Angels

When your niece and nephew are just 1 and 4, and you only see them once or twice a year, they are the cutest, most adorable kids in the world. So when their mummy and daddy send you a Christmas present of a professional photo of them together looking as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths, your eyes fill with proud, happy tears and you drop everything to find a frame to display it. Don't you? And you can't wait to see them again.

And when you do, they go a little mad because you've brought them presents, and they show off, and they scream with excitement then there are tears, and then they cheer up again. And they climb all over you, with their fond parents smiling indulgently at you lying on the floor with your hair being pulled out in chunks and your chest being pummelled flat by enthusiastic little heels. They fight for your attention, shrieking at you from a distance of 2 inches in case you can't hear them over the other one's yelling.

Then it's their bedtime, and you get 10 minutes to get your breath back while mummy takes them upstairs to help them put on their new pyjamas which you have to admire, and you're honoured to be chosen to give them their milk and try to calm them down before bed. A few more tears because they DON'T WANT to go to bed, then... peace. You have a cup of tea and an hour's adult conversation with their parents, then it's time to leave. And the memory of their exuberance and loving ways keeps you warm until you get home and have only the butter-wouldn't-melt photo to contrast with the reality.

Next Christmas another photo arrives, and last year's slightly faded little angels get put away safely, and replaced by a brighter, older, lankier version with different hair-styles and more devilment in their smiles.

See? Did they tuck their wings into their vests?

I made this for a craft competition at our new LSS. They were selling little kits for A$5: a sheet of card-stock, two half-sheets of matching patterned paper, two die-cut corner borders, two lengths of chiffon ribbon, three flowers and a chipboard butterfly. You had a month to create your page using a minimum of 80% of the supplies, then you submitted your original masterpiece to the shop to be voted on by the customers for a month. The LO with the most votes wins a A$20 voucher for the shop. Now isn't THAT a good idea?

And I spent HOURS over this. I wanted it to be the best LO they'd ever seen! I used the border die-cuts as masks to spray Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in "snow angel" (a kind of glimmery pink) onto the card-stock to make a pattern, and I sprayed the flowers too. I cut the design out of one of the sheets of paper, and cut the butterflies out of the other. I got the shape by scanning the Twiddleybitz butterfly and converting it into a shape to cut smaller with the Silhouette. I painted the chipboard butterfly with Smooch Ink. I made the tag, inked it with Distress Ink "broken china" and tied the ribbons to it in two bows. The title was cut using the oriental Cuttlebug dies. Added some gems, brads and Stickles from my stash, raised the sparkly bits up on foam, and job done. Finally. Phew. It's pretty though, isn't it?