Happy Paper Anniversary!

Hubby and I just celebrated our second anniversary, but since I'm soooo far behind in posting my crafting adventures, you get to see what I made him last year instead of the simple card I made for him this year. The traditional gift for a first anniversary is PAPER - yep, my favorite-est artsy medium - so this was a no-brainer.

Here's the outside of the explosion box, adapted from designs available at the Silhouette online store and a Spellbinders borderabilities die.

Quickie Cameo Baby Boy Cards

It's a boy... and another boy!! Congrats to two different sets of new parents, and thanks for giving me an excuse to try Lori Whitlock's baby onesie card designs (available through the Silhoutte Online Store). I'm at the age where most of my friends have teenagers so there are very few opportunities to welcome new little ones into the world in my circle. That is, most moms I know are more concerned about hot flashes than diapers and raised their kids in a way as to not make them grandmas anytime soon. Maybe if some of those younger married cousins...

The three little onesies on the laundry line were glued onto Twinery twine instead of the paper clothesline in the design, and then the middle one was embellished with "JK" for the new one's initials. The base of the card and the little stars were inked with Colorbox ink to coordinate with the wee dots on the middle onesie, cut from an uber-old piece of cardstock (I suspect Bazzill) in my stash. This cute little quarter-fold card was a complete cinch to make!

The big onesie card was pretty simple too. The paper was the same as the little onesie from the first card so I planned my Cameo cuts accordingly (you can see the size difference by looking at the dots). The neckline, arm trim and leg trim started out as white cardstock until they were inked with the same Colorbox pad as I used above. The baby carriage was from a box of really old embellishments. It was so old that I had to add adhesive to the back because the original had hardened and was no longer sticky. This was a much bigger card (approx 5' x 7") and so the front and back are joined at the very top.

There ya go - two very simple baby cards made in under half an hour. It almost took longer to select the paper, twine and ink than it did to actually assemble these cards!

A Sad Day

Today was supposed to be a celebration for my son and his class as they graduated from grade 9 (no more Junior High! wooHOO!!) but it turned out to be a very sad day. We received a call this morning that one of his classmates committed suicide last night. The two of them were friends and hung out as teenage boys do so the news hit hard.

Instead of a joyous day, it's been a sober day. The remaining classmates gathered at school today to seek out each other, knowing very little except that no one wanted to be alone. They told stories of good times and wished they could have done something to prevent this. They've vowed to always remember him and to support each other. They're good kids, most with God's love in their hearts. One of their teachers read a passage from Isaiah about young men not growing weary but being given the strength of the Lord and prayed with them. Many parents were there too - all not quite knowing what to do or how to ease this situation for their children.

I've become a hover-Mom over my own son as I can't imagine the pain of another Mom today. I know she'll treasure the photos and other memories she has of her son, and they will comfort her after she sees him laid to rest in a few days. And I think - isn't this why we do what we do as crafters? We create scrapbook pages that are more than photos; they are pages that tell our stories and commemorate our lives. We create handmade cards that say "I care" much louder than anything store-bought could. We create gifts from our hearts, inspired by the hearts of those for whom we create. And we love doing this so much partly because of how much we love the people for whom we do it.

I hope you'll excuse me as I go hover.