For My Friend

A couple days ago, my best friend when I was a little girl lost her precious mother.  If ever there was a woman who could light up a room just by smiling, it was Nancy.  She turned being a "homemaker" into an art, and we all loved her for it.

In keeping with the challenge over at Operation Write Home which is "For the Girls" and to use any of the other weekly challenges, I decided to use the hand stitching challenge.

I did two different types of hand stitching, both were done by paper piercing first in a straight (well, fairly straight line) free hand.  Since the rose is so pretty, I wanted something a little raw to frame it.  At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

To create the background, I white embossed the script on watercolor paper.  After spritzing it with water until the entire piece was wet, I dotted CTMH colors Desert Sand, Cherub Pink and Sorbet all around, swirling them together and making sure to edge in the brown.  I also white embossed the rose (also by CTMH but retired long ago), spritzed it, and used the same colors plus Aspen Green on the leaves.  The background paper is CTMH Desert Sand which I sponged with ink of the same color hitting the edges a little harder than the center.

The pin was a gift from my mother.  I simply added some beads I got in a huge pack at Michaels and poked it through the Cocoa ribbon.

I only secured the center of the watercolored background and let the edges curl.  The rose is mounted on foam tape at the leaves only. 

Beautiful women deserve to be remembered in beautiful ways. 

Until next time,

Becca

Baby Blessing

Operation Write Home is having a scetch challenge this week, and since I needed to make a baby card I decided to use this as my jumping off point.  I reoriented my card to be vertical rather than horizontal and used cuttlebug embossing instead of a piece of paper in the background, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.

The center of the ribbon was actually yellow, so I just colored over it with a pen to get a little green tint to it.  And please be impressed with the stitching...it was all hand done because I still haven't taken my sewing machine to be repaired.

I made this for a baby boy, but I'm not sure how many people have christening dresses for infant boys anymore, so I may have to save this for another day.

Until next time,
Becca

Good News; Bad News

Wow!  Long time, no see blogger friends.  Some of you may be wondering if I have left the blog world entirely...no, I haven't.  The reasons I've not been on lately are a combination of good news and bad news.

Good News:  I went to a meeting of the Colorado Springs Area Christian Fiction Writer's group.  I have also joined a critiquing group.  And more to the point, I have started book two of my trilogy following one family's journey through forgiveness, choices, and reconciliation.  My extra writing time has now actually been taken up by this rather than my blog.  My first book is as done as I can get it, so it's now in the hands of another writer and will be critiqued in preparation for publication in the next few months.  I am also registered for a writing workshop in November.  Since this has been a goal of mine for years and years, it is terribly exciting and nerve wracking to actually start doing more than just creating stories in a vacuum.

Bad News:  I have plumbing problems and loan financing problems.  It is incredible how much we take running water for granted.  We have a collapsed pipe and, until permits are in place to dig up the old and replace with new, I am taking baths instead of showers so I can let the water out about two gallons at a time.  I can't wash clothes unless I do the same kind of thing...stop the washer every few seconds as it drains and let it sit for an hour until the water level drops.  On the loan front, hmmm.  I guess the only thing I can say is I have about 6 inches of paperwork; around 50 e-mails, and a couple dozen phone calls into this thing.  I am, for the first time in my life, looking for a lawyer to see if we can sue this group because of their unscrupulous behavior for adding fees and changing settlement amounts multiple times.

And, more good news, now that all our husbands are deployed, many of us are making efforts to do things like lunch dates, days out, weekend trips, Bible studies, and evening get togethers.

I have not forsaken the craft world, either.  I'm just going through all of my overwhelming supplies to get ready for a "Trash to Treasure" sale at a local stamping store.  I'm busy bagging, tagging and pricing.  I've "discovered" a few things!!

That's why blogging has been sporadic, and I'm not sure much will change until the loan and plumbing issues stop taking up so much time.  I hope you will bear with me!

Until next time,
Becca

Missing My Mojo

Oh!  I have been sitting at my art table for days just staring and staring with NOTHING coming to me.  I have several cards I need to make, but for some reason I have simply not been able to create.  Well...to be honest, I know exactly the reason.  After five weeks of almost non-stop work decorating my son's house followed by the news of a fellow Chaplain's death in Afghanistan, I have been putting all my energy into helping the widow and her family and trying to keep up with the rest of the Chaplain spouses here.  All of us are pulling together, but it is hard...really hard.

Today, I finally decided to let go of all the things I'm supposed to do and just make a card...any card. 

This card is part of the Operation Write Home challenge from the amazing Teresa Kline whom I have followed since the beginning of my blog.

I inked the snowflake cuttlebug folder before running my paper through.  I used glossy cardstock in order to have a little glittery effect.  I also used some liquid applique to create snow and fur then popped the entire image to add even more depth.  Since I didn't have glossy cardstock to match, I simply ran my ink pad over and over the circle behind the snowman image until the color was correct and then cut it with large pinking scissors.

It feels really great to have something...anything done. 

Until next time,
Becca

What the Heart has Once Owned

The funeral for my friend's husband is Thursday.  I wanted to try to make something which would honor both her grief and hint that life after a huge change can still be beautiful.

Please see Sunday's post if you wish to contribute to the memorial fund for this fallen Chaplain.

Until next time,
Becca

Sunday Prayers

Isaiah 61:11

"For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

Before the earth springs forth new growth, there is winter - the season of death.  This week, one of our fellow chaplains was killed in Afghanistan.  He was the first chaplain to die on the battlefield since 1970.  As our spouses group rallies around our friend and new widow, I see her struggle to allow this death to bring "righteousness and praise" to all nations.  If you are reading this today, I ask you to please pray for her and her 3 young boys.  Any comments you wish to leave to bring encouragement to her heart will be passed along.

If you wish to encourage her in a more tangible way, contributions can be made to the memorial fund.  Please make checks payable to "Dale A. Goetz Memorial Fund" and mail them to:  155 Lake Ave., Colorado Springs, CO  80906.  The money will be used to supply Army chaplains with up-to-date, meaningful books and materials to help them minister to soldiers.

Thanks for praying,
Becca