Perhaps they are not stars

The prompt this week in The Documented Life Project is Stars.  

The background is painted with Payne's Gray by Golden. I think Payne's Gray may be my new favorite color.  

I stamped the stars with Brilliance Starlight Silver Ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  If you are new to Brilliance Ink, I have to tell you, it is wonderful. It's shimmers, dries on glossy card stock and it's permanent. 

After I did the background I took a pen and I wrote the names of people who I care about who have died. You can't see them but I know they are there.

The words are one of my all time favorite stamps and is made by River City Rubber Works. I love the idea that my loved ones are shining down from heaven letting me know that they are happy.  

The words were stamped in white and embossed in clear powder on a piece of deli paper. I put purple paint on the backside of the deli paper so the words would show on the dark background.

This is a very simple page but one that touches my heart.

Link to: The Documented Life Project , Paint Party Friday

Mixed Media Word Search

This page is doing double duty.  The challenge last week for The Documented Life Project was a puzzle and the Summer of Color challenge for this week is red, blue and bit of light blue. I think this covers all my bases.  This page brought several things to mind for me. 

The first being that when I taught school in the dark ages (ie before the Personal Computer was invented) I would not have been able to make this puzzle for my students without hours of work. I made this with the puzzle maker at A to Z Teacher Stuff in about 10 minutes. 

Second, it reminded me that if I was in school today, I would probably be diagnosed with a slight learning disability. I have comprehension issues and I can't remember more than 3 numbers in a row.  Sometimes remembering 3 is difficult for me.  As an adult I went to Occupational Therapy for a while and Word Search was one on the things I was told to use to improve my memory skills. I do pretty well with the Word Search puzzles.  If you want to torture me, give me a number search puzzle.  Coming from a teaching background, I can see where using Word Search would be a great way to reinforce vocabulary and spelling skills.

Third, I didn't teach for long. I was a good teacher but had no patience for discipline. I'd still be teaching today if I could have found someone to take care of behavior issues while I made learning fun. 

I'm here to tell you, teacher don't get enough credit for what they do on a daily basis.  A good teacher is worth more than gold.  Do you have a teacher that comes to mind, when I ask, "Who was your favorite teacher?"  I have a few: Sister Mary Gabriele, Mrs Barrasso, Dr. Woodard and Dr. Stedman come to mind for me.  What did all these teachers had is common? They all cared about us and wanted us to succeed. They made learning interesting. They all presented the material in more than one way.  I've been out of school for over 30 years and I can still name those four teachers.

Link to: The Documented Life Project, The Summer of Color*

* When I went to the Summer of Color page to copy the url I realized that once again, my comprehension is not up to par.  I thought the challenge was red and blue... it was red and royal blue.  Sigh... I used denim blue.  As you can see, I still have a little trouble on occasion.  This is why I did not become a brain surgeon... can't have an ooops in brain surgery.