Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bed we shall not be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

~Joseph Bracket 1848~

Simple was what came to mind when trying to create this card for the current CAS-tastic challenge which is to make the sentiment your focal point.  The simple theme also brought me to one of my favourite songs I listen to with my kids.  Do you have Jewel's Lullaby album?  It's on my top ten simply for her renditions of  "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Forever and a Day".  My ipod is set to this music when trying to find some tranquility in a noisy house.  While this song was originally written in a Shaker community it has made it's way into the hymnals of contemporary Christian denominations.  And apparently even Weezer has included their rendition in two of their albums.  How's that for popular even 162 years after it was written?

Anyhow, back to the simple theme, I used one border punch, one label die, one stamp, and some canvas letter stickers.  Oh and I added a few clear buttons painted with nail polish  for the latest EBTKS challenge.  If you're not someone that uses buttons very often nail polish is a great thing to use because it covers any colour so that the embellishment can better match your project. No need to collect a million buttons in various colours (like I have) and save yourself some money with something you may already have laying around your house. The label die was made using the woodgrain packaging from the Making Memories canvas stickers so I even managed to recycle.

Thank you friends for leaving all your kind words even though I haven't been hangin' around blogland lately.  I've been really busy getting my resume together looking for a part-time job and I'm also in the process of registering back at school to finish up that Bachelor's degree.  So with all the stress of trying to sell the house, job hunting, school, and home I just haven't had the time for inspiration.  When I do find some down time I've usually got my nose in a book. Right now I'm rediscovering the works of Farley Mowat in "The Dog that Wouldn't be".  It's light, humorous and enjoyable.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Groovy Guava

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamps:  For the Love of Dots (PCD)