A very sad day for digi scrappers everywhere

I meant to blog about this the other day but I forgot. So I will give you a little background first.
On the 25th May Carla Gibson, a designer at OScraps suffered a brain aneurysm. The digi community rallied around to offer whatever support they were able. That included - a special collaboration kit - Simple Pleasures for sale at ScrapArtist with 100% of the proceeds going to Carla and her family, A "Buy Carla Gibson" campaign encoraging people to purchase Carla's beautiful digital kits and a Friends and family section in the OScraps store featuring designs from designers both in the store and from across the digital community. But the most touching thing was the hundreds and hundreds of messages of support left for her family. Sadly Carla passed away yesterday (June 2nd) leaving behind a husband and a daughter. The only tiny ray of light in all this is that she fulfilled her wish to be an organ donor.
I didn't know Carla personally but I have been crying as I am sure many other people have. The thing is whether you know the person behind the designs or the layouts or not, you can appreciate the talent and beauty of their art. I now understand how people cry when they walk around art galleries or museums of famous artists. You didn't know them but it makes your heart ache to know that someone who created something so beautiful is no longer here. It really drives home why scrapbooking and preserving your memories is so damn important, Carla's legacy and beauty is preserved in her pages. Its like leaving a tiny part of herself for everyone especially her husband and family to cherish and help make sure she's never forgotten. I am a firm believer that art brings out the beauty of your own soul, people with beautiful souls make beautiful art and everyone has a beautiful soul in someone's eyes because every single person's art is beautiful to someone, whether they are a famous painter like monet or van gough or just a child drawing at school. I have linked you up to all the things that have been started to help Carla's family, if you knew her or not take the time to do something even if it's only letting the family know you are thinking of them. There are threads at OScraps here and at Digishop Talk here. You could also take part in the ultimate tribute of scrapping your memories with Carla's digital kits, that way the tender loving care she put into creating the kits will in turn help you preserve your own legacy,memories and love for your family.

I have always made it a point to tell the ones I love every single day that I love them, I have always been terrified about death especially someone I love not knowing that I love them before they die. I am really passionate about this, too many people assume that their loved ones know they are loved. Whether they know it or not it never hurts to tell them. This whole thing has made me think about Leo today, I started scrapping to help me, I needed to express the emotions and feelings I had. Now its pretty much the only thing I can do to ensure he's never forgotten.