Always Monogram Note Cards

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Your Experience Influences How You See The World...And Then You Need To Decide What To Do With That

I just finished reading a book called "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave.  It is an incredibly powerful book and the main character has an amazing story to tell (I won't tell you too much since it's a great book and you might want to read it).  I was struck by how much her experience influenced how she saw the world.  I realize the same is true for me.  I was assaulted when I was 16 years old and that influenced, then and now, how I see the world.  At first I walked around in absolute fear - fear that it would happen again - fear that I would be followed - fear that this time, it would be worse.  It has taken me years to begin to think about what I want to do with that fear and that experience.  Yes, I am still very aware of my surroundings and I do wonder what danger lurks around every corner.  I'm just not sure I want to continue to hold onto the experience in the same way anymore.  Yes, I still want to be aware of what's around me and be prudent in my actions.  I don't, however, want to view every person walking in my direction or behind me as a potential threat - it is just not energy I want to carry around every day - it is weighing me down.  I am not sure how I will go about changing the influence this event has had on my life.  I guess awareness is the first step - awareness that I want to change how it influences my life.  Wish me luck!
Today's card is actually a set of cards that I made for a friend for her birthday.  Once again the Color Coach came in handy - I love how these colors go together!  Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard and Garden Green...who would have thought?! :)  I began by stamping the bird from Always using VersaMark and Elegant Eggplant (you can make any of your classic inks "heat embossable" if you stamp your stamp in VersaMark first and then onto the ink pad color of your choice - this will not hurt your ink pads).  I heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I punched the curly label out of More Mustard card stock and stamped the branch image in More Mustard.  I then sewed that piece to the card using my sewing machine.  I stamped the monogram from the Classic Alphabet (retired) in Elegant Eggplant on Whisper White card stock and punched it out with the 3/4" circle punch.  I then stamped the flower at half strength using More Mustard ink.  A 1" circle was then punched from Garden Green cardstock.  I adhered the monogram to the Garden Green circle using glue and then adhered it to the card using a dimensional.  Here is a close up of the stamping on the card: