A celebration of life...

My very good friend recently had to say goodbye to his beautiful wife of almost 30 years.  She was an inspiration and an angel and our hearts ache that she lost her battle with cancer.   Not only did she marry an amazing man, but she brought a wonderful daughter into this world.  In the midst of this loss, her daughter continues to strive to reach her dreams because she knows it would make her mama proud...

My friend Masako and I were unable to attend the services and our hearts were heavy with sadness, regret...it was an awful feeling to know we would not be there for our friend and  his daughter.  As a gift, a tribute, and way for us to be there in some way...we made the memory board for the service so that all of the family's friends could enjoy the pictures through the years, see all the happiness and love, and realize that to have been able to know her is a reason and cause for laughter and celebration.

I immediately thought of A Day for Daisies images.  I have been a fan for a very long time, but had never actually made a project with one of their images.  Pat absolutely loved clouds and she was a woman faith and family.  It was a perfect fit. 

A few sleepless nights seemed to be worth it, as my friend couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome.  He said it truly was a celebration.

Above is a little collage of all the ADFD images 

after I colored them all with my trusty Copic markers.  As you can see, I used minimal colors and my Sakura clear glitter pen and Copic atyou Spica pens for highlights.

I knew that the "Angels Resting" image had to be paired with this 

wonderful picture of mother and daughter.

 

 

...true love gives you wings.

     

 Night Angel...

 

Here I used the Happy Angel with a wonderful little bluebird...

Love Angel...

 Precious Angel...

Joy Angel...

And here is the completed memory board... 

Here are some other crafty details:  The top and side scallops are done with Avon Brilliant White Neenah Linen over chipboard cut out with the Taylored Expressions Large Scallop Border Die.

I'm sorry I can't say where the cloud paper is from, as I used up all I had.

The hills portion of the board is a mix of paper that is decoupaged to chipboard, edges sanded, and popped up for dimension and so we could tuck some pictures behind the hills.

The large scalloped circles in the center are the Grand Nestabilities Big Scalloped Circles 

and the little clouds with words are the Fiskars Cloud Punches.

I've never ever taken part in a blog challenge, but I wanted so much to share with ADFD what I had made with these wonderful angels that I'm taking the plunge and entering this celebration of life into their Anything Goes challenge this week.  I just hope people really enjoy it.

Aloha always and remember to love who ya got with ya now...don't wait...don't save it....splurge!

Renate'