Dragonfly Card Drive

Its the little gestures that really matter in times of great stress, and particularly when we deal with the sickness or loss of someone we love.  Life seems to stop for us, and we cannot understand how other people around us can still laugh, sit in the sun with a coffee, or even find matching shoes......  Taylor over at Taylored Expressions has a habit of finding good causes to support, and this one is such a simple idea, bringing with it the chance to gift a little light into a sad time.  She writes:My sister-in-law and a high school friend both work as labor and delivery nurses at Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls, SD. When they told me about the wonderful work they're doing for parents suffering the loss of a newborn, I knew we could help! The cards we gather will be donated to the Neonatal Intensive Care nurses where they use the dragonfly as a symbol of hope for families who have lost a child during delivery or in the early stages of life. Families are given a dragonfly card while they are in the hospital as something to hold on to, cherish, and comfort them after the quiet time spent with their son or daughter. In addition to a card, the parents receive a small ring with a poem, a prayer shawl for the mother (to symbolize God wrapping his loving arms around her), along with baby footprints and baby molds.   

 
The full story is on this special entry from her blog.  Find the details of what to make and where to send it there.

I bought these dragonflies many years ago at the first ever Stitches & Craft Show I went to and I've struggled to find a way to use them.  They were forgotten at the bottom of my come-in-handy box.  I used a couple of different ways to attach them, with glue featuring VERY HEAVILY because I'd hate them to fall off before the cards were passed on.  I used some ribbon from my friends Rosemary and Jana at Opus Gluei and a collection of flowers, brads, diamonds and card scraps.  The stamp is one of the SU Pocket Silhouettes in my favourite olive green.

Last year when I needed the help of my friends to help me come to terms with overwhelming sadness, it was little things that made the difference on really dark days.  I hope I can repay their kindness and love by paying it forward.

Opus Gluei #42 Asian Motivation - second attempt!

And then of course I began cleaning up the mess I'd made and there in the back of a pocket was this lovely piece of tiger-ish paper.......  The GPs did say they'd allow tigers (if pushed) so I played around with the scraps and this is what I had in the end.

I know I bought the patterned paper on impulse several years ago, SURE that I couldn't live without it, and the rest is just a collection of handy sized pieces that have been lying about.  I think the gold foil might actually be from a box of chocolates but that makes me sound like a funny old lady hoarding paper from here and there...... WHICH IS NOT TRUE!!

Opus Gluei #42 Asian Motivation - first attempt!

Something oriental.........

The tiger is considered to be the most noble of animals because he bears the symbol for king on his forehead.  People born under the influence of this sign are said to be dynamic and to have strong leadership qualities.  They are born optimists who make daring plans; they are attracted to danger, excitement and adventure.  Applying the Earth Elemental Signs to the zodiac indicates that those born in 2010 (and also 1950) are metal tigers.  Beware them... they are said to have added strength, to show little sentimentality, and can be inflexible.

.....which explains why I'm quite happy to be a horse, and a wood horse at that.  No prizes for working out when I was born.........

And here's my take on the challenge:  the gray circles are cut from a piece of beautiful paper sent to me by my friend Lisa (a La Creme stack) and the sentiment is from the SU Symbols of Solicitude and stamped on a scrap of red and gold soft hand made paper.  The very best thing is the tiger stamp in the corner.... its one of a set of 12  and I like the fact that its hard to see it clearly.  Its a modern "aged" stamp.  The red ribbon is from the bottom of a box on the busy-room shelves.

Bubble Up Baby (Opus Gluei #39 )

Now you have to understand that I've suddenly had to get used to being back at work after holidays, and my brain is feeling ever so slightly fried...........

 

It would have been SO cool to paint with bubble wrap, or roll myself in it (hard to photograph)(and probably not a good look), or maybe wrap the cat......... or perhaps not.  So in the end I solved the problem of keeping my book dry while I'm in the bath.  And I got to use some of a lovely big roll of book binding tape that I've been hoarding.  I re-used a bubble-wrap envelope by cutting it up and then stapling and taping it back together in a better shape.  I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't know which side of the book to pick up, so that's why there's an arrow on the front.  This way up.  And then of course it needed a bookmark that was fairly waterproof too, and reflected my love for reading.

So there you have it.  A combination of two nice activities, and a solution to the latest tricky question from the Poobahs.

Wishes for a friend

This special card was made for a friend who's a long way from me in distance, but close to my heart.  Her emails bring bright lights into my inbox.

Couldn't recall where I'd seen this idea of ribbons crossing the card like a noticeboard until I was surfing the other night and came across it again.  The original is SO MUCH better than mine (check it out here), but I like the idea, even though maybe this version could have more oomph.  Anyway, the DP is from My Memories (and the other side is so boring!!)(well, I think so) and the extra mat just had to be a cheery yellow.  The Kaiser flowers are pinned over printed ones on the paper.  The ribbon is from my busy room..... and I thought it was sitting fairly tight on the card til I saw this photo.  The sentiment was something I won in the Splitcoasters Raffle last year and have been looking for an excuse to use on something special.

I'm going to try the ribbon criss-cross thingy again with wider ribbon next time, but I still like my first attempt and hope my friend did too.

Opus Gluei #38 "Love your art"

Talk about outside my comfort-zone.... but its amazing what you can do when you try. Those lovely Poobahs asked us for 5 ATCs this time, and I'm not sure if I got the theme exactly correct, because maybe we had to make 5 all the same. I didn't as you can see.

I used the heart theme and put one on each ATC, but then chose five different "arts" that I like to spend my time dabbling in. The first has a small card on it, using a SU wheel stamp, some ribbon and sticky diamonds. The heart is cut from a a length of padded ribbon. The second has a photograph I took of some big leaves floating in a fountain. I got out the cuttlebug too and the heart is a tiny gold one among the leaves. The white corners are supposed to look like photo mounts. The third is an example of extending a picture by painting in some of the background. The picture is part of The Shrine painted in 1895 by John William Waterhouse. His women are always mysterious. Heart-shaped brads are in two corners and the CS has a linen finish under the varnish so it looks like a canvas. The fourth is a library shelf with much more room than any of mine. I added a book mark just for fun (that's the silver chain). The fifth has nothing to do with paper and everything to do with beads. I like to break out the pliers when I need a change of injury (instead of paper-cuts I break finger-nails).

Once I got into the challenge I got a bit carried away and made a second set the same because we have to give these away and I wanted to keep them for myself.

Opus Gluei Challenge #37 Seeing Stars

Okay, so I'm late. Apologies and grovelling understood.....please??

Spent today with friends making all sorts of things: Lydia painting beautiful tropical fish, Dot transforming a plate with delicate asian-influenced birds, Ev photographing images to use on a big square plate, Ali cutting out the last of her birdcage pieces. I had to respond to this challenge because, for one thing, I'd promised.

I made a few other cards before settling down to see stars. I used almost the last of my big 6" glossy black CS as a base and added a white mat and a starry sky DP that I've had for so long I cant remember where I bought it. There are some starry brads, lots of small iridescent embossed stars, and a couple which might be star-shaped black holes, and finally a big glittery silver star because I remembered how to use the SU Heat & Stick powder.

Didn't spill very much.

The sentiment is my favourite one because it fits so many occasions, not to mention whatever mood you might be in. Hope this is starry enough!!

Happy Birthday Mum

Followed Ali's lead and took my Mum to the NGV today to celebrate her birthday (but we're not counting to see which one). It was a friendly collection of six: Mum and Dad, my cousins Sue and Chas, and Simon and me. We went up to the Tea Room and shared afternoon tea, and lots of extra scones (with lashings of strawberry jam and cream). So many teas to choose from, so many things to eat, and all them YUMMY.

Spent yesterday making a card for Mum and here it is........ I was inspired by one I had made for Debbie last year, but since my Mum is like me and wears lots of black (well, we DO live in Melbourne) I left out the white accents. I used a 6" black glossy card as a base and layered it with some Kagaz flocked paper from Officeworks, and some iridescent red scraps from the busy room folders. There's also a black mat, and a sentiment from SU Always which I borrowed from Debbies shelves. The flowers are a combination of mine and Debbies (hers is the lovely red one at the back) and a silver star brad to hold it all in place.

Looking at the finished card now, and its too late since I've already given it to Mum, it needs something extra on the black. Next time.

New start for 2010

Where did the end of 2009 go? Life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of things I'd rather be doing, so one of my more probable resolutions for 2010 is to do more of what I'd like to do.

With the help of my friends, Debbie, Deb and Ali, I finally opened the dark and cobwebbed door behind which just might linger the tiniest bit of inspiration. I wonder, does ones mojo survive in dark and unfed gloom? So now to download the pictures and trim a few edges, and if I haven't forgotten how to manage my blog, I just might be back........

Hocus Pocus!!

Ahhhh, dont you just love it when the comfort zone returns!! Created this card for Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge and for Opus Gluei.... a little magic goes a longer way sometimes.

I had fun with the cuttlebug cobweb folder and then went over all the lines with a fine point calligraphy pen, and added some raindrops for effect. I was puzzling over whether to use a black cat (very Thackery Binx, not to mention chat noir) when I chanced upon this image in my decoupage folders. "Escape" seemed the perfect sentiment given that the strange trio are perhaps beside a door or window....and that poor man looks terrified. As well he should. Blood red seemed the obvious choice for embossing. I think they have a ghoulish almost zombie look, I love their hair and outstretched hands.

This is definitely BLACK magic but I'm really only guessing!