Hello friends. How do you make a layout about saying good-bye to loved ones?  If you’re like me, and love Happy Haven by Paige Taylor Evans, you create from the heart.

In Ukrainian, a kolach, is the braided bread. It’s a tradition to bake at Christmas, Easter, weddings, baptisms, and funerals.

If you know this tradition or it’s part of your own heritage, here’s my free cut file for you to use on your own pretty page.

After paper backing the cut file, I used a chain stitch, with all 6 strands of DMC floss, to outline the candle, kolach (braided bread), pasanky (eggs) and vine.

The title, вічне кохання, is in Ukrainian. It says eternal love. I had my Cricut cut it out three times.

I glued all three letters together, then using a blending brush, coloured them with Distress Oxides. 

The story behind my layout

Family and friends gathered together this summer to say a final farewell to my Aunty Kathleen and Uncle Johnny. They were interned together at a small church close to the town they grew up near, Willingdon, Alberta.  Time is not kind to small towns in Alberta, it’s barely a shadow of it’s hay-days of the 1920’s and 30’s.

Still, there is a lot of history there for families of Ukrainian settlers who farmed and had families in the area. It was always fun to visit and stay overnight on the farm where dad grew up. Without power or running water, it was more like executive camping.

I’d want to hold on to some of the tradition dad grew up with. Our heritage is special, and remembering loved ones is important to me too.

Thanks so much for being here today ☀️🦋