All Boy 12x12 Layout -- Inspired 'In A Dash' by Girlia :) -- Old West, George and Basic Shapes

This is my entry for the Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #23 "Guy Stuff Challenge" 
The Challenge: Incorporate at least three of the following types of materials on your project. (Hardware items, stars, raw cardboard or chipboard, twine, string, paint, buttons, staples, or distressed edges)... I chose: stars, raw cardboard (and chipboard), string, and distressed edges.  My cuts are the title (from Old West) and the stars (from George and Basic Shapes)...

Alright, my crafty friends...  Let's chat!  :)  In case you are new around here, there's this blogger-chicka-buddy of mine that I *adore*...  If she were my neighbor, I would entertain her daily with my animated stories over a mug of hot chocolate while covered in glitter, paper scraps, and (probably) ribbon...  She would double over in gut-wrenching laughter because I not only know how to embellish my scrapbook pages, but I know how to embellish the simplest of stories (come on, Minerva, Chris, Beth, Christi... tell her it's true!!)...  Anywho...  If you're just dying to know who I'm gushing about, you'll just have to CLICK HERE...

Ya back now?  For those of you who have not experienced 'Girlia', she's an upbeat, fun chicka that always has a kind word to say...  So today, I see that's she's posted a card for the Cricut Circle Challenge with the comment "Unfortunately the deadline is tonight at midnight and so I am in a dash to submit this card."  {pause}  She posted this at, like, 5:42pm...  MORE THAN SIX HOURS BEFORE THE DEADLINE!!!  Lucky for her I was not taking a drink from my mug of hot chocolate at that moment or I surely would have sputtered all over my monitor and keypad (and, trust me, that does NOT make for a comfortable sensation in the nose!)...  My response?  In a dash???...  " 'In a dash' is how *I* post things... at 11:58pm... LOL... You are WAY too ahead of things :) Hey, maybe I'll go make an entry for this... I still have time, right? ;)"

And so, inspired by Girlia, I signed into the Cricut Circle Blog, checked out the requirements, wrote them down, started a fire in the fireplace (as it had by then started to snow), asked The-Girl-Child and The-Boy-Child what they wanted for dinner, decided I didn't want to make that for dinner, begged them to consider pizza, called and ordered the pizza, drove to the grocery store with 1 million other people (they were buying cartloads of food in preparation for the, um, one-day blizzard that we 'might' have, I only bought 5 things), drove to the pizza shop, had an entire (embellished) conversation with the employees there, drove home, watched tv with the kiddos while eating pizza, stoked up the fire...  OH!  And then I started my project 'in a dash'...  Don't worry though -- While I was doing all of those other things, I was formulating in my mind what I was going to do for this challenge...  Thank goodness it turned out (or this blog entry would have gone very, very differently -- with much sobbing and wringing of the hands!)...

Now, my lovely Girlia...  I hope you have read all of this without sipping hot chocolate and WITH a sense of humor (as I'm very sure you have), cuz here it is...  A mere 11 minutes before the challenge ends, and I am only just now 'in a dash' to get my entry entered...  Of course, under normal circumstances, I would have never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever finished a layout in under two hours...  I am sure that I only finished (with time to spare) because I knew that Girlia was sitting somewhere willing me to finish on time...  Just so she could read this highly amusing account of my evening 'in a dash'...

As for my mom, who I know is also laughing (at me) while reading this...  This part is for you...  Tonight, I made a layout 'in a dash' (yeah, I know, it's hard to believe I did it that fast)...  But here's a reminder to LIVE YOUR DASH...  Because, in all seriousness, my friend Girlia -- Well, she knows how to live a dash...

My mom's favorite poem, by Linda Ellis...

The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis

 

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke of the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

If you have 2 minutes and 47 seconds to spare, and you would like to see how I first saw and read this poem, please CLICK HERE...  It's worth every second...

Until next time, may your dash not be 'in a dash'....