Recycling Memories

The ever creative and inspiring Virginia Lu, of Virginia's View Challenge has a new one for us. This one was not difficult at all for me, at least as far as following the rules went. I often use scraplings, and I'm still loving my tag die from Lawn Fawn. What got me into a bit of trouble, was the recycled item that is also required on our creations. I just had too many ideas! The first several (recycled...), didn't measure up to the picture I had in my mind. I then pulled out an old pair of dotted swiss curtains and was going cut them up, or maybe that piece of muslin...nah...well, what then???! Then a memory pinged. When I was about 13 or 14, my mom made me a green jumper, and a pink flowered blouse to match. I. Loved. That. Outfit. After a while, the ensemble was no longer in fashion, and was a bit too "little girlish" for me to wear. Couldn't get rid of it though. Eventually the jumper went (and it was a mini anyway), but I hung onto the blouse. Until it began to wear out. I cut the good sections out of it, and for well more than 35 years, these scraps have rested in the bottom of my sewing box. Every time I try to clean that mess out, I can't part with them. It's a memory and a connection to my mom. You see, my mom is waiting for me in heaven. She's been there for 34 1/2 years. So you can understand why I can't part with these bits of fabric. She touched them. She made something for me with that fabric. She was my mom. There's a photo of a card I'd made in February for Lily's birthday below. I was inspired by that dress. My tag today actually has a bit of the original fabric. I felt like I could use a smidgen of it and am pretty certain mom would like that.

   

Here's today's tag:

All the papers are scraplings! The white base is actually a recycled chipboard paper protector from SU. I also pulled scraps of green, and a bit of vellum from my scrapbox. I applied spray adhesive to another section of chipboard, smoothed my precious fabric scrap onto it, then die cut the flower with a Sizzix die. The tag is from LF, the leaves are from MFT, a scrap of ribbon, and the stamp is from AE with SU ink. The 'for you' is actually under the vellum to give it a softer look. Two green blings from Creative Imaginations, and one enamel dot from BG in the flower's center. Please forgive the lighting. The blings and ribbon actually do match the leaves...just couldn't get them to photograph nicely. *sigh* So...I'm pretty sure my 40 year-old fabric swatch qualifies as something recycled. (hi mom)

My next card is for the ever sweet, ever funny, 42 Long, and dear friend Darnell's brand-spankin' new challenge. Now. If you haven't ever heard of Darnell, then you are either a newbie to this blogosphere, or well, I just don't know... She's brilliant. She's funny. She's one heckuva crafter! And she's my friend. Darnell has a great vocabulary; you only have to read her posts to see just what I mean. One of her acronyms that has filtered through the blogoshpere is NBUS. It stands for Never-Before-Used-Schtuff. New. Or new but it's been sitting in that pile next to your desk for weeks, or in a drawer for a really, really long time. My card contains all of the above... To go to her blog, click on her name.  And if I've done it correctly, you should be able to click on her moniker below to be taken to her challenge post!

Pretty sure I followed the rules for my card:

The Neenah white base, the smidge of navy cardstock,  woodgrain paper, the LF tag die, and the SU twill tape are not NBUS. Everything else is. That's a brand NBUS LF 'hello' die. The letters, the paperclip, the coral colored paper, the tag's paper and the enamel dots are also NBUS. There's a story behind all these goodies, but I'll keep it short. A darling, sweet friend sent me a huge box full of goodies which I've been hoarding. It came with alphabet stickers, papers, paperclips, stickers...just tons of wonderful stuff that I've been saving for something special...Time to stop hoarding, and start using!!!! So in your honor, Miss G., here's my NBUS card for Miss D.'s very first challenge! This is going to be fun!! So....what are you waiting for???? Go over and PLAY! Happy dances everyone.