I Wish for Peace by Cathi O'Neill

Hi, Cathi here with my layout for April. A beautiful soul in our family has just died after a brief but aggressive fight with pancreatic cancer. I needed to do something to remember him by and just loved this photo that had been shared on Facebook.  I wish for peace is meant in many ways, I wish for peace for Olly, peace in the hearts of all that loved him, though it may take a while for a true peace to be there as the grief is still fresh. Doing this layout helped me a lot and it was great to have time to remember fun conversations and great stories about my brother in law. He was my youngest's girls Godfather, they had a special bond with a shared interest in art. He was both the girls favorite uncle, a kid at heart, and he will be deeply missed.

This month we were challenged to add handmade flowers to our layouts. I chose to add two Bitty Blossoms from my favorite Spellbinder dies. I added pearls to the center of both and placed them in with my other flowers.

I also used two amazing pieces of chipboard from UmWow Studios. I absolutely love this one with the hands and it perfectly suits this layout. The papers, stamps and die cuts are from the 7 Dots Studio Cold Country paper, just beautiful!! Finally, I used the filmstrips and tags of Venice from Darkroom Door, as Olly loved travelling and his job was as a filmographer, again they just worked perfectly for this layout. The words are also from Darkroom Door and from 7 Dots Studio and I used many to describe him and things he loved to do. In the top of this closeup photo here you can also see a flair of a dandelion, again to me a perfect symbolism of how brief and fragile life is.

A sad layout, but one I am glad I did.

As tomorrow is the last day of this challenge, if you have a layout this month with a handmade flower in it,

 I encourage you to enter it and share it with us!

Tracey is hosting a fun and fabulous challenge for the month of April over at Berry71Bleu

AND

This month we challenge you to create a project using handmade flowers !

There must be at least ONE homemade flower on your project.
It's not limited to a scrap page-think canvas, home decor, headbands, anything your creative mind can dream up! There are hundreds of flower tutorials out there for flowers made out of paper, felt, cloth, twine, burlap, coffee, filters, etc..

Check out the fabulous sponsors and prizes for this month:

First Prize:

Studio Shirel Pop & Colours Workshop

Second Prize:

Studio Shirel Pop & Colors #2 Workshop

3rd Prize:

Darkroom Door Paper Collection

Sponsors:

Studio Shirel

http://shirelstudio.blogspot.ch/

Facebook Page

Pop and Colours Workshop #1 - Art of Background 

Six weeks of workshops with step-by-step detailed examples and videos! Do you like to play with inks? Dirty hands, paint in the hair and stains on the apron don’t scare you? Then this workshop is for you! Whatever your style, learn how to create backgrounds very personal using the techniques presented in this workshop! I requested internationally famous guests who will share their secrets for making scrapbook pages from A to Z. Each week two different step-by-step (videos or photos and written explanations) will be presented. Each week, icing on the cake, sample pages created by the various artists using each technique will be shared. These examples will show you that the techniques are adaptable to all styles! The workshop will focus on scrapbooking pages, but the techniques are obviously suitable for other media (Art Journal, Project Life, mini-album, canvas Mixed Media etc.).

There is no time limit to subscribe to the workshop and it will be available for a period of one year from the beginning of the workshop (ie 18 October 2014).

Pop and Colours Workshop #2 - Around the World

10 weeks of workshops in video! Did you like Pop and Colours Workshop #1 - Art of Background and you want more? Well...we do have more! Pop and Colours # 2 - Around the World is based on the same principle. Our team of renown international artists will share their secrets for making scrapbook pages through exclusive videos! Different styles will share the spotlight: freestyle, shabby, mixed media or graphic style, you will find types for all tastes! Class started on January 3, 2014 and all the content will be available for a whole year. You can join us at anytime within this year!

Darkroom Door

Website: http://www.darkroomdoor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darkroomdoor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/darkroom_door

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/darkroomdoor/

Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/darkroomdoor/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rachelgreig

Blog: blog.darkroomdoor.com

Darkroom Door is owned by photographer Rachel Greig and graphic designer Stewart Yule who combine their talents to design a unique range of rubber stamps and papercraft products suitable for card making, scrapbooking, invitations, collage, mixed media and altered art. As the name suggests, Darkroom Door products have a strong photographic element in their design.

Products include: Rubber Stamps, Photo Stamps, Background Stamps, Frame Stamps, Collage Stamps, Word Block Stamps, Montage Sheets, Photochips, and Filmstrips along with a wide range of accessories for all type of paper crafts.

Darkroom Door also has a fabulous blog that is updated regularly with projects created by many talented artists. Check out the Darkroom Door website to see their full product range along with a gallery full of projects and ideas!

Design Team Sponsors

Website: http://umwowstudio.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/umwowstudio

Blog: http://umwowstudio.blogspot.com

We're a US based company who has recently changed directions and moved to chipboard embellishments! Our designs are fresh, new and on trend. We pride ourselves in the quality of our chip and our dedication to the trade. With our passion for paper crafts and our knowledge of industry

we can safely say you'll love our goods and their high quality!

7 Dots Studio

http://7dotsstudio.com/

We are a team of creative women who cannot image their world without paper, glue and the creative process. Scrapbooking is our passion and we love to share our passion with other scrapbookers. For this reason, 7 Dots Studio exists. The quality of our products is our top priority. Our collections are made from thick (250gsm), acid-free, lignin-free, archival scrapbooking paper. We also offer high quality cardstock stickers.

Please note that if the winner(s) of this challenge are international they will be responsible for shipping costs.

Make sure you follow our CHALLENGE RULES.

Thank you and we hope to see your beautiful flowers this month!