Where to start

I’ve made one sympathy card this weekend – a dear friend’s mother died. Just a couple of hours after I made his card, I found out a sweet young couple at our church lost their unborn son at 37 weeks. My heart is broken. How do I make them a card? How do I convey how much I ache for them, how much I am praying for them, how I literally don’t have words and just cry for them? But I will, because I do not want to not acknowledge their loss.  I cannot imagine. No one can know that hurt unless they’ve been there – left the hospital with empty arms. I hurt for them. I pray for them constantly.

This morning in church, our Worship Pastor announced that he is leaving. Their family is moving to take care of his wife’s aging and ill parents. I am thrilled that God provided the perfect job for him at another church in the area. I am glad that he is modeling for his children how to honor your parents. But, oh… Their youngest child is one of Elizabeth’s best friends and when she realized they’re moving far away, the look on her face was more than I could bear. He has been with us through the lowest of the lows…the days when our marriage was literally hanging by a hair (thread is stronger that what our marriage was hanging by, it was that bad). He was there as we, as I, struggled with infertility and gave us precious counsel. He was on the phone with my husband moments before Brad’s dad died. He has been with us through the highest of the highs…he has been at the hospital when each of our babies have been born, he celebrated with us and was the officiant as we renewed our wedding vows. He has truly pastored us. He has been at the hospital every time I’ve had surgery – and knows what a horrible PACU patient I am. He was there with Brad the last time I had surgery and was as shocked as we were that I was loaded up and headed home 30 minutes after I woke up (it was a BIG deal). His wife has been a dear friend and sounding board. She has counseled me as a wife and as a mom. She’s often the first call I make “Do I need to go to the doctor with this child?” (she’s a RN).  To say him leaving is unexpected wouldn’t be true, because we have expected it…just not yet.

But still, as sad as their leaving is to me – it’s not the loss of a child. We can still have a relationship with them. We can go visit them and it will be fun. Everything has been tempered by this young couple’s loss. I am drained.

Elizabeth CASEd a card

Last night we were sitting on the sofa after everyone else had gone to bed.  Elizabeth and I were watching one of her DVR’ed episodes of Martha  Bakes (yes, really, my 8-year-old has us DVR cooking shows – three as a matter of fact).  Anyway, I was blog surfing and she glanced over at the computer. “Ooooh! Mommy, that card is PRETTY! Don’t you have that stamp? Can I make that card?”  It was Audrey’s card from the PTI Blog Hop (which is a beautiful card).  I told her I didn’t have a big scallop for her to use as the accent, but she could use my Martha Stewart Lattice Arch Punch if she wanted.  She did. 

So, I broke out all the stuff and stamped the Mehndi Medallion (aka “Best $5 Stamp Set ever!”) for her – then I tied the ribbon for her at the end.  Beyond that, she did it ALL (including finding my little bag of goodies from a PTI forum member and swiping a Tiny Tag…LOL).  I thought she CASEd Audrey pretty well!  Here she is with her card:

And here’s the close up:

Recipe:
Cardstock: Hobby Lobby (White) Creative Memories (blue)
Stamp: PTI (Mehndi Medallion, Mixed Messages)
Die: PTI (Tiny Tags)
Ink:  Tsukineko (Versafine Onyx Black)
Punch: Martha Stewart (Lattice Arch)
Fibers: DMC (floss); Michael’s (white grosgrain ribbon)
Color medium: Crayola (color pencils)

What Would I Do?

Remind me to never, ever craft when I’m in a bad mood or had a bad day (like…oh…yesterday for example)  Ever.

So, tonight I decided I really wanted to CASE a card I’d seen several years ago.  You can see it here.  My version is a little different – I am using this funky stone brown/grey (and I don’t mean “funky” as in “I don’t like it” but “funky” as in “I don’t know exactly what color to call it”) and my card is a 6x6 base.

My favorite ribbon in the whole wide world…

Recipe:
Cardstock: Bazzil (grey, cream); PTI (Ripe Avocado, Raspberry Fizz)
Stamps: Friends ‘Til the End
Ink: Distress Ink, Walnut Stain
Ribbon: PTI Ripe Avocado Saddle Stitch

Thanks for stopping by.

Things I can’t pin on Pinterest but want to remember

So, if I want to remember it these days, I pin it on Pinterest (which is incredible!!!).  However, little snippets of smartness from a magazine article or column…can’t be pinned. So, here they are:

1. Use a baby wipe to clean a stain in the carpet. It’ll even take out red wine and chocolate with no damage to the carpet’s pile. (hopefully I won’t need that little tip in the next 18-24 months…we’re seriously eyeing wood/Pergo)

2. I love the “Buttercream” colors from the July 2011 issue of BH&G. I will have those saved in Coverleaf (once they update the subscription information). I really want to do yellow in our family room, hall, entry. And I want to do green in the kitchen and dining. Need to find two that work together.

3. 10 seconds in the bedroom to straighten the reading material on your bedside table and take the already-read stuff to the recycling bin.

4. 90 seconds to line up shoes at the bottom of the closet to make them easier to find.

5.  5 minutes to go through a single drawer and toss outdated and worn-out clothes. Too embarrassed to wear it to answer the door? Get rid of it.

And now, I can toss this little stack of torn out magazine pages into the recycle bin.

Sympathy cards

I recently needed to make sympathy cards for some friends of ours (a brother & sister and their families) and their mother. I decided I wanted to CASE this card by Melissa – minus the “bling”.  I thought it was soft, simple and sweet. I pulled the wrong “small flower” out of the case – but I’m the only one who will know that.  (well, now y’all do, too)

I didn’t want to make them all the same color, so I chose to make them each different – purple, blue and pink.  Since I used a darker color as the base, I lined the inside of the card with the light color mat. And to tone down the pop of the white mat, I used Old Paper Distress Ink to age the edges.

They’re going in the mail today. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to get to my Card Camp card today.  I had an idea while I was hanging beach towels on the line yesterday - now let’s see if I can translate it to paper!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
The cardstock is from my ancient stash. I know the dark purple is Bazzil, but nothing else is. It’s either from Creative Memories or Hobby Lobby.
Stamps:  PTI Botanical Silhouettes
Ink: Distress Ink (Old Paper, Worn Lipstick, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord); Memento (Bamboo Leaves)