Friendship....A Million Little Things

Throughout life we make friends all the time and while some friendships are fleeting for whatever reason, others last a lifetime even when you don't get to chat or visit as much as you'd like.  My friendship with Angela is one of the latter.

I met Angela October 2008. She had responded to a newspaper ad I ran about a World Cardmaking Day event I was hosting. She was relatively new to the 'area' (she lives 45 minutes away from me) and was thrilled to find a Stampin' Up! demonstrator close by.  The moment I met Angela in person I knew I had found a new friend for life.  Her presence alone and beautiful smile just draw you in and you feel God's love emanating from her.

It has been a bit since I have had a chance to visit with Angela and being the bad friend that I am, I failed to send her a birthday card yet again this year, even after I promised myself I would make sure she received one this time!

I knew it was time to make her a very special card to let her know what her friendship means to me. While I typically struggle with creating a watercolour wash background, I gave it yet another whirl and was thrilled with the result.

Now if you haven't seen the Butterfly Beauty dies in the Occasions Catalogue, they are absolutely beautiful and while I could have die cut two different images that layer over top of each other, I wanted to create a 'shadow image' instead by die cutting in black only.

The card needed some texture and a bit of bedazzle, so I pulled out the Shimmer Embossing Paste and the handy dandy masks that allow you to add designs to your cardfront and added just a bit. I wrapped Whisper White Bakers Twine around the cardfront several times and tied in a simple bow. I stamped my sentiment "Our friendship isn't one big thing" in Memento Black ink and die cut using Stitched Shapes dies.

The top layer is attached to a black matte which in turn has then been adhered to my Old Olive base.  I added a layer of Whisper White cardstock on the inside to make it easier to write on. I also stamped the latter half of the cards sentiment which was "it's a million little things".

I mailed the card off and while Angela doesn't live all that far away it took nearly 2 weeks before she received it.  I was itching to post the card but didn't want to do that until I knew she had it.
 
Until next time.
Margaret 

Entertainment wants to Impress, Hospitality Wants to Bless.

Last week a co-worker stopped by my desk to chat and she mentioned a saying she had heard on a podcast that she wanted to remember. She determined that if she shared with someone right away, she had a better chance at remembering it. The saying really is meaningful and the moment she shared it with me I knew that I wanted to create a special piece of artwork that could be framed and hung on her wall to remind her of the saying.

"Entertainment wants to impress, Hospitality wants to bless". 

This was the saying she heard on a podcast by Jen Wilkin from Flower Mound Bible Study.  The point of this saying is to remind us not to stress over having a clean home when visitors pop by. I think it comes natural to us to want our home to be neat, tidy and clean because we worry about how others perceive us.  However, when people come to visit, it is not to see the state of our home but rather to spend time with us.  Hospitality is about our guests, sharing our time and ensuring we are caring for their needs, not our own needs.

I was very excited to begin work on this project and Saturday I focused on designing and creating a wall art piece that would be a gentle reminder not to sweat having a clean house for guests.

I won't deny it, I did use some recently retired Designer Series Paper that had been available during Sale-A-Bration but I think you might agree that it adds a beautiful touch of colour.

While I could have hand stamped each letter to create the saying I did not have the style lettering available in my stamp collection, so instead I created the saying in a Word file using fonts that I believed would help make the words stand out.

You also notice around the outside of the center matte that I added some butterflies. These were punched out using the Butterfly Duet punch. I'm so happy I purchased this punch!

While I forgot to take a photo of my packaging, I used the retired set Swallowtail to stamp butterflies over Kraft Paper which I used to wrap the frame in.

My co-worker was thrilled with the gift . My heart is happy that God has blessed me with the ability to be creative with paper and share my passion with others, if but in a small way.

Until next time.
Margaret