A Cause and a Challenge!

Yesterday I was fortunate to NOT get called in to work so it gave me a lot of time in my scraproom.  I started by putting all my leftover supplies away that I had used recently.  Then, with a cleared desk there was nothing else to do but make it dirty again!!  LOL!

While blurfing around yesterday I ran across Lori Craig's post HERE, who referenced Taylor VanBruggen's post HERE about this card drive that is going on for a wonderful cause that is close to my heart.  Many of you know that I work with babies!  Well my official title is a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.  What that means is that I am an advanced practice nurse who takes care of sick babies.  I know all too well about the struggles of parents as they deal with the loss of a baby.  Thankfully I don't work in the NICU right now, so I don't see as many losses as I used to, but you never forget the grief of a parent once you have seen it.

So when I heard that they were having a Dragonfly Card Drive to collect cards to give to bereaved parents who have suffered a loss of a pregnancy or a baby, I knew that I wanted to help out!  

I made three "girl" cards yesterday and will work on some "boy" ones today!  The cards are supposed to have a Dragonfly on them because that is their symbol of hope for the parents who have suffered a loss.

I took the opportunity to continue using more SCS sketches as I continue on in my journey to use ALL the sketches from the Master List at SCS!  I really love sketch challenges and it is great to have a card idea already laid out so all I have to do is play around with the elements!  :-)

I made two of the same card that came from Sketch number SC11...

Here are the cards following that sketch...

The Dragonflies are from a border stamp by Katie & Co.  The Sentiment and Footprints stamp are from PaperTrey Ink's With Sympathy: Loss of Child set.  The DP is from MM and is actually scraps from a previous project that I thought looked sweet and soft for a baby.  The border punch is called Loops from MS.

To make the footprints become the soft pink like that, I stamped them with my Versamark watermark  ink and then rubbed pink Inkadinkadoo chalk over the top of it.  It allows the image to be colored in a soft pastel, but still lets the words read through beautifully.  I also chalked the edges of the sentiment panel.

The next card I made uses SC06...

I designed this card so that the tag could be removed to show the baby's information on the back.  The Dragonfly and flower silhouettes are from Unity's May09 KOM.

This sentiment is from the same PTI set called With Sympathy: Loss of Child.  One confession I have to make is that the subtle stamping of the words and the silhouettes below the sentiment is NOT intentional.  I had the whole card done when I finally stamped the sentiment on this layer and of course I DROPPED my inky stamp right onto my project and it bounced twice.  It left a subtle stamping of the sentiment.  I wanted to cry because that was the last of the striped DP and it was otherwise ruined.  So instead of tossing the whole thing, I decided to [try and] make it looks like it was on PURPOSE!!  And above is the result of the finished product.  While not perfect, I think I was able to salvage it!

This is what the front of the tag looks like in full view showing off the two gorgeous Unity stamps!

And on the back of the tag I used this Amuse Baby Announcement tag so the parents could fill out the information about their baby and keep this tag as a keepsake and reminder.  Having been with many parents after a loss, I know that they truly enjoy the mementos they can have of their babies.  Where I work we always provide a picture (if they want one) of their baby all wrapped up and "resting" peacefully.  After many years in the field, it doesn't get easier and I end up crying right along with the saddened parents and family members.

I hope that many of you will be inspired to participate in this card drive.  If you are interested, please check out Taylor's post about it HERE.

Now how about a quick attempt at comicsl relief after the deep topic we discussed above?

On the 20th of each month the Dirty Dozen Girls and DD Alumni are challenged to make a card.  This month our hostess was none other than Jeanne Streiff  who gave us a challenge called Funny Thing is... We were to make a card using our sense of humor and we were restricted from using any sparkles, glitter or the like!

Again I used a SCS sketch!  This time SC23...

And here is my funny card...

The funny thing is really all contained within the sentiment that comes from this SU set called Sassy Suzie.  I am in love with the red and yellow color combos that I keep seeing around the galleries and so I decided to do a card using those colors predominantly.  This K & Co. paper was just the perfect find.  I colored in my image using Copics.  And added a dollar spot ribbon that I found at Target.  The brads come from BG.

Can you read the sentiment from this closeup?  It's a real hoot!!  (Notice I didn't say Hooters!! LOL!!)  The inside of the card says Happy Birthday!! It was a fun challenge that was relaxing to work on because I got to color!!  :-)

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get you guys all caught up with my creations.  I hope to work on the boy Dragonfly cards today!

Have a great weekend and may your bucket be overflowing with family time and fun while making happy memories to scrapbook later!