2018 Autism Awareness Blog Hop!

Hi guys!

Today I am thrilled to be part of a fabulous blog hop organised by Veronica Zalis, with the focus on Autism as today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day. Almost everyone I know knows someone who’s either diagnosed with it, has a child or relative afflicted by it or is some other way affected by it.

Many years ago, I worked for an organisation that offered respite care for families with autistic children and whilst I didn’t directly work with the children myself, I saw what a difference my co-workers made in the lives of these families. I also, as mentioned, know many families that have autistic children so when I was asked to take part in this blog hop, it was a no-brainer! Crafting AND raising awareness all wrapped into one? Yep, I’m in.

There is an exclusive new stamp set from Taylored Expression Look With Your Heart

which will be available from today (25% of proceeds from the April sales of this set will go to the Autism Society) Sadly mine didn’t arrive in time for me to use it for this blog post, however I am sure I will use it lots when it does arrive though, it’s full of lovely sentiments and that puzzle die? C-U-T-E!

I’ve got two cards today and I have gone for one with multi-layered look as there are so many different “layers” to autism, it affects each person in a different way. The other one has a mono-chrome look using white and different shades of grey to represent the fact that autism isn’t a ‘one diagnosis fits all’ and it’s not a black or white diagnosis.

The first card is done with an alcohol ink background, a piece of foam sheet cut to size and Neat & Tangled’s Polygon Cover Plate die. I attached the foam to the alcohol ink piece and ran it through my BigShot. This whole shebang, minus a few of the tiles, I added to a black card base. Almost everything I have used for these cards are from Neat & Tangled.

Those loose tiles I added to the card like they had been lifted up (which in fact they had) and then left behind. I added a sequin to each hole as well as each tile and then added the sentiment saying ‘We’re in this together’ from the Together stamp and coordinating diecut set, also from Neat & Tangled.

The ‘together’ bit is heat embossed with Altenew Platinum Crisp embossing powder and the ‘we’re in this’ part is stamped with Altenew Tide Blue ink. I cut out the shadow bit with foam tape too to add another layer to the card.

My second card was very fiddly but well worth it, I think!

First I used the Falling Circles Cover Plate Die on a piece of white card stock, and then also in light grey, medium grey and dark grey. To make things slightly easier for myself when it came to the puzzling part, I added some Sizzix adhesive sheet to the back of the white piece before filling in all the circles with the different greys. All I had to do was match up the right circle to the hole and press down!

The official colour of Autism awareness is royal blue but I have not used any on this card at all, instead using the different shades of grey to symbolise how many different “shades” of autism there is depending on where the autistic person falls on the spectrum. I hope that makes sense?

I stamped ‘You’re pretty!’ in an ombré look using Altenew’s Rock Collection inks and then added ‘Pretty awesome’ in black at the bottom. These sentiments are from the Neat & Tangled set ‘You’re Pretty’.

This look was so fun to create, I went ahead and made another three (..!) which you can find HERE. I decided against putting 5 cards into one blog because ain’t nobody got time for that, right?

I’ve used compensated affiliate links in this post. What that means is that, if you choose to purchase something after clicking on one of them, I get a small commission directly from the company itself, at no extra cost to you! Thank you in advance if you choose to support my little blog and I this way, I really appreciate it!

To finish off the card, I added the panel to a medium grey card base and a few sequins also got added to it. Because why not?? That’s it from me today and the next person in the hop is the amazing Sandy Allnock! The full list of participants is down below but if a link isn’t working, go back to Veronica Zalis as she has all the details and list of all the sponsors as well as prizes on her blog.

Veronica Zalis (****Organiser and main stop****)

Erica A-B (—You are here—)

Sandy Allnock

Amanda Bodine

Kimberly Crawford 

Joscelyne Cutchens (Instagram)

Dana Joy

Wanda Guess

Jill Dewey Hawkins

Jennifer Ingle (Instagram)

Emily Midgett

Kay Miller

Carly Tee Minner

Miriam Prantner

Elena Roussakis

Heather Ruwe

Amy Tsuruta

Marcie Sharp

Alice Wertz

Vera Yates

 

Tenia Nelson

Katherine Cosimano

Rachel Parys

Pocono Pam

Terri Burson

Becca Dawn Cruger

 

Don’t forget to click on the InLinkz link at the bottom for a line up of the fantastic prizes from all the generous sponsors!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone who celebrated a holiday over the weekend had a lovely time. Have a great week and happy crafting!

Lots of love from Erica