Another Day Another....

I'll let you finish the title. To me today was just another day (makes me think of John Cougar - I love that song).

This past week has been very crazy. We lost my great uncle Steve last Thursday. He is the uncle I think I've mentioned before that my mom had moved in with her to care for. On Thursdays I would go over and help him out while my mom took a day for herself. My great uncle was 93. His mind all there, but his body was shutting down. It got to a point early last week when he decided that he couldn't take going to dialysis anymore he was tired and ready for his heavenly home. He was a sweet loving man who adored my kids. I am so thankful that they were able to know him. Both of my kids took it pretty hard when he died. I am so thankful for our faith in the Lord. I am so thankful that we share our faith openly with our children so they are more able to understand that death is a part of life and it is not something to be afraid of. They will miss him very much, but they are happy that they have wonderful memories of him - ones that I don't think they'll forget. He passed away at Hospice last Thursday. Since he was originally from the Detroit area that is where his funeral was on Saturday.

We knew earlier in the week that it probably wouldn't be long before he left us, so I started on a memory album of his life. I decided to do an altered book. I had found one at a garage sale recently and the title just caught my eye. It was titled The Very Best People. My uncle was one of the very best people in my life along with his siblings - who were my grand parents and favorite great auntie. I have been wanting to do an altered book for some time, but the whole collage thing kind of scared me a little as well as actually working with paint. Well, I worked long and hard on it and finally finished it about an hour before we had to leave for Detroit. I am pleased with how it turned out and I can't wait to share some of it with you. My mom is hanging onto it right now, but I plan to get some pictures soon. I'll tell you more about it when I actually have pictures.

Until then - I'll tide you over with the above card I made using the Wanted stamp set. For the background you simply

1. take a piece of copy paper and rip it.
2. take the ripped piece and lay it along the bottom edge of the card then take a cotton ball and rub it in the pastel chalk color of your choice.
3. Using the torn copy paper as a guide burnish the chalk onto the card.
4. move the paper up a little and add another burnished chalk line.
5. Continue moving the torn copy paper up and burnishing the chalk until you reach the opposite edge.
6. I then stamped the horse in basic black & Chocolate Chip - stamping off on one of the horses before stamping onto the card.
7. I sealed the chalk onto the card using a little Aqua Net hairspray - the cheap aerosol stuff!

I hope you like it!

I am off to bed now as I have a headache and really need to catch some zzzzzzzzz's................