God Bless the USA!

This week the design team is remembering 9-11. I can remember exactly where I was and all that was going on that day. My husband was active duty Navy, thankfully he was on shore duty at the time. I sat in my living room holding my two youngest children at the time, and praying that my older two who were in school were ok. I didn't know if they were going to show the kids, or not....I am thankful that they didn't.
One of the biggest things that I remember of that time was how long our flag was at half mast. I know that it was in honor of those that had fallen, and I respect that, but I remember feeling like we finally lifted our heads when it was raised again to full mast. I have always been patriotic, being active Navy myself and then married to it for 20 years this country, what it stands for, means the world to me.
My younger children that I held so tightly 10 years ago watched the footage of the attacks this year and finally understood exactly what we were remembering. I'm proud to see that the patriotism runs deep in them as well. So I'm proud to say that in these 10 years I have not lived in fear as the terrorists would want us to. I hold my head high as an American citizen. Ok so now onto my project ;)

I like to reuse or recycle whenever I can. I cut these frames out of cheerio boxes. I used my gypsy and welded 2 squares together. The outer is 6x6 and the inside frame is 4x4. I used George and basic shapes, the inside frame is the one with the rounded corners.

I then used the same cut to cut the red frame from the DCWV Old World Stack. I cut the blue backing also from the Old World Stack in 6x6 squares. (I also cut 6x6 squares from another cereal box to strengthen the frame)

I glued the blue square to the backing cardboard square. I also glued the frame to the cardboard. Before glueing the frame to the square I inked all of the inside and outside edges with brown ink. Then I glued the frame to the square.
I had welded on the gypsy the words GOD BLESS the (all at 1 inch) I used Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge for those as well as the USA. I cut the country stars out from George and Basic shapes. All of these were cut from misc. scrap paper.
I embossed the words God Bless the in black embossing powder, the stars and the letters for USA were embossed in gold embossing powder.

Then I had to decide how I wanted to hang the frames. I pulled out my handy dandy tools (a hammer, nail, and piece of wood) in order to pound the eyelets into it.

I used 10 black eyelets in order to thread some twine thru to attach the tiles together. I used twine and metallic thread to hang them from the top. I used pop dots in order to make the letters USA stand up, and to hold the stars on.
It's a simple little plaque, but it shines the way I feel that it should. I love the old colors like a worn fabric that still holds strong, just like us.
So here is the finished plaque....

I hope that you have enjoyed this.
*recipe*
gypsy
cricut cartridges Plantain Schoolbook, George and Basic Shapes
DCWV Old World Stack
misc. cardstock
stampendous embossing powders in black and gold
pop dots, glue
cereal boxes
twine and thread

We also have a challenge and prizes this week!  Click here for more details!