Blazing Poppy Card

Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop: Blazing Poppy Card

Poppy Card by Kathy Clement for Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop June 2016 04

Hello, Friends!  It’s time for the May Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop!  You should be coming here from Emily’s beautiful blog.  In honor of Memorial Day, I’ve created a Blazing Poppy card to share with you today.  But before I do, here are the details on this hop.

To win a chance at a $25 gift certificate to Heartfelt Creations, all you have to do is the following:

  • visit every blog on the hop, and leave a lovely comment before midnight on Friday, June 3rd.
  • the winner will be randomly chosen from a random blog in the hop
  • check back here on Saturday, June 4th at noon when I will announce the winner
  • If you are the randomly chosen winner, you will have 72 hours to claim your prize by sending an e-mail to EmmaLou@heartfeltcreations.us (be sure to put May Alumni Blog Hop winner in the subject line.)

Easy, peasy!  Just visit each of the blogs listed below:

Vicki Dutcher  ♥ Alissa Wells ♥ Gloria Stengel ♥ Archana Joshi ♥Loretta Lock ♥ Therese Broman ♥ Emily Niehaus ♥ Kathy Clement (YOU ARE HERE) ♥  Regina Hamilton ♥ Sarah Miller ♥ Gini Cagle ♥Lisa Allen

Poppies and Memorial Day

Poppy Cards by Kathy Clement for Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop June 2016 02

When I was a kid, everyone wore a red paper poppy in his or her lapel on and around Memorial Day.   This was a practice started by the VFW in 1922 and they soon became known as “Buddy Poppies.”  In 1923, the decision was made to give the job of assembling the Buddy Poppies to wounded and disabled vets in VA hospitals.  They were paid a small amount of money for each poppy made and the funds were used to help pay their medical bills.  You can read all about that HERE.  The poppy became associated with war veterans through the poem, In Flander’s Field.  We had to memorize and recite this when I was in school.  Does anyone remember this?

In Flander’s Field

by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw,
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

Poppy Cards by Kathy Clement for Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop June 2016 03Here’s how to make this card:

  1. Stamp Large Elegant Word Stamp onto a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of watercolor paper using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  Heat Emboss with Clear Embossing Powder.
  2. Use a foam blender tool to add Abandoned Coral, Candied Apple and Pumice Stone Distress Inks to the panel.  Spritz with water.  Spatter with Abandoned Coral Distress Spray.
  3. Stamp Poppy Corner in lower left corner.  Heat emboss with Superfine Gold Embossing Powder.  COlor in with re-inker and a water brush.
  4. Use the largest Spellbinder Opulent Ovals die to cut  an opening, as seen in the photo.
  5. Back the opening with a piece of the poppy print paper from Blazing Poppies Paper Collection.
  6. Cut a 5 3/4″ square from the 6×6 paper.  Cut a 2″ x 5.5″ rectangle from black designer paper and a 2″ x 4.5″ rectangle from the reverse side of the black print.  Stitch this and the watercolor panel onto the 5 3/4″ panel.
  7. Fussy cut the poppy cluster from the designer paper.  Cut carefully around the individual petals. leaves and the butterfly wings.  Dampen lightly with water.  Shape gently with Deluxe Flower shaping Kit. glue in center of die cut oval, as shown.
  8. Add black and white houndstooth ribbon bow, button and metal corner.
  9. Paint petals and butterfly with Stardust Stickles.
  10. Finish the inside of the poppy card with more designer paper.

Here’s a peeky at the inside:

Poppy Card by Kathy Clement for Heartfelt Creations Alumni Hop June 2016 05This leaves you plenty of room inside the poppy card to write a nice note and your own sentiment for the occasion at hand.

I’d love to know if any of you wore red poppies on Memorial Day.  If so, tell me about it in the comment section below.  It’s always fun to share memories.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

29 thoughts on “Blazing Poppy Card”

    1. kathycNC Post author

      Thank you, Natalie! It was fun to imagine a different way to use the printed image. So glad you enjoyed both the card and the poem. Have a wonderful weekend!

  7. D.Ann C

    This is so very lovely! The texture, the shine, the colors… Whoever gets this is going to be super-duper happy!! Never heard of poppies associated with Memorial day before.

  12. Sara Emily

    Oh, Dear Kathy! My internet is working today, and just in time to see this lovely Memorial Day poppy card! I love your watercolor background with the gold embossed poppies–how well you colored them! My first thought was how brave you were to color your card first then cut! (What if, like mine, the machine twisted the die or any other mechanical malfunction I seem to have???) And your fussy cut and shaped large poppies are fabulous and so dimensional! Great idea to cut the window and back with the poppy paper–it’s these details that make all of your work so special to me! Love the addition of the houndstooth bow and ribbon, button and butterfly are just the icing on the cake! Thank you so much for making my day with this beautiful creation!

    As for the poppies handed out and worn on Memorial Day, I’m afraid as a kid, I never left the farm much except to go to church. I’m curious, having recited the poem as a child, did you recall it word for word??? ! Big smiles and hugs!

  13. Sue D

    Beautiful card and with the poppies it is perfect for Memorial day. My parents used to always give me a poppy to wear for Memorial day.

  14. Katarina

    Kathy your card is amazing ! Love the texture on poppies. I discover your etsy shop yesterday – amazing place. I want to say – thank you for your amazing work.

  16. Carla Hundley

    Beautiful card and I did
    not wear a poppy this
    year. My husband had
    one on his jacket, but
    it fell apart.
    Carla from Utah

  18. LuvtoKraft

    A lovely card and a well remembered poem, although I did not have to memorize it for school, but my grandfather had a repertoire of poems he would recite whenever he just felt like it! After many recitings, one pretty much knew them all by immersion. The poppies certainly brought back memories. I remember the Vets in royal blue jackets with brass buttons strained by big bellies, selling them at the grocery store and this perfectly horrible jewelry box created by Brownie Me made of 2 TV dinner aluminum trays hinged with safety pins that I would store my poppies in after wearing them. LOL Sweet memories! Thanks, Kathy!
    Hugs,
    Kris

  20. Judy B

    Very pretty Kathy. I had forgotten about the red poppies until you mentioned them. The vets would sell them at the front of stores before Memorial Day and I always wound it around my purse. I never see them anymore. Thanks for a wonderful memory and the lovely poem.

  23. Pattie Jns

    Hi Kathy, I never heard the poem. but I know at that time everybody that could wore a poppy to remember the vets. If not mistaken the day was called Decoration day, to remember the vets and others who have gone. Parades, and flowers an flags were put on graves then families got to gather and shared the day. I love your card, the poppys are so special well presented,.

  25. Glenda Brooks

    Dear sweet friend, this is stunning! So much attention to detail but I have come to expect nothing else!

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