Thank You

Hopefully all of you are having a wonderful week and are spending some time with your family and friends. Since the husband of my best friend passed away recently...for me, spending time with family and friends is much more precious...realizing again, we have no guarantee of even one more moment, much less one more day, with those we love. My husband and I will be celebrating the life of our friend, Paul, this coming Saturday during a Memorial Service. Our friend, who is no longer with us...Our friend, who's earthly battles have now ended...Our friend, who is now in the very presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...We will remember you and will be thankful for the life you shared with us.

It is only because of God's grace that I'm allowed another day to think about His love and be thankful for His blessings in my life.

I am also reminded of how fortunate I am to not only have the privilege of serving the Lord each day, but also to have friends and family who encourage me through prayer and when necessary, aren't afraid to 'roll up their shirt sleeves' and 'get down and dirty' once-in-awhile. I could never accomplish the many tasks I do each day without their help and encouragement.

With this in mind, I decided it is time to make a few Thank You cards for some very special ladies at our church who have been faithfully 'serving the Lord with gladness' for more than 35 years. The faithful and loving spirit of these ladies is evident to all those who's lives they touch. 'My' ladies range in age between 76 and 88 years old....many of them are widowed but a few still have their, first and only, husband at their side....all of them have endured times of trial and testing within their lives and yet all will be quick to assure you God has been and continues to be, faithful through it all. Their love and service has been a huge source of inspiration in my life and over the next few weeks I hope to make each of them a card expressing my gratitude for sharing their life and testimony with me....I so wish each of you could know these ladies...I'm sure you would love them as much as I do!

Today's card features a 'Stamp of the Month' Image from Paper Pretties. I've had it for a little while, but this is the first time it has been inked...'bout time, don'cha think', Christie (for those who don't know her, Christie is the Pretty Mama of the Pretty Girls)!

To share a little of the Card D-Tails:

The dress is paper-pieced, times two! Meaning, I stamped the image one time on 2 different pieces of pattern paper...one image is cut out and attached to the stamped image...the second image is cut out and then I attached only segments of that piece to the first...hopefully that makes some sense...feel free to ask questions if you need more info. I also paper-pieced the bow in her hair, but I think it would have looked better if I had just colored it with my markers.

Sophia's hair, face, arms, and legs are colored with Copic Markers, but you will notice that I got a little too 'heavy handed' on her face...I tried 'cleaning it up' some using my colorless blender, which usually works pretty well, but not so this time...so I just left it as is, I think it will be OK.

I added a little felt flower with a white pearl in the center, to the flower portion of the image.

Used a couple of punches, added a few red pearls, added an Organdy White Ribbon to which I added the 'Thank You' sentiment (it is included with the image) as a 'tag' tied with white string.

Base Cardstock is PTI Select White

Pattern Papers are DCWV 'Mi Casa'

Inside the card I used a sentiment from Sweet N' Sassy's 'True Friend' set...a couple pieces of pattern paper and a few more felt flowers and pearls. I attempted to use one of my Copic Multiliner pens to make a curvy branch for the flowers, but that silly pen wasn't working very well last night, it kept 'skipping'...oh well.

Just a Reminder:

Tomorrow (Thursday) is Free Digi Day at Sweet N' Sassy Stamps...be sure to visit the website and grab it while it's free...after Thursday, the 'Free' offer goes away!

You will find the links for 'Paper Pretties' and 'Sweet N' Sassy' on my sidebar.

Be sure to spend time with family and friends

and then,

Make time to create but remember to have fun and enjoy the experience!

Barbg(WV)