I will call her Carolyn...

I created this angel for Valentines Day, but in the process of making her I learned of someone who is in much need of a guardian angel. With symptoms of what she thought was a stomach ulcer has turned out to be the harshest of words- cancer. She has been told that there is nothing they can do for her pancreatic and liver cancer but to give her chemo treatments to ease the pain. She has devoted her life to being a mother of three small children with the youngest only 9 months, as well as a nurse who has taken care of very ill patients. I am hoping that this angel will shine light on her life as she does those around her. The star represents all that she is to her family and loved ones. I think I will name her Carolyn.


I created her by using a cone and hot glued crepe paper in rows as I gathered it. Once I had all the layers on, I sprinkled chunky glitter on the edges. Her wings were a Christmas ornament that I cut in half and glued on. Her head is a wooded ball that was painted white and wiped off for a white washed look, and given chalk color to her cheeks. Her crown is ribbon that I found at Hobby Lobby on a bolt. I bought the whole bolt because it was on clearance and could no longer buy it by the yard (so you may be seeing a lot of it on up coming cards). Her collar is made from MS Scandinavian Snowflake punch in pink and SU Scallop Circle punch in sheet music from 1937. I wanted to keep a vintage feel to her so the old sheet music fit the ticket. I punched out three of each and rubbed distress ink on the edges. I sprinkled the edges with glitter and alternated the two styles. The brad at her neck is also from SU but I put a pearl in the center.

This is a close-up of her necklace. The light bulb is part of the Industrial Chic line of charms found in the bead department at Michaels. I bought several different packages to use as altered art. Each package has three different charms. The word "life" was actually part of a stick pin, but I broke it off and glued it to the chain. The chain was from some old broken necklaces that I threw in my altered stash and the star is a button that I covered in glitter.

I think about Carolyn all the time and try to imagine what she must be feeling. I think until you are put in that awful place, there is no way any of us could possibly understand. It has made all of us at work, take a step back and look at our own mortality. I thank god that my children are somewhat grown and that they could live without me if they had to. That they could remember me without having to look at a picture and be told who I was. That they could have fond memories of growing up with a mother who loved them unconditionally. What breaks my heart the most is that not all of Carolyn's children will have that and she knows it. I don't think there can be any greater pain than that. Life just isn't fair.

~ Have fun and enjoy what you have!