Celebration and Remembrance

On a happy note, Canada celebrated its 145th birthday today. Happy Canada Day to all Canadians, home and abroad, actual and hopeful. My boy and I checked out the celebration at CFB Edmonton, and then came home and vegged. It doesn't get dark here until 11 pm at this time of year so we skipped the fireworks (it had been raining on and off all day) in favour of the hopes of a good night's sleep. Needless to say, he's in bed and I'm sitting here typing. Bad Mommy!

On a more sober note, I took time to craft the sympathy card for the family of my son's 15 year old classmate today. The death of someone so young didn't fit any of the sympathy card designs I had previously used so it was a challenge coming up with something that balanced the tragedy of his far-too-soon death with the knowledge that, as a Christian, he was now in the arms of his Saviour. The funeral is tomorrow so I couldn't procratinate any longer over finding the appropriate words or creating a design. Here is the front:  

I wanted something youthful with clean lines and personalized to let the family know that this was created especially for them. I started with a 5x7 inch card, inked the edges to match the ink I would be using on the details, and centered a 4x6 piece of embossed white cardstock. The butterfly detail (dies by Memory Box) was diecut from cardstock and inked with ColorBox chalks. The solid outline was cut from white vellum sprayed with Smooch Spritz. Spray adhesive on the back of the detailed cut brought the two pieces together to form one translucent butterfly. The sentiment was printed on my printer, diecut into a square (thanks to Spellbinders), inked, and mounted on a Smooched piece of vellum die cut with Spellbinders' Lacey Squares.

On the inside, more diecut Smooched vellum butterflies (the trio is made by Die-namics) surround a sentiment diecut with the largest Lacey Square die. The sentiment was printed on my printer and inked around the edges with the same ColorBox Chalk used on the front.

In the end, it received a thumbs-up from my boy. Doing this while in the same room also allowed us to have some healing conversation. I so want to hug him and make this go away for him. 

Needless to say, prayers for Jonathan's mom, Lisa, and his brothers and sister were flowing throughout the creation of this project. Tomorrow will be a hard day, but I hope this card will bring comfort.