Unforgettable

There is a holiday in November to remember those who fought for their countries and fell in the line of duty. In the US, this is called Veterans' Day. In Canada, the UK, and other places, this is called Remembrance Day. One of the symbols is a red poppy for the poem about a World War I battlefield after the battle: In Flanders Field by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

We should be thankful for the service of all who have died defending their country.

This is a day I always seek to remember those who have fallen, those who have served, those who fought for freedom. My own father served in Vietnam. My father's uncle was in World War II. My brother was in the Air Force for a few of the more recent conflicts. 

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Think of You, Remembrance Day
Emerald Creek Dares: Heartfelt Freedom
The East Wind: Memories
Inspiration Destination: Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-crafty: Anything Goes
Crafting in a hotel room with limited supplies brought in luggage

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Putting It Together

I am away from my workshop on vacation for two weeks but packed along some supplies. It wouldn't be a vacation if I had to completely give up what I enjoy doing.

I am rather enamoured of Distress Ink minis so I brought along my entire collection. I had to leave the tins at home to reduce weight. As it was, our checked bag was exactly 50 lbs! There's two of us and we wanted to reduce our travel costs so only checked one suitcase for our two week trip. 

I don't have a specifically poppy stamp so decided to use one of the flowers from the Distress Watercolouring Kit and paint it to resemble a poppy. I wanted a total watercolour look so wanted a "no lines" type painting. Since Distress Crayons only react once with water, I decided to use a Distress Crayon as the stamping "ink". The crayon is from the same kit as the stamp, Festive Berries. I used the Misti to position the stamps.

I scribbled some crayon on the thin acrylic block from the kit and then..

... used a waterbrush to add liquid and lift colour.

I applied the crayon to the stamp with the brush..

..and closed the Misti to stamp it on the card. 

I repeated this to add flowers along the lower edge of the card.

I painted the 'poppies' with Dstress Ink adding in the dark centres.

I positioned the "Unforgettable" sentiment with the Misti. 

I stamped first with black...

...and then overlaid that with gold. The black gives the gold more legibility.

For the inside sentiment, I only wanted to use part of a stamp. Using a Post-It, I masked off the portion of the stamp I didn't want to use.

I inked up the stamp with the mask in place.

I removed the mask before closing the Misti...

...and stamping on the inside of the card base.

To add a finishing touch to the watercoloured panel, I ran the edge along the gold ink pad. This adds a thin line of gold to the panel.

To fix a bit of flub above one of the 'poppies' I added a hallow of pale red.