Remembrance Day Traditions

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Last Wednesday was November 11, 2020 a day never to be forgotten.  It is the day each year that we Canadians join others throughout the world to honour and celebrate the lives of those brave men and women who have fought to preserve our freedoms and ways of life.  

This Remembrance Day was significant for our family as it marked the 5th month since our mother's passing.  My sister and I've been visiting our parent's grave site each month since she passed on the eleventh of June. We generally bring flowers but because it was Remembrance Day we brought poppies to put in the urn.

When we arrived at the Langley City cemetary a Remembrance Day service was just finishing up.  We had to park up top and walk the road down to our parents grave.  Although it was a rainy day there were lots of folks still milling about and visiting family graves.  We were thrilled to see all the wreaths and Canadian flags that had been placed on the graves of those who had served our Country. 

Both of our parents lost brothers in the war and they always attended the local Remembrance Day celebrations, so it felt extra special and significant that the service happened just feet from their graves.  

After the visit and watching the television coverage that evening, I decided to make a Remembrance Day card in honour of my relatives and others who served in both World Wars. I took my inspiration from the beautiful poster at the beginning of this narrative and a this memory of my Uncle Charlie who died near Normandy France in World War II.

    

Here is my card:

When I looked at the poster with its rolling hills representing the trenches I knew I could recreate them using my Curvy Celebrations dies. I combined two of the die cuts and used 2 x 6" pieces of Basic Black, Basic Grey, Grey Granite and Smokey Slate card stocks to form the hills. 

Originally I was going to stamp a series of poppy images using the Painted Poppies stamp set but I thought the poppy images were too big for the design I had in mind. So, I checked my paper stash and found a sheet of the Painted Poppy designer paper from last year, that worked well.  

I fussy cut several of the flower images that were in varying shapes and sizes.  I used my Poppy Parade light and dark blends to colour in any white outlines or pool party patches from the background of the paper before adhering the flowers to the card. I added the poppies with liquid adhesive and dimensionals and layered them down the left side of the card. Once the poppies were in place I die cut a piece of Whisper White with the Stitched Rectangle Shapes Die and stamped the sentiment.  I added red rhinestones on the sentiment label and at the top of the card to symbolize more poppies.

The "Remember" sentiment is from a retired set called Well Said.  The sentiment actually says "Remember When" but I was able to ink up the image with Momento Black ink and then carefully remove the ink from the word "when" with a wet shamy.   I totally love that rolling font for the "R".  

This year in Canada we were able to purchase Poppy Pins for $5.00.  This new pin replaces the black felt center piece with the wire pin. I'm not sure but I think every year for as long as I remember, I lost my poppy just minutes after buying it, so I was happy to see a more wearable attachment added.  I'll still buy poppies every year to support the Legion and Veterans as they do so much good work, but I liked this idea.  After looking at how shiny the lapel pins were in the picture, I decided to add some clear Nuvo drops to mine.  

Well that's it for today.  Although late in posting, I hope you enjoyed this card and it's composition.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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