Sympathy

My father died just over a week ago. It takes a while in England to get a funeral organised. His funeral is on July 18th, so I am leaving for England to attend that.

I thought I would make some sympathy cards for his grand children and this is how they turned out.

I made some extras, for my sisters and brother.

I also made a memorial card for my dad for guests at the funeral.

I actually made a couple of small changes, taking out the word 'here' on the quote at the bottom, and changing 'thoughtful' to 'cherished' for father-in-law. I didn't have a photo of that.

For the top card, I used an idea from Freshly Made Sketches

Rest in Peace Dad

Long overdue card making.

I seemed to have lost my mojo for all things crafty, lately. I am assuming it's this long cold miserable winter!

I set about last weekend to making a few cards, not because I wanted to, but because I thought it would help inspire me to find my motivation. It didn't!

I made a card for my niece's daughter, Talia, whose birthday is March 23, and a card for my dad, just telling him I was thinking of him.
I found the sketch for Talia's card at Freshly Made Sketches after seeing it on The Redheaded Crafter's blog.

Talia's card. She will be turning 5 this year.

Flip it card for my dad. I miss him, and he has been on my mind a lot lately.

Once I brought the Stephanie Barnard stamps out, I thought I might try something simple with them, and came up with this. I found a honeycomb embossing folder at a craft store recently on sale and used it after stamping, then went over it with yellow ink on a sponge.

Then I tried the same stamped image on top of a hexagon shaped Happy Birthday stamp I found at the same sale.

I didn't like the way it turned out. But it was worth the try anyway. 

I am hoping that I can get excited once again for card making, scrapbooking, knitting, book making, or any of my other crafts that I usually enjoy.

What helps to inspire you?

Father's Day

I thought I'd get a head start with my Father's Day card this year.  It is over a month away, but always good to get started early.

I got this idea from another card maker Brian, but made some changes to his original design.

This is the card, it is actually a mini album.

It has a belly band that keeps the card closed.

Here the album is opened up to reveal 3 photo mats

And here the photo mats have opened up to reveal photos and journaling.

I could have added photos on the closed mats, but I didn't have the right photos.  Most of the pictures of my dad include my mum, and he is still heart broken about her death 5 years ago, that anytime I include Mum's picture, he gets very upset,so I don't add her any more.

The measurements are as follows:
Base strip 12" x 4" scored at 2", 5 3/8" and 8 3/4".
3 strips 7 1/2" x 3" scored at 3 3/4"
4 photo mats 3 1/2" x 2 3/4"
Belly Band 7 1/2" x 1 1/4" and 7 1/2" x 3/4"
The tag on top is 3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

I used my SCAL and my die cutting machine to make the word DAD, welded it and cut it and the background out.

Really easy, so give it a try.  If you have any questions or messages, please leave a comment.

Dad

I actually accomplished a very simple page today.  It is my dad.  My mum took this photo a number of years ago and it turned out to be very good.  I simply added all of the things that he has been throughout his life.

This turned out to be another red and black project!

Dad's upcoming birthday

My dad will turn 83 in February.  He's doing well, even though he has Alzheimer's Disease.  He lives with his dog Lucy in a 3 bedroom house in England.  He has family that check in on him regularly and also 'carers' who visit 3 times a day to make sure he has eaten and gets his meds. 

My mum died 5 years ago and my sister and I thought that Dad would follow shortly thereafter because the two of them were hardly ever apart, and my mum was the head of the household.  We didn't think he could manage without her and would die of a 'broken heart'.  We were wrong!

I try to go home each year for a couple of weeks, to give family members a break, and to hang out with my dad.  Sometimes it gets a bit uncomfortable as the disease will affect his mood.  But for the most part I enjoy the trip.  I won't be going this year due to some debt that I have.  So hopefully he'll hold on for another year!

He used to be passionate about photography, but he seldom goes out to take pictures anymore.  He was always in his developing room being creative with his work.  But since the digital camera, he never does any developing anymore, except for printing on his computer.

He loves to fish, so for his birthday card I used my recently bought Cricut machine and made this card for him.  I know he'll like it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY

Who knew??

I actually did another layout today.  Must be on a roll!  I have been sick almost all week and haven't had the energy to do anything.  Now it looks like I'm a scrapper all over again!

Seems to be blurry here!  Anyway this is a couple of photos of my parents and their long time friends.  My mum is the one who looks like she's about to be under the table!  While I was home in England this past summer, my mum's long time friend Connie died.  She is the one in the top left corner.  So now I figure the two of them are raising hell in heaven!

Father's Day Card

I made this one while ago, and thought I had posted it, so here it is.

Happy Birthday Dad.

On February 3 my Dad will turn 82. He is the only one from his own family left. His parents, step mum and both sisters died many years ago. His wife of 51 years died 4 1/2 years ago, and he now shares his home with Lucy, his faithful dog. My 2 sisters visit him weekly, my brother makes it there when he can, and all that I can do is call him once a week. We talk for about an hour, and often he has very little to tell me about, but I try to fill in the gaps with memories of old times, or stories of my kids at work.

So I made a card for him and will put it in the mail tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

LayOut A Day LOAD

I am participating in the LOAD (layout a day) challenge on bigpicturescrappbooking.com and have so far managed to keep up. However it isn't always a layout, some times I have made cards, when time is limited or my inspiration is lost.

Below are the pages I have created so far.

Patterned Paper

Challenge 1: Make Your Own Patterned Paper From Cardstock




It took a long time to measure up the strips before cutting! My only regret on completion is that I wish I had used less white in my design.

The Many faces of Mum and Dad

Mum and Dad came to visit me in 1997 a few months after George's death. It was great to have their support and feel their comfort for that very difficult time. It was harder to say good bye at the airport this time.

Shaving

My parents came to visit one year and during that time my dad decided he wanted to shave off the beard he had for over 30 years. My mum was horrified at the thought, saying that they wouldn't let him on the plane because he wouldn't look like his passport picture! But I encouraged him. Of course the event had to be caught on film, so I snapped a few shots. My son is in the background cheering him on!

Grandpa and Son

My son and his Grandpa.
I chose to use this nusery rhyme because it was the one Grandpa sang to him while Thomas was sitting on his knee.
"Horsey, horsey, don't you stop.
Just let you hooves go hippety hop.
You tail goes swish,
and the wheels go round.
Giddy-up,
We're homeward bound."

Daddy O

This is one of my favourite 8 1/2 x 11 layouts. It is my dad, whose nickname is Chick, and my mum sometime in the 60's.