Remembering......

For me Memorial Day is a day to celebrate all the important people who have passed, military personnel, and first responders.  Sometimes we forget those men and women here at home protecting and serving us everyday:  EMT's, paramedics, police officers, and our firefighters!

My son, much to his mother's dismay, became a firefighter last year.  It's a long story full of deceit!  :)  You see, we have something we call the "Parent Council."  This is a group of very close friends who all look after each other and our kids.  One of my dearest buddies and her husband and son are all on the PTVFD.  The next thing I knew my son was getting phone calls from the chief.  I wondered what it was about, but silly me thought maybe it was for a job reference or something.  Next thing I knew my son was a candidate and then a Probie!  It seems all of the parents on the council knew but me!!  Hmm.....

Needless to say, at this point I am very proud of my son.  He had to overcome great feats to pass the tests--as all firefighters do.  I used the sentiment from the Illuminate because it seemed to sum up the experience for our family.  I'm sure any of you who have family serving understand the faith it takes to watch them walk out the door when the phone rings!  I say a prayer every time.

This picture was taken after he gave his niece a tour of the firetruck!  Now she is talking about being a firefighter........oh my!

Many would have chosen the traditional Red or Yellow for the firefighter
layout, but I was inspired by the Color Dare at Color My Heart:  Sunset, Olive, and Lagoon.  I combined these colors with Chocolate, Slate, Black, and metals.

All of my chipboards were cut from cereal boxes; I then cut them again from Colonial white and inked them with sponges, daubers, etc.  The finished cardstock pieces were then glued onto the cereal box cuts to give them more dimension.

The bricks were created with a stencil cut from Artbooking.  The brown bricks were done with Homemade Texture Paste and a couple of drops of Chocolate re-inker.  The other bricks were done with Colonial White Pigment Ink.

All cuts are from CTMH Artiste, Artbooking, and/or Artiste.

List of Materials:
All CTMH from KatiesCorner except texture paste and cereal boxes (haha); but if CTMH sold cereal, I'm sure I'd buy it!

Papers and Cardstocks:  Olive, Babycakes, Huntington, Lagoon, Dream Pop, and Colonial White

Inks/ Markers:  Sunset, Lagoon, Olive, Chocolate, Slate, Colonial White and Archival Black

Stamp Sets:  Love Life, Illuminate, Cricut Artiste Collection Kudos, and Universal Background

Embellishments:  Mini-Medley Olive, Sparkles Assortment, Mini-Medley Pewter, Memo Assortment, Badge Buttons, Shimmer Trim Bronze, Gold Polka-Dot Washi Tape, and Durables Triangle Studs.

Since there are some cool metal elements in my layout, I'm sending it over to Craft Hoarder Anonymous Challenge.  Scrapbooker PhD challenges us to use die cuts!  Wow, I got those!  Pile It On Challenge Blog has a Metal theme this week, also; so we're going over there, too!

I can't go without saying how incredibly proud I am of my son-in-law who serves with National Guard!  I need to do a layout of him in his uniform for the next patriotic holiday!  Stay tuned.....

Happy Memorial Day!