Paper Hoarders Memorial Day Challenge

Good Morning!!!! Yes! It's been a while. And I'm back to show you the layout I made commemorating Memorial Day...

First, a bit of history. What? No... you didn't get enough of that in high school. History continues on... Memorial Day is for ALL of our fallen soldiers, who have fought for our country and died while doing it. There is not enough we could offer them, but we try... we give them our thanks and honor them on this day.

Our country is based on history, and we were asked to do a project for Memorial Day. Um... that's really hard for me. Difficult, I say. Well, because I don't (personally) know of anyone who sacrificed their lives for our country. I haven't known the men and women who have died for us.

So... at first... I thought I'd make a tote. Tote made... I was going to sponge-paint a flag on it and use it forever (like the stamps!) for groceries and such... then I remembered... OMGOSH! This is for Paper Hoarders... What the heck does a pillowcase tote have to do with paper. Ok... scrap that.

Then... I got the inclination to do dog tags. I had these really cool vellum tags that have been just sitting here... and with some vellum labels, I could print something? Awesome. So... Recollections (from Michaels) has this really cool shimmery navy blue cardstock that I used for my background.

And then I began searching the internet for awesome photos of soldiers in the field, or even commemorative photos of soldiers. I intended to put a pic in each star on my blue background, but... I came across this photo. And I love it. It basically says it all.

I'm not overly religious, but... I do honor our Pledge (of Allegiance). I believe that no matter what other people believe, our Founding Fathers began this nation under these beliefs. This part of history is part of US, as a Nation. And whether you believe in God or another higher power, or nothing at all, just by stating it... we are together as a Nation, identifying with our history. And these people, the men and women who have died defending our country and/or those who we were trying to protect, as well... Deserve to be honored in our country's history.

And so... the dog tags state:  (White) - "In God We Trust... We also trust those, who have given their everything, their lives. To our soldiers who offered us so much..." and (Red) "In Memoriam... to honor every soldier who has fallen... for our Nation... One Nation Under God".

I just love blues, reds, and whites. They are awesome together. And I just HAD to use the Recollections white cardstock, that's flecked with red and blue. How fitting for this. I distressed the photo, to show the wear each soldier has taken on... ultimately... (and yes... I finally got my Distrezz-It-All...)

I hope you like it, and remember it. If you'd like to see the other DT members' projects (they're AWESOME!), just go visit Tanya's blog and give everyone a little love. They work hard for it. Oh! and don't forget to leave a comment here... Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend, no matter how you choose to celebrate (I'll be walking a pool deck... working! lol!)

Time Goes By... Mother's Day (Paper Hoarders DT)

Wow! I had a whole lot of stuff I was going to write/complain about, but um... got here (to Blogger) and saw there are a whole heck of a lot of changes, and that just ADDS to my crappy week. Ick!

So... let's just go with the DT challenge. We had our choice of Mother's Day or Spring. I had this BRILLIANT idea. Katy Perry was just ringing through my mind with her "Firework" song... as Marissa had a talent show (see her video at end...)today and one of the kids was singing that, so yes... it got stuck in my head... like for THREE weeks (all through the practices...) and so, I thought I'd do "Mommy, You're a Firework!" But...

My Gypsy broke. It won't connect to the computer (for an update) or to the Cricut. Neither device recognizes the Gypsy as being recognized. So sad. [Short Story: HSN is supposed to call me back with info on where to ship it. Have they called? NO!, but hopefully, they will soon...]

And so... after years of working on my Gypsy, I had to re-train myself on the Cricut machine, itself. I'm sure I could have used Cricut Craftroom, or Design Studio... but there are no computers in my craft room or near it, and the Cricut isn't on Wifi, so... ('cause gee... I wouldn't need a computer if my Gypsy was working...) Whew! It's tough. To have to make cuts on the .25 inch marks. To not be able to mix, match, weld, etc. Wow, to not be able to flip things and manipulate them to WHERE I WANT THEM ON THE FRIGGIN' MAT... um yeah... you get the picture. It was really REALLY REALLY difficult for me. You can't teach an old dog to go BACK to their old ways, once they've already advanced... but I plunged on.

So anyway, back to this brilliant idea. My intention was to have the words cut out and welded on the front of the card, with cut fireworks in the background. Did not happen. The blade was tearing the paper at the smaller size, and didn't cut through at the too big size; I couldn't cut it at the just-right size, as well... you know... (see above short story)...

So I gave up. (on that part).

I ended up finding some awesome firework paper in my scraps, cut it to fit the front of the card, wrote it out myself (yes, that's my printing, folks!) in embossing ink, sprinkled cutesy puffy purple embossing powder, and heated the sucker up. Blooop! Up it puffed. But... it wasn't enough... so...

I did firework-y lines all over in the fireworks areas and then used rainbow sprinkles (who knew they weren't just for cupcakes anymore!) embossing powder on THAT and heated it up. Now I was all sparkly and fresh on the front, but dull and not even related to Mother's Day on the inside.

I was able to cut (success!!!) a phrase from Graphically Speaking that wasn't too small, wasn't too big, wasn't just right, but, was about as good as it was going to get... So I took it. And... if you remember my post from LAST month (yes... it's been that long, folks...) you'll remember I am completely fascinated with my new Martha Stewart fraying scissors. (They'll be new to me for a long time, so just get used to it!) So, I cut out a bunch of colors, and they didn't quite fit the way I thought they would. I couldn't get them to flip and flop the way I wanted, so I just used them in the background, slapped a black oval (to symbolize the night sky... ready for fireworks), and put in my "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY". Whew.

Now if that ain't a heart-attack and a half!

There's a lot more to my last couple of weeks, including LOTS of bad-hair days, but we won't get into that just now. Suffice it to say, that... Well... I'm still here. You're still here, and life is just a little busy and complicated at the moment. I'm hoping it smooths out in a couple of weeks (when summer gets here!). Cheerio! (and if you'd like to see the rest of the ladies' challenges and JOIN IN, feel free, and visit Ms. Tanya's blogaroo... don't forget to leave some love for us. happy comments and praises [even just a smidge] are what makes our worlds go 'round!)

and here's Marissa's brilliant Magician act... kids are so cute! (btw... please don't mind the background noise [i was having horrible mommy-moments] or the idiotic recording... still learning the new phone... helpful hints and how-to's are welcome! thx!)