It's Not What You Look At...

It's reveal day at Nuts About Sketches.  Here's my interpretation of Sketch #256.  I really do love working with Shawn's sketches - they're so fluid and user friendly.  My Nuts About Sketches projects always turn out great because Shawn's already done all the thinking. I just have to pull out the product and put it together.

I've got a mix of old and new here. The flowers are Primas and have been in my stash forever. The papers are Kaisercraft and are new. The letters come from Graphic45 and they're old. 

Another "old" is the man in the photos - my darling husband of 24 years now.  Every year with him just gets better.  I could not have found a more perfect life companion - he is the string to my kite, keeping me grounded, helping me achieve my dreams by making them more realistic realities.  He is a great conversationalist, has a warm, kind, and loving heart, and has a fun sense of adventure.  Every day with him is a new discovery.  

The photos are from a visit to Blue River last year. I was doing a scrapbook series on the 23rd Psalm and I had a "still waters" image in my head that only THIS particular place could make work.  True to his adventurous spirit, Tom agreed to a day drive, and off we went, taking Cowboy along of course.     

We had a great time. I had my new camera and was learning how to play with the features, but I think Tom had more fun than I did.  He took a quick skinny dip under the bridge. Me, I sat on the bank and played lookout.  I told you he was an adventurous soul!  

Nuts About Sketches - Design Team Round Two!

I love working with Shawn and using her sketches to create beautiful projects, so I'm honored and excited to be invited to continue with my Design Team position at Nuts About Sketches.  This layout is one that I turned in with my application.  

My mom, age 74, retired before personal computers were standard issue for teachers, and she really only uses her home computer to play solitaire. But recently my sister and I decided that her rich knowledge of the Bible and her incredible teaching ability needed to be out in the world.

Mom has, for years, wanted to write, but her health issues with her cancer recovery and an old heart surgery, coupled with her age, make sitting at a desk for long periods not really an option. Blogging seemed to be a perfect solution. But to do that, she was going to have to enter the computer age and buy a laptop. My sister said, "ONLY a Mac - nothing else. And you'll have to talk her into it. She won't listen to me." So, it fell to me to bring mom into the computer age.

At first, she resisted the idea, but surprisingly, only for a couple of minutes. I told her, "we'll get you a laptop, and a lap desk, and you can do it from your recliner. You sit there watching television anyway, and you can do this at the same time." Then there was a whole conversation about the logistics. Mom, and if you knew her you'd laugh, had very clear ideas of what her keyboard and her screen needed to look like. I said, "ok, let's just go to the Apple store and see what's there, and we'll find what you need."

I did a quick internet search for lap desks, and found that one that would work that we could pick up in the same mall as the Apple store, so I met mom in Tulsa and we looked first at the Mac Books. Mom got a little excited when she saw how simple they would be to use. But before we bought it, we measured it and then went upstairs to Brookstone to check the lap desks. I almost lost her when I sat her down in the big massage chair to rest a few minutes. She took a sales tag and asked the sales clerk, "do you deliver..."

The lap desk was perfect -which I knew because I'd researched and found the #1 best one out there - and she bought it. Then we went back down to Apple and she bought her MacBook Pro 15 inch retinal display, top of the line model. Then she signed up for the One to One program.

Since early December, I've been driving to Tulsa one day a week, meeting mom for lunch, and going with her to her One to One lesson so that when she forgets what her tech tells her, she can call me and I can help her with it. But she's a good student, and she is learning fast.

This photo is of her and her favorite tech, Josh, who looks for her name on the list when he's scheduled because if she's on there, he wants to work with her. I think that makes him one of the sweetest guys on the entire planet.

And as a pure bonus for me. When my DH asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said, "A MacBook Pro" and he took me to the store and bought me one. So now I do a little one-to-one myself.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for listening to me ramble on (and on and on).

Canvas Art - Swirlydoos Round 4 Project

So, as promised, here's my canvas project from last week's Swirlydoos Ultimate Designer Challenge.  

I've never even attempted such a project before, but Lisa is an awesome teacher and the video tutorials that she put up were AMAZINGly helpful for a total novice like me. It's a credit to HER that I was able to create this piece of pretty.  Thanks so much Lisa, for helping me get this project out of my head onto the canvas. 

Before I explain HOW I did it, let me tell you what it is and WHY I did it...

This canvas is a gift for my mother.

I am one of five children, four living. My parents lost a baby to SIDS at nine days old. Her name was Amy Susan and she died the day before my fifth birthday. She would be 52 this year. My younger daughter is named after her.

She was here such a brief time and it was so long ago that it's almost like she was never here at all. We never mention her, and yet her small but short life made a major impact on my parents.

My mother was 23 years old, my dad 31. Daddy was a US Marine, a fighter pilot, in charge of a squadron of other pilots, competent and sure of everything. Mom was busy keeping house and raising children, teaching Sunday School, hosting teas for other officer's wives.

Before Amy, my parents had a very clear idea how things were supposed to be. They expected life to follow certain rules and order. They had plans for the future - both theirs and their children's. After Amy, they both realized that sometimes children don't live to grow up. Their perspective about the future changed, and they both became better parents. My 'father' became my 'daddy,' and my mother found time to sit and play and hug us every opportunity she had.

As my mom has gotten older, she has begun talking about Amy, about how this little angel changed her life - how in one second, everything she knew for sure became nothing for sure at all. How the few short days she was with us changed ALL of us for the better, in spite of the incredible pain of loss.

There are no photographs of my second sister. The only mementos of her life are a photo of her grave and a small piece of ribbon, left over from the dress my mother buried her in.  A few years ago, I asked my mother for the ribbon from that dress. 

I had this idea in my head - just an idea really, nothing solid or formed - but some way to create a small memory of a short life that was part of my life, just for a few days, but made everything about the way I grew up different than it might have been if she had lived.

So to start, I chose a small canvas (8x8) to create my project - as a symbol of a small life, gone much too soon, before it even had a chance to BE a life really.  The ribbon on the bottom is the ribbon from her dress. And on the back, just for my mom to read, are these words...

What kind of place would heaven be with all its streets of gold,

if all the souls, that dwell up there like yours and mine were old?

How strange would heaven’s music sound when harps begin to ring,

if children were not gathered round to help the angels sing.

The children that God sends to us are only just a loan,

He knows we need their sunshine to make the house a home.

We need the inspiration of a baby’s blessed smile,

He doesn’t say they’ve come to stay, just lends them for awhile.

Sometimes it takes them years to do the work for which they come.

Sometimes in just a day or two our Father calls them home.

I like to think some souls up there bear not one sinful scar.

I like to think of heaven as a place where babies are.

**********

Now, here's how I did it. 

I prepped the canvas with glimmer mist in Snow Angel, Sunkissed Peach, Frost, and Patina. I was going for an "earth to heaven" color blend. 

I used molding paste for the wings, created with a stencil. The stuff on the bottom is called glass bead gel, bought at Michaels in the art and paint section. It's my NEW favorite goop!

I set it aside for the night to dry.

When everything was dry, I dry brushed the wings and the Bead Gel with some Metallic Pearl White paint by Folk Art. I also used some Baby Pink Metallic by Martha Stewart as well.

I stamped the clocks and embossed them with a soft peach embossing enamel. The cherub is a transparency print. I knew it would bleed a bit when I sealed the canvas, but I think that I like the way it ended up, soft at the bottom and clear at the top.

I sealed with Martha Stewart's glitter finish, another really COOL goopy item!

And another drying wait.

Then I top dressed the wings again with the Metallic White and finally used a white gelato stick on both the wings and the bead gel.

The chipboard is prepped with DecoArt Metallic Festive Green paint, run through my dotted swiss embossing folder.  Then I sanded the tops down, used some Peeled Paint ink and then some Metallic Chalk Rub to finish.

The fiber is a medical gauze roll. I pulled the fibers apart to make it more wispy and then treated it with a Baby Pink metallic paint wash. I tied the little dress ribbon in a bow, then tacked down the ends, kind of bunching and gluing as I went.

The little crochet butterflies started life white, but I gave them a bit of a dressing with some Picked Raspberry ink. The pearl bling finished everything up and I was done.

I am so pleased with how this turned out. I cannot wait to give it to my mom.

Harmony

The word harmony originates in a pair of old Greek words - one a noun that defines a joint agreement, the other a verb that means to fit or join together. 

Normally, when we think of harmony, we think of the way music sounds - of contrasted notes and vertical progressions - one higher, one lower - blending together to create a single element of beautiful sound.  The melodies may be different, but the music that the contrasting notes follow along their separate paths fits together in a perfect way. 

I can think of no better way to describe my parents relationship.  They are very different people, my mom and my dad, but they complement one another in a way that fits together in a beautiful example of what a marriage should be. 

The church my parents attend updates the church photo directory every couple of years.  This year was an update year, so I have this wonderful photo.  They'll celebrate their 57th anniversary this year. 

Mom, Dad, this one is for you.  I love you both! 
  

Harmony

Little Girls

This layout was for a color challenge on Scrapbook Dot Com. 

 The rule was "all white."  It sounds not too hard, doesn't it.  It was INCREDIBLY hard. 

I kept wanting to add some blue or some red or some -- ANYthing -- just to give it some color.  Instead I resorted to lace, and feathers, and painted wooden flourishes.  I'm really proud of how it turned out, but trying to get it to photograph was a challenge in itself.  All that white just kept reflecting back the light and all the shimmer, and bling, and shine, and glow just doesn't show up in the picture.  

When you come to visit, ask me to see it in real life.   That way, you can really appreciate it!