Never Forget. Always Hope.

My middle son made this beautiful poppy at Beavers (aka Scouts)

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead.  Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands with throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields

If you managed to read the entire poem or recite it by memory, I encourage you to take the time to consider how this poem still resonates in our lives today.  To me it's not just a time to remember those that fought for our freedom but also for remembering those who fought a brave fight with Cancer, MS, ALS, Parkinson's, etc.  I also think about those who continue to carry the torch.  Our brave soldiers signing up for the unknown, those who run or bike marathons to raise money for medical research, and the families that are left to fill the whole that's been left from loosing a loved one.

Have a beautiful & thoughtful Remembrance Day.

Irish Blessings

This last week marked 6 months since the passing of my husband's cousin.  Un-fortunately the passing of time isn't making things any easier for my husband's aunt.  She says it's only making it harder.  Maybe because this is the longest she's ever gone without seeing her son.  This verse from the new Verve Blessings set came to mind as I think it would be something that her son would have wished for his parents.

"May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind always be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Coincidentally, I ended up watching Leap Year while creating this card for the current CardPatterns and Embellish challenges.  I must have been feeling my Irish roots on Saturday night.  The rich country side of Ireland was an inspiration in itself.  IMO the movie was cute but nothing amazing.  The verse panel is applied with foam tape for added dimension. I tried something new for the ribbon treatment and it wasn't on purpose. I just happened to run out of ribbon and decided it didn't look half bad the way it was.  What do you think?

Steps

1) Cut card out of CS

2) Trim CS 3 3/4" x 5 1/4"; stamp sentiment; tie ribbon around; attach 1" circles to the border; and attach to card

3) Stamp verse; trim and mat to cs; attach with foam tape

4) attach rhinestones

Elements:

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Bermuda Bay, Dusty Durango, Whisper White

Ink: Bermuda Bay,  Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, green rhinestones, 1" circle punch 

Stamps: Blessings (Verve)

Sharing in Your Sorrow

Here's one of the Sympathy cards that I made this last week.  I used Sketch Girl #9 challenge and it is unfortunately their last sketch until the New Year.

I really liked the idea of framing that tree into three separate panels.  In real live the tree has a bit of shimmer.  Because I don't have Sage Shadow ink I had to improvise by mixing re-inkers and platinum shimmer paint.  I used 4 parts Blue Bayou, 1 part Old Olive and some shimmer paint.  I think it came up close enough.

Because I used Chocolate Chip for my card base I needed an area on the inside to write.  The Top Note Die is a wonderfully easy way to do that.

And you know for all the beauty that is in this card it is  the sentiment inside that means the most! This Stampin' Up! set is one of my faves and this sentiment says it all: "Praying for friends to comfort you, faith to uphold you, and loving memories to heal your heart."  I mean really what more can one say on such a sad occasion?

Anyhow, I hope to add some cheerful cards in the next week starting on Saturday with my first Guest Designer submission for Card Patterns .  They really liked my Delight in Life Card ~ Hepburn Style and I want to thank all of you for all the lovely comments.  It was a sweet reward being able to tell my husband that my blog friends really liked it  ;-)  LOL I hope you'll come see what I've created on Saturday and join in the fun.  I also have a surprise planned.

Paper:  Chcolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Real Rust, Gold fiber cs,

Ink:  See post, Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Buttons, Top note die, ticket corner punch

Stamps:  Thoughts and Prayers

Kind thoughts of Remembrance

Wishing you a thoughtful and peaceful Remembrance Day.  We've had a nice quiet one today.  We will probably take part in the candlelight vigils of remembrance this evening.  Hopefully one day everyone will understand the meaning of living in peace and harmony.  Too many times I've taken for granted that I grew up without fear of war on our homeland.  My children can walk the streets and play in playgrounds without the fear of stepping on land mines!!  And to top it off there's enough food to go around that I can share with those who don't have the means to buy their own. We are blessed!!

This card is another sympathy type card using Get Sketchy #13 .  I really like the colours and that sentiment has always been one of my favourites.  I added a little bit of So Saffron ribbon to give it a little touch of another colour besides blue and purple. What do you think?

Thanks for taking the time to look.  Hope you're week is going well.

Paper: Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, NSU dp
Ink:  Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Whisper White satin ribbon, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, NSU wheat colour brads
Stamps:  For all You do, Kind thoughts.

Hope For the Best

...but I'm never prepared for the worst.  Last night I was looking through my boxes of stamp sets and realized that I have nothing for sympathy cards.  The closest I could get to was "Thinking of You".  I purposely don't buy sympathy sets because I hope never to have to use them and I'd rather spend my $$ on more uplifting and happy stamps.  I guess it's time to buy one although I keep thinking "I shouldn't need them again" but the truth is that you just never know do you?

Anyhow, here's what I came up with for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch.  It's not much and there are a couple of things I will change when I try this one again.  The mojo is just missing at the moment.

Good News:  My sister is doing much better now that her and her boyfriend are back together.  It's a long story and it's her story but the important thing is that she's happy.  Also, my husband's cousin had a very peaceful sleep on Sunday night and apparently had a very healthy appetite yesterday.  He still needs 100% oxygen sent to his lungs to function properly but he's comfortable. Thank you for your prayers.

Paper:  Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, NSU dp

Ink:  Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede

Stamp set: For all You do, Sincere Salutations.