To make this card, I used a sponge and torn mask to create the sand and water using Memento inks. Then I deliberately under-inked the umbrella so it would have a sponged look as well. The center of the sun is also white cardstock inked with SU's summer sun and then punched. I tried to add a cut-out star fish from this set to make a visual triangle of popped items, but it looked dorky and stuck on for no good reason, so I left it off. Hopefully the three blue items balance this design well enough.
Funny story: When George and I took childbirthing class, our teacher was a German woman with a very deep, heavily accented voice. At one point, she ordered us to "exp-herience da relax-A-tion." Her voice was sooooo NOT relaxing that George and I started to giggle. Anyway, she suggested we find our happy place and meditate on it during labor. My happy place was a North Carolina beach, with the steady, peaceful waves and the pelicans flying and a Scot in full Highland dress playing his bagpipes to the rising sun. (Yes, I actually experienced this very scene on an early morning beach walk, and it was so incredibly peaceful. Well, and sort of weird with the kilted Highlander, but calming nevertheless.) Ahhhh, relaxation.
Fast forward to labor. It hurt sooooo bad that I could NOT find my happy place. Every time I closed my eyes to conjure that Scot by the waves, the only image my brain could pull up was of the PACIFIC coast, specifically some cliffs we'd visited near San Francisco in 1988. The day was overcast and gloomy, and the waves CRASHED against the cliffs with, oddly enough, a German voice-over shouting "Exp-herience da relax-A-tion!" This was NOT my East Coast happy place at all. I could not get there because my giant watermelon-size uterus was teaching me a whole new definition of pain like I'd never felt before. I begged for the epidural man, who quickly came and took all the hyperventilating pain away. I loved him and would have married him if I weren't already having someone else's baby. God bless the epidural man.
And that is how I flunked natural childbirth.
Supplies
stamps: PTI Day at the Beach
ink: Memento, SU
paper: PTI white
accessories: circle punch, dimensionals, sponge
Oh, Susan, I love this beach scene. You really hit the mark with calm and peaceful. This is a gorgeous card. Doing it sounds simple.....but we'll see when I try it! Loved your story, too! I was right there with you with the epidural man!
ReplyDeleteI think your beach scene is perfectly balanced and looks like a very happy place to relax!.......Your story is hilarius...love the bagpipes on the beach ;D...thaks for sharing...you made my day! ;D Diana Queen
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love the card - your sponging is fabulous. But I have to admit, your story rocked this post!
ReplyDeleteFor those of us that received an epidural - yes, we would probably marry them all...IF we weren't having someone else's baby. LBMO!!
Ahhh, the east coast, how I miss that salty smell!! Your blues totally balance the card :-) And count yourself lucky, there was no epidural man for my 26 hours of labour!!! Apparently, getting an epidural at our hospital is slim to none, at least when I was there!!!
ReplyDeleteAh, Susan, you are too funny!
ReplyDelete1. I love your card...I just taught this technique to my clubs, I should make another sample!!
2. I had a similar bagpiping Scotsman experience as a teenager at a state park in PA. He was standing on a ledge, overlooking a gorge in the early morning mists, piping away. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
3. I did NOT have a similar childbirth experience...oh, the pain was the same, but no, no, I had to go all way through the whole birth--no epidural. No peaceful place, only a fake rose hanging from the ceiling on which I was supposed to "concentrate"! Thankfully I only had one experience like that!
4. You have a relaxing day--no German voices allowed! ;D
You're fantastic! If having a baby "naturally" is succeeding - then I think it's better to fail gracefully and quietly than to win the battle screaming and swearing. lol
ReplyDeleteBesides, if your babies are here, you're here and you all love each other more than the sun, moon and stars combined - you have MORE than succeeded.
Shelly
London, ON
My happy place is also the beach and you pictured it beautifully. Your birthing story made me smile. I had 2 babies the natural way because my biggest fear was the needle. It doesn't matter how we give birth. What matters most is loving the child.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I suddenly want to rent an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie? LOL!
ReplyDeleteI think your card is perfectly balanced! I too love the NC coast particulary Nags Head. Wish I was there right now! This is a lovely substitute! Love your story of delivery. If the baby was delivered, you didn't flunk! That is the main goal afterall.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that's the same kilted Highlander that graces Sanibel's beach on occasion. He walks right out into the waves in his kilt, playing the bagpipes. LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what i liked better the card or the story..... love them both!!! I may have to case the card sort of.
ReplyDeletePlease note I said I flunked NATURAL childbirth. I didn't flunk childbirth, just the natural part. And frankly, it doesn't matter how you get through as long as you do!
ReplyDeleteLeslie, that is so funny! I wasn't on Sanibel, and my highlander stayed on his boardwalk. Maybe someone knows if there's a tradition of Highlanders playing to the rising sun?
ReplyDeleteSusan i loved your childbirth story! It's good that we have your lovely relaxing scene here to look at after reading it!! LOL
ReplyDeleteSusan --
ReplyDeleteYour happy place story reminds me of the great series of books by Diana Gabaldon about a 18th century Scot and his modern day time traveling wife. I could so see Jamie Fraser piping to the rising sun.
And I failed "natural" childbirth too -- no needle for me because I was more afraid of that than the birth -- but, every time a contraction would come over me, I'd curl up in a ball holding on to my tummy. The nurses kept saying "relax but don't push yet" and holding on to my tummy was the only way I could NOT push!
Loved your card! Your story really made me giggle!! After my first son, I called my grandmother in tears and said, "And you did this ten times"!!!!
ReplyDeleteAaahhhh - so my emergency c-section was a blessing! No pain! Loved the card!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderfully balanced scene! You poor thing, I never even had a thought about natural child birth. I am thankful for modern medicine!!!
ReplyDeleteYour sand is perfect, teaches me the smooth edge I've used makes the sand look kindergartenish.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, God bless the epidural man. You're such a crack-up!
Love the beach scene, with a glimpse of the ocean beyond the dunes....perfectly balanced.
ReplyDeleteStarting to cramp up after reading your funny story. Breathe in...breathe out.
Susan G.
They used to cut people's legs off without anesthetic, too, but nobody urges "natural" amputation today, or makes people feel bad when they get sedated before an amputation. What we women will swallow in an attempt to be more "womanly"!
ReplyDeletemamajulie, you made both me and DH LOL!
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I went into the natural childbirth class fully expecting to ask for an epidural because I AM A WIMP! Even my OB said his advice for "managing" pain was "hee, hee, epidural." I loved that man. Better living through chemistry.
I view my failure at natural childbirth with the same humor as I view my failure to understand Plato's cave allegory. I can live with these failures quite happily and don't lose any sleep at night over them.
Susan, if you didn't have to have a c-section, you didn't flunk natural childbirth! ;) Your card is SO wonderful. I really LOVE the sentiment!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sitting here feeling sorry for the dorky starfish... :P Great card to admire at the end of a long, hot, sunny day. Summer... bring it on!
ReplyDeletegreat card....you are toooo funny!!
ReplyDeleteAs a MacKenzie, maybe bagpipes in the labor room would have been a better distraction! You probably would have done much better that way... Loved your card, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat summer card! Loved your funny story. I flunked natural childbirth, too.
ReplyDeleteLOL - Thanks so much for the laugh! I am so thankful you have "email" sign up. It is a pleasure to see your work daily! One of these weeks I hope to play in your challenge!
ReplyDelete