not forgotten...

Good Monday everyone! I was just going to post this for you all to see. I have created another sketch for Liz over at The Scrappiest Blog. This was our 12th sketch so far. 

I can not believe that we have been doing this for almost three months! This weeks sketch was pretty simple and I love that about her sketches. It leave room for creative interpretation. You should all go check out the wonderful layouts created by her design team. I love to see how we all came up with such different layouts. 

My layout is about remembering those soldiers who are POWs and MIAs. This was a picture of the table most military events have set up in honor and remembrance of them. The journaling card reads:

"AS YOU ENTERED THE BANQUET HALL THIS EVENING, YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED A SMALL TABLE HERE, IN A PLACE OF HONOR, NEAR OUR HEAD TABLE. IT IS SET FOR ONE (OR FOUR). PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN. THE MILITARY CASTE IS FILLED WITH SYMBOLISM. THIS TABLE IS OUR WAY OF SYMBOLIZING THE FACT THAT MEMBERS OF OUR PROFESSION OF ARMS ARE MISSING FROM OUR MIDST. THEY ARE COMMONLY CALLED POW/MIA. WE CALL THEM "BROTHERS." THEY ARE UNABLE TO BE WITH US THIS EVENING AND SO WE REMEMBER THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR INCARCERATION."

"THIS TABLE SET FOR ONE (OR FOUR) IS SMALL -- SYMBOLIZING THE FRAILTY OF ONE PRISONER ALONE AGAINST HIS OPPRESSORS."
"THE TABLECLOTH IS WHITE -- SYMBOLIZING THE PURITY OF THEIR INTENTIONS TO RESPOND TO THEIR COUNTRY'S CALL TO ARMS. REMEMBER."

"THE SINGLE YELLOW ROSE -- SYMBOLIZING REMEMBRANCE -- DISPLAYED IN A VASE, REMINDS US OF THE FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES OF OUR COMRADES-IN-ARMS WHO KEEP FAITH AWAITING HIS RETURN, LEST WE FORGET. REMEMBER."

"THE RED RIBBON TIED SO PROMINENTLY ON THE VASE IS REMINISCENT OF THE RED RIBBON WORN UPON THE LAPEL AND BREASTS OF THOUSANDS WHO BEAR WITNESS TO THEIR UNYIELDING DETERMINATION TO DEMAND PROPER ACCOUNTING OF OUR MISSING. REMEMBER."
"A SLICE OF LEMON IS ON THE BREAD PLATE TO REMIND US OF THEIR BITTER FATE. REMEMBER."

"THERE IS SALT UPON THE BREAD PLATE -- SYMBOLIC OF THE FAMILIES TEARS AS THEY WAIT. REMEMBER."

"THE GLASS IS INVERTED, THEY CANNOT TOAST WITH US THIS NIGHT. REMEMBER."

"THE CHAIR -- THE CHAIR IS EMPTY -- THEY ARE NOT HERE. REMEMBER."

"REMEMBER, ALL OF YOU WHO SERVED WITH THEM AND CALLED THEM COMRADES. WHO DEPENDED UPON THEIR MIGHT AND AID AND RELIED UPON THEM, FOR SURELY, THEY HAVE NOT FORSAKEN YOU. (Quietly) REMEMBER."

I also wanted to share with you the purse I created to put my Mother's Gift into for Mother's Day. I finished this on Sat and she loved every inch of the mini album. I hope you all had a good Mother's Day and a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for shearing with me my creative journey.

Family Portrait

What a Terrific Tuesday! I have a some fun and wonderful news... Several things actually!

First off I am going to be a stinker and share with you all my new layout first... hehe. This is one I did this weekend over at Coordinates Collections March Madness Cyber Crop (MMCC). Which brings me to my first set of good news... I know I cant keep quiet... I said I would share later but this is exciting for me too. I won the grand prize for the crop and get two free kits from them!!! Got to love that. They are really a great bunch of ladies over there and if you have not checked their message boards yet, and want a relaxing and fun place to hang out and get inspired, you need to head on over. Background:
All these papers are from the Memory Stor. I love this bulk pack I got at COSTCO!!! Yes it is thick double sided cardstock and came in a great accordion file case. LOVE IT!
The main 12 x 12 is actually the blue denim style textured paper. I then layered the brown texture over that as a frame. I simply cut a 6 x 6 hole out of the center of the brown. Before adhering it to the blue I stitched around the edge in three colors and inked the edges with a brown ink. The only other layer of patterned paper is the stripe boarder. I created this with a boarder punch and four 1 1/4 " pieces of paper. I also trimmed these down to 11" long. I lined them up and mitered the corners. Inked the edges with the brown ink I used already and glued them together to create the frame. Before adhering it to the brown paper I laced the ribbon. Tied the ribbon in two corners. Then tacked it down to the background papers.
Embellishments:
These are simply leaves and flowers cut on coordinating cardstock with the cricut. I added a few sheer prima flowers behind the navy cardstock flowers. I took my gold marker and went to town doodling.
Title:
The word family was cut out of navy cardstock and traced with the gold Zig painty marker I love so much. The "portrait" was created with some stamps and coordinating patterned paper that was used to finish the grunge board plate.
Journaling:
I had wrote about the day and MeMaw taking the pics along the small brown strip ... it is in tone on tone ink pen so hard to see in this pic. But that is how I like my journaling... quietly there.

I have more from the crop I will add as the week goes on. Thanks to Coordinates Collections for such a fun weekend. I got my mom in CO to attend and we cyber cropped together over the internet and phone... hehe.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the announcement of the day!!! You might have noticed a new little logo in the upper right hand corner of my blog. Last week I was approached by Marisol Jiminez from Scrapbook News and Review. She offered me a staff position on their wonderful online magazine. I needed to chat over the decision with my hubby who was out of town at the time. She let me see how well they work under the pressure of a deadline this weekend and I must say I was really impressed. Lots of long hard tireless hours put into every issue and yet they still remain pleasant and respectful to each other. As of yesterday when all of the dust had settled from the March Issue debut, I emailed her to let her know I was ready to accept the staff position.

There it is folks... I am officially a...

Staff Member for Scrapbook News and Review!!!

You can find me on the Message Boards!!!

You can be published too... check out what projects and layouts we are looking for in our April Issue!!!