Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #47--Forrest Gump

Okay, I had to play along this week! I love Forrest Gump! I watched it again recently and I realized what an incredible movie it is. The acting is fantastic and the story is beautiful. I cried and cried. You should go check out the other amazing creations at the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge site! (Also, watch for challenge #50--some great blog candy coming up soon!)



For this card, I went onto Facebook to find some flair. Thats right. I like flair. It is sort of a cross between a printable, a sticker and a cardstock die cut. Usually I can find the most perfect images to fit my project. As I was browsing through all the buttons, I copied and pasted my favorites into a word document. Then I printed them onto cardstock. Super easy. So I say. Of course as I was putting the card together, I had everything planned out and all of a sudden the piece of flair that I wanted to use was gone! GONE! I searched through all of my little papers but it was nowhere to be found. Fine. Well, it was too late to print another sheet of cardstock for just one piece of flair (I was up late finishing this card!) So I decided to use a black permanent marker and a blending pen and draw my own 'Peas and Carrots'. That's right, I drew 'em myself. I think they look alright.

{The rest of the story}
In July, I went to visit a friend for her bridal shower. During the shower I sat with Shelly. At first glance, Shelly was a little intimidating with her piercings and massive tattoos. She even has a gigantic mohawk (but it was combed down for the shower). When Shelly told me she was a metalsmith, I knew that she was a cool chic. And she was SUPER sweet! At 24, she has an art degree and now she works for a company in St. Louis that makes teeth--awesome!


Shelly and I talked about various things that afternoon, but I will never forget what she said about Nathan. Nathan was her fiance who passed away from cancer in May. Wow. It was so heartbreaking to hear her tell about how she watched him go into the hospital in March and never come out. She watched the love of her life die. She explained how perfect they were together--"We went together like peas and carrots," she said in the sweetest voice. Shelly said that it was painful to watch our friend Danielle getting shower gifts and planning her wedding because she knew that she wouldn't get to.

The movie Forest Gump makes me think about how people in my life affect me and how I leave an imprint on the people I meet. Of course, he lived a colorful life in a vibrant time in 'history' and I am just a small town girl in Missouri....but the stories I appreciate the most from the movie are the ones about love. I like to think that the love he shared with Jenny is always possible. And I cry every time I watch the part about Bubba...and Lt. Dan. '(Lt. Dan, ICE CREAM!!" Hehe.) I just knew that the 'peas and carrots' would be the perfect inspiration for my card this week. It is a beautiful movie and I really enjoyed making this card!

I used brown for the card base as one of the requirements for the challenge. The green cardstock is CTMH and the stickers and gems are Basic Grey. The stamps are from Ali Edwards.

Here is the inside:

Layouts from CKC

The best part about CKC was taking classes from experienced teachers. As a teacher, I appreciated the classes from a pedagogy stand point. I watched the teachers and recognized how they conducted the classes. It was my goal to learn from them. I realized that people really do want to listen to my little tips and suggestions. Wow. This was a new concept for me. I usually assume that people want to get on with the 'creating' part of the lesson. It suddenly occurred to me that 'mini-lecutres' about inks, stamping techniques and craftmanship will make my workshops soar to new heights.

I really loved the classes where the instructors took the time to explain things or give tips and spent more talking even if it meant that we didn't get to finish the particular project....I enjoyed them even more than the classes where I just worked on my own.

Here are two layouts from the "Basic Gray: Latest and Greatest Class". The instructor gave tips like:
1. Outline stickers and journaling blocks with brown or black to make them pop.



2. Attach bows and ribbon with a glue dot. If the ribbon wraps all the way around the layout, secure it with tape on the back of the page.

3. If I want to make layouts before adding the photos, I can keep part of the adhesive backing on the sticker so that I will be able to easily put the picture underneath.

Thanks for reading!! Hope you are having a great week!!

CHRISTMAS CARDS 1

I am not very good at mass production...I am not really able to keep making the same cards over and over again....I generally make each card a little differently. I know this takes longer, but it just makes sense to me and it never gets boring that way. I am a huge fan of glitter and bling. The paper on these cards is from Basic Grey, I got it at the end of the season last year.....it is sort of a vintage Christmas...I love this paper! My cards feature a variety of Close to My Heart stamps. If you have any questions about individual cards, please feel free to ask. Some cards have flock, others have liquid applique and most have liquid glass. You might be able to see some metallic pens, gemstones, skittles beads, watercolor, and ribbon. I didn't really do any embossing, mostly just paper layering and simple stamping. This has been a great Thanksgiving break...I've been working on cards the whole time. Yesterday I watched some movies, one was Breakfast at Tiffany's, it is amazing how movies can influence your work. Enjoy!