Day 27 ~ Capture Your Grief ~ Artwork

Day 27 of Capture Your Grief wants us to share some artwork that reminds you of your baby or something that was created for them by you or someone else.

Before Carleigh was born I did a belly cast. The cast was done when I was 36 wks. For 2 years the cast remained unpainted and tucked away in a plastic tote in a closet. I finally got it out and sent it to Stephanie of Beyond Words Designs and she painted it for me. I told her that I wanted the color purple and stars incorporated but the actual design was up to her.

What Stephanie came up with was amazing and totally perfect. The top is a bright blue that fades to a deep purple with a shooting star and many little stars on it. I love it so much.

When I sent the cast to Stephanie I also sent the stamps I had of Carleigh’s hand and foot prints and she put them in the exact position she laid in my womb. She also painted a little heart where her heart used to beat.

Carleigh’s belly cast

Back on March 21, 2009 (just a week before Carleigh’s birth) I had a belly cast party and some of my friends from high school came and helped me create a cast as a keepsake from my pregnancy with Carleigh.

For over 2 years I have been waiting to have this cast painted. I had been so unsure of where to turn to have this painted. I didn’t want to do it myself and have it turn out less than what it deserved to be.

When I found out last year that Stephanie from Beyond Words Designs painted belly casts I knew I wanted her to do mine. I had seen all the fabulous paintings she had done and I knew she would be perfect. Plus, I knew she would handle something so precious with lots of love and care.

The picture below was taken July 13th and was right before I packaged it up and sent it off to Stephanie. Putting it on I couldn’t believe how small I was with Carleigh just a week before having her. This was at 36 weeks but I was only measuring about 29 weeks. I am so, so glad that I did a belly casting for Carleigh.

Today I received my painted belly cast. I got a reveal of it from Stephanie before it arrived and I was just blown away. (You can see her post here.) It was better than I even imagined and I love how Stephanie came to the design that she did. For the record, all I told Stephanie was that I somehow wanted stars and the color purple incorporated. I left the rest of the design up to her. I did send along Carleigh’s stamps of her hands and foot prints as I wasn’t sure if she would want to incorporate them into the design and I just love what she did with them!

Stephanie says, “I decided upon the midnight colors of deep purple fading into blue for the sky because my friend mentioned that the color purple and stars always made her think of her daughter.  The universe with millions of stars leapt into my head.  And the shooting star represents her life ~ shines so brightly, but briefly.   I saw a shooting star years ago during a very special evening in my life ~ and that image never left me. . .so I recreated it on the cast.  The hand and foot prints are the real prints of my friend’s daughter and their position within the cast is how she laid within her mama’s womb.”

The cast is currently hanging in our bedroom above our bed. I’m not sure if it will stay there but that’s where I had an empty nail so it works for now. It seems kind of fitting though. (I wish I would’ve done one of these for my other girls too.)

Thank you, Stephanie, for creating such a beautiful work of art on my Carleigh’s belly cast. It is much more than I ever imagined it would be.