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Thursday, September 27, 2012

A special dedication...

Click on any pictures if you wish to enlarge...

  Dear Anna,
it's been about three weeks since Heaven called you...
How wonderful it must be to be painfree now and in total peace in such perfect, wonderful Lord's garden, amongst all of the angels. I'd like to think you were still able to hear me on your last day on Earth...yes, your eyes were closed but I sensed you were still there with me even though you no longer responded...it's just a feeling I had , the same strong feeling I felt first thing that particular morning and last thing that night before going to bed, couple hours before I received the hospital phone call at 2:00 am.
We were there in less than 20 minutes, Iole and I, and was glad to be able to stay and pay you a wakeful respect all night, as I did not want you to be alone at all....It was comforting praying most of the night away , I felt the presence of your spirit in the room, saw your face noticeably relaxed and instantly knew you were happy there, in your new Home. Much later on in the day, we had to say our final goodbye...I hope you liked the song selection I picked for you. Amazing Grace is such poignant , beautiful song and aria don't you agree? You have been an amazing friend to me for so many years...I will miss your inner beauty, your kindness and generosity so very much - especially this time of the year...who's going to bring me those crunchy, crispy apples from your garden from now on , those freshly picked eggs just for me?
 
Today, my card is dedicated to you Anna, I actually felt your presence as I was creating it....
I hope it ment you liked it and that you enjoyed seeing it from above...perhaps you were even smiling at me. I sure like that thought! ♥
Know that you have been a true blessing in my life and that I feel so much 'richer' because of YOU... Rest In Peace dear friend....rest in peace....
Fly away like the butterflies...spread you wings above and smile....
* I {{{♥}}} you *
 
 
CALENDAR GIRLS:  September Theme
 
       Hello My Friends,
Miss September here ♥ and this month is my turn to host a challenge for all the multitalented, very creative Calendar Girls. My request to each of the gals was to :Create a beautiful card using the following guidelines:
card must be a fancy fold, and have apples stamped on it -and colored-
(OR, if  don't own any apples's stamps, apples can be incorporated on cards via designer papers,stickers,dies etc..), plus have at least one 3-D butterfly on the card too.
The main colors used for this challenge are to be their own favourite colors
- use at least two of them please -
Why the apples/butterflies combos you may ask? My friend used to bring me tons and tons of beautiful apples from her garden at about this time of the year as the fall season just starts to appear, and today, at the hospice, she was covered in a gorgeous handmade blanket full of beautiful colorful butterflies as we said our final goodbye....A bigger 3-D all white sequined butterfly was placed on top of her heart too...♥Please note: Cards are NOT to be sympathy cards at all, please keep them ‘happy/festive’ - as a celebration of LIFE in general! ♥


                                               Pocket without its panel                                                


                                                           Inside panel

 

 

                                         Closeup of the inside panel -
                                    Sakura jell pen really shows off well...

 
   Pocket and inside panel . I think they compliment each other pretty well, don't you   agree? :o) BTW I believe this is my first ever pocket card...why oh why didn't I tried this before?...mmm...better later than never I suppose....lol
I chose deep reds and shades of green as my colors...they are, by far my most favorites...not sure why...perhaps because they reflect my passionate personality
and my impulsivity ? (green=go...lol) Who knows...;o)

 
 Close up of the 3-D butterfly...check how glittery it is!
It is also made of four wings layers and topped with a crystal red heart...
 
 
This morning , at school , we had our annual Terry Fox run/walk for Cancer   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox
How appropriate that it happened TODAY of all days...I was proud to be able to walk for some of my friends, which, of course, it included Anna ♥
 
                ♥ Remember to hug a friend today...life's way too short! ♥

Card Deets:
Stamps: In The Garden (2000) and Sun Ripened (2002)both old SU sets
Card Stock: green bazzill, very vanilla (SU)
Designer Paper: Summer Picnic (SU 2007) and The Mariposa Collection (DCWV)
Ink: Memento black . assorted SU markers for coloring image
Accessories: red,pink,white floss/ butterfly trio dye from A-Muse/red pearls by Kaiser/crystal green gems/
red heart gem/ Sakura jelly roll pen/ lily white glitter/ green leaves fromA-Muse/ corner punch/
handmade crochet ivory flower from Carol ♥

Please don't forget to check out the other Calendar Girl blogs.
 You will be stunned how creative they are!
 
Thanks for stopping by , and God's bless to All!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

September Mystery is revealed...




Hello Friends,
tonight I am delighted to post the card (s) made for  a Mystery swap (round 12th)
hosted by Sam (SCS: way2cute)
 
What's a Mystery swap you may ask??
It is a fun swap that was originally founded by Jeanette aka Forest Ranger on SCS .  Here's Jeanette's own words on her own awesome brainchild idea:
(I copied her condensed version as it explains it much clearly than I would...)
" Mystery Swappers : It's a group of stampers who participate in a swap every other month. The hostess sends identical images to all the gals, who in turn create four cards for the swap. It's a mystery what the image will be, and we're not supposed to post a picture of our cards on our blogs/galleries until the swap is due."
 
We post our cards on our blogs and / or SCS Gallery onthe 18th of every other month, allowing the current hostess to send us images for next mystery too, which are provided from the next hostess (Terry)...clear as mud ,right? lol
 
Sam sent all of us partecipants cutest images from an old SU sets aptly called 'Farm Fever'  I love this set , I have one of my own to enjoy inking from time to time as it is so versatile and funny too....
(yikesss! I just realized that the above picture I took is missing colored stems and leaves...lol..dang!...oh well...at least is completed in the next one, below....lol)
  
 
I had lots of fun coloring these images, which I did using SU watercolor pastels. I hope Sam and the  other recipients will enjoy it too. ♥  
As a matter of fact I hope YOU like them too
of course! *wink & smile*
 
 
♥ God Bless to All ♥ 
 
Card Deets:
Image: Farm Fever (SU)
Card Stock: Dusty Durango, Garden Green, Summer Sun
Designer Paper: 'Woodland' by Martha Steward
Ink: SU watercolor crayons
Accessories: 'Argyle' embossing folder ; Spellbinders Circles ; ribbon from Costco ;
buttons from Michaels ; yellow/white floss from Sew Easy ; dimentionals.
 
                    
                        
 
 
 
 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Dueling Darling :Potpourri Leftovers ♥




Hello everyone ♥
I am one day late for the Dueling Darlings reveal...(still 11:11pm in BC/Canada!) lol
If you want to know more what Dueling Darlings are all about, you may check it here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/cards-f107/dueling-darlings-2012-%2Aclosed%2A-swapping-chatting-t545555.html

For the month of September, the challenge was to use a collection of all kits received since last January!  ♥ This genial idea came from our delightful dazzling Debbie
(aka lil dj in SCS world)

The dish: Know how we do our kits each month and we have LEFT OVERS? Each and every one of us probably didn't use every single thing in the kit, every single time!

The recipe: KEEP your extra items! That's right! From this month on, when you complete the Dueling Darlings cards, anything you DON'T use, keep it in a SAFE PLACE 6 months from now, after all the duels from all the divas and dazzlers have passed us by and September rolls around, that is what you will use! From the papers, to the ribbons, to the buttons to the all of left over, that will be your kit!

The Sit Down: The final result will be a collection all things not used, recycling at it's best! When you get ready to sit down and play with your paper and beyond, it will be from all the kits - or some of the kits - that you've gotten and will reuse for the September challenge
.

 
As I received each kit, I tagged them with each of the Dazzler's name and recycled an old envelope to keep them all together until needed. As you can see there is still a LOT
of goodies left for creating more cards in the future...
                                              ♥ Thank YOU Dazzlers! ♥
 

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For my card, I remembered the 'strips' concept from another past DDD challenge of last year, and wanted to somewhat repeat it ...see link below :
http://www.paola-sama.blogspot.ca/2011/11/november-dueling-darlings.html

This time though, I placed the designer papers strips vertically, using a total of 16 strips, two from each Dazzlers, thus formatting a colorful background, like a friendship 'blanket' to keep close to the heart to remind us what is important in life...♥
The wider grosgrain ribbon was leftover from April's kit and the dark pink grosgrain was from Debbie's kit. The pretty white flower was from Jeanette's kit and I added a few beads leftover from my own kit as well as the large pink flower petals. The front sentiment was cut out from Michelle's Irish's prayer from last March and propped up with dimentionals. A few more verses from same prayer are found on the inside of the card, as well as one of Debbie's sentiment at the bottom, which goes very well since this card is all based on lil piece from all of us ...
 



 






I hope you enjoyed my heartful interpreation of this FUN challenge...
God Bless Ya All...and now on to click the publish button
                                        before midnight rolls over...lol....
                                                    G'Night everyone!! ♥

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

RE-purposing store bought cards...


Hello everyone...
it's been quite  a while since I posted last in here!
Well, summer holidays are now over, work has restarted in full and
routine is (slowly) settling in....
(though I wish I was still in the Mayan Riviera..I sure loved it there!!)

On to the matter at hand: I recently partecipated in an unique swap where Lori, the hostess, was asking partecipants to recycle store bought received cards and make them new again..
Following, are Lori's (mybugandi) own swaps'words:

NEW...WHATS OLD IS NEW AGAIN SWAP
 (lets recycle our store-bought cards)


"This idea came to me after receiving a very cute quilted Mother’s Day Card from my future MIL (maybe ). I thought, I could cut up the card and use parts as embellishments. I have hoarded several years of cards that I have loved throughout the years. Whether it is the image and/or the sentiment I think it would be fun to recreate our store-bought cards and make them better.I realize that most people do not have 5 identical store-bought cards so your cards do NOT need to be the same. Pick your favorite store-bought cards and redesign, recycle and recreate them into something fantastic for all of us to admire "


Here are my six recycled cards, the inside of each sports a 
re-purposed sentiment as well...
*click on any picture to enlarge*

                                           
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I love repurposing, recycling ,re-creating....I hope Lori and other recipients will enjoy receiving these cards.....
 
Thanks for stopping by....God's Bless! ♥