Twisted Sketches #24

Wow! Can it be time already for...Twisted Sketches??? This week's twist is Distressed ~ in any way how you interpret the word...is it a technique or an emotion that you feel?

For my interpretation this week I used a piece of paper that I had been hanging on to for a little while now. It used to be a piece of white cardstock ~ and whenever I stamp, emboss or do something a little messy this piece of paper is always near by. Sometimes I like the result of the many different colours shapes and patterns. And it definitely looks distressed!

I also sanded the Thickers chipboard alphas as well. Also in the layout is a bit of SEI paper and a scrap of a Hambly transparency.

The pictures need a bit of explanation too...it was Joe's birthday last month and I made the cake...we had a bit of fun decorating it. I have a cake decorating set (piping bag) and wanted to experiment with the different nozzles. Then I got Joe to have a bit of fun...it definitely turned into a "Cake Explosion"!

Good...err...GREAT News Friday!!

Today I received some exciting news from Rachel at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out...I was asked to be on their Design Team!!! YaY!!! I am so excited for this opportunity and just wanted to share with everyone.

Twisted Sketches #21

So sorry I am late with this...I have been sick with H1N1 and finally had the strength to muster up this post. With much ado, here is my sketch for this past week's Twisted Sketches. This week's twist was to use rub-ons. I used rub-ons from Basic Grey on my layout. The papers and acetate frame were from the October kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out.

This fall I canned a whole bunch of tomatoes that came out of my garden. I also made tomato soup. The recipe is loosely based on one from The Joy of Cooking, but tweaked it to our liking. And being sick all last week, soup seemed to have been an appropriate title as that was pretty much all I could eat.

:)

Post Halloween

Wow how fast October flew by. Thanksgiving has come and gone for us Canadians and now Halloween. Joe and I were visited by about 60 ghosts, goblins and other cute creatures of the night. A little bit lower than last year, but nonetheless it was a beautiful evening for trick or treating.

We are not into the scary, gory part of Halloween, but enjoy keeping things cute and lighthearted. The only decorations we had were these Martha Stewart letters that I attached to the door and of course carved pumpkins.

The designs for the pumpkins were from the Sihouette (Craft Robo / Wishblade) digital cutter website. I cut them on on the die cut machine, attached the paper to the pumpkin, traced where I needed to cut and voila!

Joe made this cute happy face...unfortunately a false move caused the pumpkin to cave in, so he improvised and made a toothy grin...really cute!

I did the owl...I think it turned out pretty good! Joe had this wonderful idea of using a curved exacto knife to do all the detail work. And it worked like a charm!

On another note, we are now both at home sick with the flu, so we are taking good care of ourselves. It is definitely the H1N1 virus as it seems to be pretty aggressive...definitely not a lot of fun. Hopefully we will be back on our feet by early next week.

Good Grief Challenge ~ Lost Grandmothers

Here is a challenge by the gals at the Good Grief Blog where you are to have a conversation with the ones you have lost. This month's challenge is being sponsored by Scrapbooking from the Inside Out.

I tried to write (poetically) this challenge as a two way conversation where I am speaking to my grandmothers. Read it again from the perspective of my grandmothers speaking to me. I never really had a relationship with either grandmother due to heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

I titled the layout as Lost Grandmothers. The riff raff title of Cherish seemed to fit the photograph where it seemed a cherished moment where all of us were together.

Lost Grandmothers

Did you even know my name? Do you remember who we were? Four women, three generations and two remain. For a brief time did you love us with all your hearts? I never was able to know you both as well as I had hoped I could. For we were robbed of the relationships that we should have had with you…one to a mind stolen by Alzheimer’s and the body lived longer than it should. The other taken away by heart disease…gone too early before our time.

Life goes on, and memory never fades if you take the time to reflect back…of flashes, being held, hugged and the smell of cigarettes. The other where memory is all but too near, looking down at the fragile, twisted being that once was full of life and wondering who were these women in the room? They were strangers to one another.

Do you see us when gazing at the clouds? Do you hear us calling your name in the wind? The echo of our lives still influences us day after day. Can you still remember our voices with soothing words in amongst the cries, gurgles and moans?

We are a reflection of who we were, are and can be…we share our burdens amongst us. But we have learned from each other that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can never break the bonds that tie us, but we can change the future ahead of us. So we can look back, smile and be grateful for the gifts that we were given, though too short for our Lost Grandmothers.