great joy. I have faith, hope, love, facts and dreams that I will incorporate into my children’s pages.
Included in the kit are angel cutouts sitting on large clouds, which provides enough room to add a symbolic element, reminiscent of your baby. There are angels holding babies, babies wrapped in blankets and angels on clouds you could add to your pages as well.
Butterfly stickers can flutter on your pages to symbolize life, hope and beautiful transformation.
One of the reasons for creating Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits was to have “all” family members on one page, hence the Heaven and Earth page. I did not want to create separate baby books, like the majority of society completes for their children. I also did not want these books to be stashed away collecting dust. I wanted my deceased children included in the family album with all of us. My children had a profound impact on my life and having their memories boxed up in a closet was not an option.
How can I include my spouse or my older children in the process of creating a memory album?
The Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits were intended for families to work together in creating a special keepsake for their baby. If there are living siblings that understand what happened, they too can help create the pages of their baby brother or sister. This kit can also be a tool for young children to introduce the subject of death.
Most husbands and wives grieve completely opposite and composing the kits together may alleviate some unwanted stress. By completing the kits as husband and wife, they can share and talk about the conflicts and issues regarding their different healing styles.
Do you have any suggestions for friends or family members who want to create a special memory book as a gift for a mother who has lost her child?
The Just a Cloud Away Remembrance Kits can be given as a sympathy gift instead of traditional flowers that are eventually thrown away. Place the kit in a memory box with other scrapbook embellishments that will enhance their baby’s pages, a 12x12 frame to hang a page on their wall, a family album, a gift certificate to a craft store or keepsakes that symbolize their precious angel.
If you want to help bereaved parents create memorial pages, I think that is wonderful. Sometimes the thought of “doing something” is too stressful for the families, especially if they are in the early stages of grief or not avid scrapbookers. If the bereaved family is still overwhelmed, you may want to create a kit for them. It is important to gather as much information as possible before beginning. You can also design the kit from their baby’s perspective, touching their hearts in a sweet and sensitive way.
Additional Resources from LoveToKnow
If you have questions about pregnancy loss, check out the following articles from LoveToKnow Pregnancy:
Sample Pregnancy and Infant Loss Scrapbook Ideas
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