W2SB #11: Gratitude & Kindness

Hi, everyone.

Bobbi and I are thrilled to welcome I-Teamer Annie as our Guest Author this month. Thanks, Annie!

The Emerson quote below that Annie chose for this month's words could not have been more appropriate as we approach the holiday season.

You cannot do a kindness too soon

because you never know how soon it will be too late.  

Gratitude: Seldom Spoken, Always Felt

For my card, I decided to incorporate the definition of gratitude into the card design.

Creative Memories dp; Bazzill brown cardstock; ??? "peach" cardstock
computer-generated sentiment
Zing copper heat embossing on Recollections white
Hero Arts sentiment heat embossed on Core-dinations silver vellum
stash ribbon; heat embossed Queen & Co. pearls
Spellbinders scalloped circle die; Marvy circle punch; EK hole punch 
adhesives: Ranger mulit-medium, Recollections foam squares, Glue Dots

The definition actually made the placement of the paper/vellum-pieced medallion a little tricky. But, I think I finally got it to work out okay.

Once the medallion was placed, I felt like I needed some kind of metallic embellishment in the bottom left corner to balance it out. When I couldn't find anything from my stash that I thought would work, I decided to try making my own. So, I pressed a strip of white half-pearls in Versamark, covered the pearls with copper embossing powder, crossed my fingers and heated away. Who knew you could emboss pearls? I sure didn't!

Up Close and Personal

I'd like to explain why this quote resonated so deeply with me. This is going to get up close and personal, which is something I don't typically do -- and something you  might very well prefer to skip over. But, for those of you who decide to continue reading, I should probably issue a tissue alert -- as well as a Good Wife Season 5 spoiler alert.

Last season, the Good Wife killed off Alicia's love interest Josh in a completely unexpected act of violence. I found this remarkable for several reasons.

• Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- knew this was coming. How did the producers pull this off in this day and age of Internet leaks?!
• This plot development left Alicia struggling to remember her last conversation with Josh. What did they say to one another? What would she have wanted to say instead?

For me, this show was an example of art copying life. It's been almost 30 years since I experienced one of these heart-stopping moments. You see sometimes favorite characters are unexpectedly killed off in television shows... and sometimes moms unexpectedly die in car accidents. One minute you're hugging  your mom as she leaves your house. Minutes later you're getting one of those phone calls you pray you never get.

The accident actually happened on a rainy Christmas night. My mom, dad, and brother were leaving our home following a Norman-Rockwell-like family celebration. Perhaps the greatest Christmas gift I've ever received was the peace of mind that has come from my final words to my mom: "Thanks, Mom, for everything."

So, when Annie suggested this quote, it really resonated quite deeply with me. And, I wanted to create a thank you card for that would have been worthy of giving to my mom.

Okay, enough of that. Thanks for hanging in there for all this personal stuff. Now back to this month's W2SB challenge.  :)

This Month's Prize Package



Mini Blueprints

In addition to a Guest I-Teamer gig in January and our W2SB challenge-winner badge, this month's winner will receive the wonderful mini-blueprintsTim Holtz stamp set. So, we hope you will join us for our gratitude-inspired November challenge.

Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!