Give Thanks -- for Thanksgiving!

As we head into the week in which we celebrate our gratitude, allow me to share a very personal bit of my life with you.

 

Thirty-two years ago, on Thanksgiving, I suffered a miscarriage, losing my first baby suddenly. It was heartbreaking, and for years, it was very hard for me to show my gratitude for much of anything. I'd lost hopes and dreams.  The first loss even made it hard to invest a piece of my heart into my pregnancy a year later. I was so worried! 

 

I still remembered that loss and linked it to Thanksgiving every year for more than a decade. Then in 1994, just a few months after I left my husband of 17 years, my entire feeling about Thanksgiving changed forever...

 

My husband had my daughter for visitation that Thanksgiving, and I could have been in the dumps as a result. Instead, there was a guy I had just started talking to, on the phone, for hours. We met online (yes! In 1994!! Before cyber-dating, Google, eBay, or Match.com) in September. And he wanted to know if I'd meet him for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve, our first date, our first meeting. That's John. We met, and it was kismet....we've been together ever since -- 21 years! 

 

I am forever filled with gratitude for so much! Thanksgiving is now "my" holiday. May yours next week be as stuffed.

"Cupcake Wars" at St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne PA.  My daughter Emily is pictured at left, along with the fellow members of the "Swirls and Pearls" ER Night staff.  The team took 3rd place out of 33 competitors!

 

 

I made the banner above using my Cricut Explore and a Cricut subscription for it. For the base, I used cereal box cardboard. I covered it in Close To My Heart cardstocks (Whisper and Blush), and cut the letters from Bazzill silver metallic cardstock. The banner is to decorate a table full of cupcakes at my daughter Emily's workplace -- there's "Cupcake Wars" later this week, and Emily is using my family's Carrot Cake recipe in cupcakes as one of her entries. Her team name is "Swirls and Pearls" so this banner is heavily embellished in rhinestone swirls and adhesive pearls. The banner in the middle is stamped (using CTMH's new "Jennifer's Hand" stamps) with the competition's slogan. It's all tied together with grey organza ribbon from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Paper Pinecones For Your Thanksgiving Table

Are you looking for some beautiful Thanksgiving tabletop decor, something with a bit of class and not too much turkey?

These oversized paper pinecones may be just what can add fun and flair to your tabletop or mantel, and they're quick and easy to make. Here's how:

1.  Purchase 3" egg-shaped styrofoam pieces like these that I found at A.C. Moore (2 for $4.99 -- use a coupon to lower that price).

2.  For each pinecone you want to make, take one full sheet of designer 12x12" paper.  I used an autumn mix of "Pathfinding" from Close To My Heart, and some complementing sheets I had from FarmHouse Paper and My Mind's Eye.

3.  Cut each sheet into 1" strips, and each strip into 1" square. You'll wind up with 144 1x1" squares, and you'll need most of them to cover your 3" egg.

4.  Fold down the upper corners of each piece into the center, like so:

5.  Starting at the narrow end of your styrofoam egg, pin the lower corners to the egg, leaving the tips you've folded loose and overlapping. 

I put an unfolded piece of paper over the top of my egg first, so no white would show through.  I pinned that on all four corners over the crown of the egg.  I used short dressmaker's pins from A.C. Moore for this egg, though you could use any flat-topped pin, including those that are available from the Dollar Store.


6.  Continue pinning the pieces all the way around the egg in rows, overlapping the tips like bricks, e.g., with the tip of the lower row centered over the flat part of the piece above it.

For these rows, I cut down on the number of pins I used by overlapping the pieces and snaring two pieces at each corner with just one pin, like so:

You're done when all the egg is covered with pieces. 

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, blessed with the love of family and good food, and a warm hearth.

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Join Me at Kathy Davis Studios for a jolly Holiday Cardmakers' Smorgasbord

Have you thought about taking a cardmaking class at Kathy Davis Studio?  Well, have *I* got a treat for you!

The next class I am teaching there is on Thursday, September 19, UPDATE: Changed to OCTOBER 3 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.  Initially billed as simply a "Holiday Cardmaking Class," I'm changing it up a bit to include more projects, more techniques, more designs ... and I hope, more fun!

Here are four of the cards I've made that will be available on the buffet:

There will be at least ten cards in all on the table from which attendees can choose to make.  The $10 class materials fee includes your choice of five of the cards to make.  Class participants will pick from 5 Christmas/Winter Holidays cards, 2 Thanksgiving cards, 2 Halloween cards, and 1 Hanukkah card. 

There will be all sorts of techniques to learn with each one, including simple stamping, fussy cutting, smudge edging, embossing, Copic coloring, paper piecing, and fancy folds.  Some cards are easier for beginning cardmakers, and some are a little more challenging for the more advanced. In other words, this class has something for everyone! 

To reserve your spot in the class (limit: 8 enrollees), contact me at cardmonkey@comcast.net, or contact bill@kathydavis.com.  I hope to see you there! 

P.S.  The cards shown here were all made using cardstock and B&T Duos from Close To My Heart. As a special offer, any one of my blog followers can join the "Kathy Davis Craft Classes" online party to order CTMH products for direct shipment to your home.  Just go to my CTMH Online Business Address at http://cardmonkey.ctmh.com and look to the right for the button that says JOIN. 

Clockwise from top left, these cards use:

(Top left):  Sarita B&T Duos paper pack along with the Hanukkah Celebration (A1147) stamp set;

(Top right): Huntington B&T Duo paper pack along with the Perfect Fit- Thanksgiving (B1427) stamp set;

(Bottom right):  Frosted B&T Duo paper pack, the Cricut Artbooking cartridge, solid cardstock in Ruby and Kraft and the Polar Bear Holiday (C1557) stamp set; and again,

(Bottom left): Huntington paper along with the Happy Autumn (D1550) stamp set. 

Many hands make light work.

For more than a year, I've been associated with the lovely Madison Womack, who founded the "I Feel The Love Project" to bring joy to the ill, underprivileged or needy through handmade cards.  

Madison is a high school senior this year, and she is about to surpass her goal for June 2013 of having distributed more than 1,000 cards to those in need.


Each month, Madison selects one deserving recipient (either an individual or a group). Last year's Halloween cards were donated with our banners to Pediatric Specialty Care; earlier this year, one of PSC's young patients (Brandon) received individual greetings. More on Brandon later!

For October 2012, Madison has asked for Thanksgiving cards to benefit the residents of the Surrey Place Care Center in Live Oak, Florida. For many of these residents, the donated card may be the only greeting they receive during this time for giving gratitude. 

I am happy to help, for one blessing for which I am most grateful is that I still have both parents, living in Florida independently in their own home. They're both in their 80's, have been married for 61+ years, and though they have had health issues in the last five years, they are still going strong. I miss them (they're 1200 miles from me!), though I know they are healthy and happy because of the temperate climate in Florida. 

Here are some Thanksgiving cards that I made to mail to Madison.  They are made from The Card Kitchen's October card kit:

As promised, let me give you a little update on Brandon:
For those who may not recall, Brandon was the victim of child abuse and domestic violence. The man Brandon loved as his stepfather (now deceased) raised his hands to Brandon in anger, resulting in what doctors called Brandon's brain death. Brandon's mom Linda was asked if she wanted to "pull the plug" twice. She took Brandon's hand in hers and asked for a sign, and his fingers moved. Now -- a year later -- Brandon is still fighting, still hanging in, and responds to his teachers at bedside!  

Because "hands" have meant so much to Brandon's family (both positively and negatively), Linda has started a campaign to have handprints sent to Brandon as a sign of community support. She is working hard -- with training, fundraising, and home modifications -- to bring Brandon home. Will you help Brandon?  

Send a handprint or more ... a card, a gift, compassion, a contribution. This family is so deserving, and  so very needy. If you need more information on Brandon, here is the website of the family friends who are helping Linda in her efforts to Bring Brandon Home: http://facebook.com/helpingbrandon



DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,