Beauty and the Beast Shaker Card

My 4-year-old granddaughter loves Disney princesses. No surprise there. What's actually very surprising (to me, at least) is that my oldest grand/daughter indicated she would be hoping for a similar card for her upcoming 19th birthday. I guess you never outgrow Disney. Or the fantasy of being a princess.

When I made this card I evidently wasn't thinking clearly because the last time I saw my precious young granddaughter she made it perfectly clear that her favorite princess is Sleeping Booty (which is so cute coming out of the mouth of a sweet 3-year-old that nobody in their right mind would correct her pronunciation).  Anyway, the card was already made before that recollection came to me, so Belle (the other "Booty") would have to suffice. In my defense, I am old...and very forgetful. And to my credit, I did remember her birthday.

I thought an interactive card would be fun, so I chose to make a shaker element by altering the rose design from the Cricut cartridge Disney Princess - Dreams Come True. From the same cartridge I cut Belle as large as possible and put her together as best I could (these character images have some tiny pieces!) I also cut several pink shapes to use as rose petals and put them inside the shaker along with sequins and other shiny small things. I then placed everything on a purple background because...well, nothing says "royal" better than the color purple!

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Transitions

It has been a rough couple of weeks.

My oldest grand/dog, who lived with us for the past 5 years, passed away. And my oldest grand/daughter, who has--for the most part-- been in our home since she was born 19 years ago, moved into her own place.

Although I knew both of these inevitabilities would be difficult, I was truly surprised at just how sad I feel.

The dog was old and had been in poor health for a while. We knew his time was coming soon, but I think we were all surprised at how quickly his condition deteriorated. It's still hard to accept that he's gone.

My grand/daughter has been trying to assert her independence for a while now (19 years, to be exact). I knew one of us had to move out for everyone's safety (I was just thankful it wasn't me.) But I never expected that it would be this hard to let her go.

I know she's a smart girl. I also remember how hard it is to enter adulthood unaware that you don't know even a small percentage of what you think you know, and oblivious to the ramifications your decisions can have on your life for years to come (and sometimes forever).

Oh, how I wish I could make all her decisions for her (yes, I do now know everything). But she would have no part of that when I had the legal right to rule her world; why would I expect her to allow it now?

Transitions are hard. But they're a fact of life. All I can do is remember that I've made it this far, bad decisions and all, so I have no reason to doubt that she can, too. And I'll pray for God to protect her while she's busy learning everything she thought she already knew.

The Princess, after having learned everything she'd ever need to know

The Dog, when he was still frisky enough to think he owned me

Foiled card with butterfly

I wanted to play around with foiling techniques...and get a much-overdue card made at the same time.

I used a Heidi Swapp art screen and screen ink to apply the floral design, which was then foiled using Minc reactive foil and a laminator. The butterfly is from the 3D Butterflies package of Minc ready-to-foil designs, which I also foiled and then attached to the card with dimensional adhesive squares.

And if you happen to notice an angled edge at the top of my card, I assure you it was straight when I photographed it. Magic, perhaps? Ahhh, the mysteries of life.

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