Merry Day after Christmas. I hope everyone celebrating Christmas had a wonderful day yesterday. Here at the Owlery, we had a busy morning and then a totally quiet nap filled afternoon. I’d say that was pretty perfect.
Today’s post though is my last Christmas/Holiday post of 2013 and is a tag I made (I actually made several of these this year) to place on some special gifts. I’ll show you the tag and then why it was so special.
Last summer, my friend Chris went to help her Sister-in-Law at her garage sale here in town. One of the shoppers was a gentleman who, in talking with Chris, mentioned that his wife had been a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator prior to her death two years ago and he was thinking it was time to clean out her craft room. Chris is new to the card making craze and was excited about the opportunity to help George in moving on as well as maybe get some nice starter stuff for her own craft room. A few weeks ago she and I went over to George’s house and were introduced to Mary Sue through her craft room. She was a great crafter, not just with cards but with boxes, tins, needlepoint, etc. She was obviously a life long lover of crafts. It was an honor but also a little bit sad to be going through her precious things but Chris and I both felt it was a good step for George and his two children to be making and we were pleased to be able to help. Chris came out with some very cool tools as well as paper, ink, and stamps. I was there to tell her what would make the most sense for her to invest in.
In the collection of stamp sets I came across Snow Much Fun. I had placed that stamp set on my wish list last year, before I was a demonstrator, but never got around to ordering it. Then it retired and I decided to let it go. I do love snowmen so it was totally up my alley but I had messed up and not gotten it. So, when I saw it in Mary Sue’s craft room, I knew I would be taking that one home. I just love the shapes of the snowmen and the tree. And since I love to watercolor, they were perfect.
For today’s tags I used my aqua pen to watercolor in the images, layering the tree with Pear Pizzaz, some Old Olive and Always Artichoke for depth. The snowman has soft sky for shading, old olive and cherry cobbler as well as basic black, early espresso and crumb cake. For the final touch I spritzed it with Smooch Spritz for just a bit of shine.
I hope you like my tag and feel I honored Mary Sue in some small way. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today.
Lynn
Great story–crafters are family even if we’ve never met.
You are so right, Marsha. I learned my love of creating and crafting from my grandmother and mother, although neither of them dabbled in stamping, they both worked with thread and yarn and paint. I’ve passed my crafting passion onto my daughters, one who knits and Crochets and does DIY projects all the time. However, my love of stamping started with a friend whom I now consider family. Is is such a wonderful community.
Lynn
What a beautiful post, Lynn! You’re telling of this story is touching. Thanks for sharing!
I am sure Mary Sue is looking down delighted!
Great story! Your tags are adorable. So glad you finally got Snow Much Fun and can honor Mary Sue for years to come!
What a touching, heartfelt story. We are all connected…. Thank you Mary Sue for continuing to bring happiness to others… You are truly an angel.
Made me cry Cheryl
What a beautiful post and a perfect and beautiful project. I think Mary Sue would be well-pleased indeed to see her love of crafts shared in such a sweet and loving way…from her husband through to you, and now to all who read this. Thank you for brightening my day–sharing is one of the good things about Christmas, isn’t it?
What a beautiful way to honor Mary Sue!
As an avid crafter for years myself, and now a SU demonstrator, your story touched my heart. I am sure George’s wife is looking down on all of you, smiling from ear to ear, that he was able to let you ladies help him. And seeing your beautiful tags, I’m sure she’s pleased that her stamp set is being shared by others. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful story.
Beautiful story. What an awesome way to honor Mary Sue! Her crafting spirit lives on. The cool thing is that Mary Sue may have thought her crafts were just in her little room, but now they are world wide and she is definitely smiling down thinking, “wow, I made it to a blog.” Thank you so much for sharing.
Lynn thank you so much for telling us about Mary Sue. This is what stamping is all about — touching others and relating to others to our crafting. I know your sweet actions really meant a lot to her family!
A person’s craft room says a lot about them. What a beautiful post as well as tags!
Beautiful story! Those are some very special and beautiful tags.
love these tags