Friday, November 20, 2015

Peace on Earth

Hello again, crafty friends! It's been a busy day in the Closet today, and I have another tag to share with you. Here in the United States, we celebrated Veteran's Day last week...a day when we honor those in our armed forces who protect us and keep our country free.

I made this tag (a little late) in honor of an old friend, Lt. Col. Richard C. Dornbrock, who served in the US Air Force as a navigator, but it is also to express my gratitude for all of our armed forces that protect our freedom. Dick sadly left us in 2010, and we celebrated his life in Arlington Cemetery in February of that year. He was like a father to me; we met years ago in Capon Springs, where we vacation every year.  He even made a special trip there the year I was pregnant with my twins to surprise me.  We loved to play golf at Capon, and he lovingly nicknamed my husband The Gorilla, because of his intense tee shots. When I was too huge to play golf that visit, he brought me milk and cookies and made sure I was comfortable. Oh, I miss him so much!



On to the tag...I started by spreading Ranger transparent texture paste through Tim Holtz Stars stencil. I made a puddle of Blueprint Sketch Distress ink mixed with spritzed water, and ran my card through that. I dried with my heat tool and then blended on more Blueprint Sketch and Antique Linen Distress ink and dried again. I wiped the stars with a damp paper towel to remove the ink. I love how the texture paste resists the ink.When I was through with the background, I cut it into the shape of a tag.


Many people associate red poppies with Remembrance Day because of the poppies that bloomed in the battlefields of Flanders Fields in World War I; their red color a symbol for the blood shed in war.In 1918 an American woman working in the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries headquarters distributed silk poppies during it's annual conference. From there, she worked to have the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance, and two years later the symbol was adopted by the National American Legion Conference. This custom quickly spread to Europe. Some people wear white poppies to symbolize looking forward to peace rather than back at the sacrifice of those who fought. I chose to use white poppies on my tag to symbolize my desire for world peace in light of the recent horrific events that have quickly unfolded throughout the world in the passed several weeks. I embossed on red to honor those that did and still do sacrifice their lives for our freedom.


Stamps used are as follows:  Lady Liberty -- Inkadinkado, American Flag --  Imaginair Designs, and Poppies --  A Stamp in the Hand. The flag and Lady Liberty were inked with Jet Black Archival ink and colored using Distress inks and my water pen and blended with Antique Linen. The poppies were heat embossed with Ranger white embossing powder.  All images  were fussy cut and edged with Black Soot Distress ink. The Globe is a Tim Holtz Thinlit die cut, inked with Antique Linen.


I edged the tag  as well as Chit Chat stickers  with Black Soot distress ink. Gratitude is a metal piece from my stash.  I dabbed on Black Soot and Picket Fence Distress paints. The ribbon was given a vintage look with Antique Linen Distress ink, and fastened with a painted jump ring.

I hope my friend is enjoying Oreos, golfing, and reading lots of Harry Potter books in Heaven.  We miss you, Dick! A belated thank you to all of our veteran's--you rock!

I would like to enter this into the following inspiring challenges:
Use Your Stuff Challenge # 200 and A Blog Hop Celebrate I'm celebrating our veterans with a late Veteran's Day tag. You've inspired me to use some very old stamps and part of an old ornament! I'm using my stuff!
Thank you, once more, for visiting today, and for all your wonderful comments! Hugs!
Sara Emily



22 comments:

  1. Yay! Thank you for coming back to play in this challenge. I love the patriotism. What great use of lady liberty and the flag.

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  2. What a gorgeous tag Sara! I love that you used red, white and blue...the perfect colour palette for your theme! Genius way to incorporate the stars and stripes as well, the subtle yet patriotic elements are all there. A wonderful homage. hugs :)

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  3. A gorgeous tag that was designed from the heart, and a really poignant post Sara, beautiful and filled with love Cxx

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  4. A beautiful tag full of so many symbols and a strong message in your words... I share so much! Dick must be so happy of your homage.

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  5. Oh wow, this is gorgeous, Sara!! What a beautiful tribute to your friend!! The Statue of Liberty is fabulous!! Every detail you added is perfect!! What a stunning tag this is!! Have a great weekend :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

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  6. Sara - what a touching and beautiful tribute to a special friend and our armed forces....I love everything about it - images, coloring, word.... truly inspired. Your Closet is proud of you :-) xxx Lynn

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  7. Gratitude! Gratitude to you dear Sara for recognizing our heroes and honoring them. This is near and dear to my heart as we should all celebrate our courageous and brave men and women. Your elements are gorgeous and that little tag with the Gratitude is awesome sauce! Such a lovely and fitting, color combo as well. Perfect and stunning design. Huge Hugz to you muffin! ~Punkin

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  8. Wow, dear Sara, what an amazing way to honor the heroes of your country! I adore those colours you used here and all the wonderfully incorporated elements creating such a fabulous design!
    Lots of love to you, my friend! Branka xxx

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  9. A wonderful post and a wonderful way to honor and remember with your beautiful tag Sara- thank you so much for sharing this.
    xo Jackie

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  10. Beautiful Tag, right down my alley :) Please don't forget to join our blog hop at UYS for a chance to win a great prize from Emerald Creek Crafts'!

    Hugs
    DT Majo

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  11. Awesome tag! Love how you used all the different elements. Thanks for participating in our Challenge over on the Emerald Creek Dares.
    Katelyn - DT member Emerald Creek

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  12. What a great tag!! Love your layers and the message you are sharing! Thank you for sharing in the Emerald Creek Dares Challenge!
    Cathy - Emerald Creek DT

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  13. Another fabulous and inspiring tag, Sara! You're on a roll and I am enjoying every minute of it! Hugs, Autumn

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  14. This is a gorgeous card and such a lovely story about a very special person in your life.
    Thank you for sharing & joining us at Emerald Creek Dares
    ~~Julia~~ Emerald Creek DT member

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  15. Wonderful tag - love the background. Thanks for joining us for our Remember the Fallen Emerald Creek Dares Challenge

    Karon DT

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  16. This is just gorgeous,thanks for sharing with us at Country View.xxx

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  17. This is wonderful! I absolutely love what you did here, - great layering of all the elements. A happy Thanksgiving to you and thanks so much for adding it to our Texture challenge challenge at Mixed Media Monthly!

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  18. that globe die is one of my newest favourites!!! i love how you did your tag! beautiful work. thanks for sharing with us over at Emerald Creek!

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  19. A stunning tag and a wonderful tribute! Chrisx

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  20. What a lovely tag - so well thought out, and so full of details that mean so much. A lovely tribute to your family friend as well as to all veterans and fighting soldiers.
    Alison xx

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  21. Great tag! Thanks for playing at the MMMC.

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  22. beautifully done tag! and so meaningful... gorgeous. Thank you so much for playing with the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!

    -Rachel
    rwkrafts.com

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