with sympathy

Morning friends. This has been a rough week for some of the people that I care about. I have to make four sympathy cards. Well...really I'm going to make seven total but I'm not sure I will show you all of them. Anyway, today I have two that I'm going to show you.

When I was in 3rd grade my family and I moved to a house just outside the Milton/Edgerton WI area. The house sat at the front of a rather large out in the country cul-de-sac and just behind and off to the right a little sat a house that I was soon to become familiar with. The Cameron's lived there. My mom and Pat "met" the day my mom sent me to the Cameron's house to borrow a cup of sugar (true story). My mom and dad and the Cameron's became fast friends. Interestingly when my grandmother was (my mom's mom) sick, Pat's mother was ill at the same time. I remember babysitting for Scott, Julie, and Kelli when I was a teenager. Although I had grown apart from the Cameron's over my adult years Kelli and I had recently begun to connect again and it has been amazing to get to know her again. Anyway, all this to tell you that Steve, the head of the Cameron family, died suddenly on Thursday. So, the card on the right will go to Pat. I will also be making separate cards for the kids but am not rushing right now as the visitation is today and funeral tomorrow so I can't get them there before those events. I'll get them out next week for sure though. If you care to know about Steve I have a link to his obituary HERE.

The card to the left will be heading to a woman at my church whose 32 year old granddaughter died of a brain aneurysm last weekend. Marcy left behind a husband and four beautiful girls (13, 9 and 3 year old twins). I had just talked with Marcy a couple of weeks ago and honestly was just shocked when I heard the news. If you'd like to know more about her you can see her obituary HERE.

While I know this post is already a little long I just want to mention a book that I have here at home. It is called What to Say. 52 Positive Ways to Show Christian Sympathy to Those Who Grieve. Why mention this book? Because, every time there is loss of some sort in my life a certain person in my life says something that may seem comforting but in reality is "bad form" if you will. Upon initial contact with the grieving person the best thing you can say is simply..."I'm so sorry for your loss"...then if you would like,"would it be okay if I give you a hug?". That is it...nothing else is needed at that time. You can tell them "I'll just be over here for a while." If they want to talk with you...they will and it is at that time that you need to sit and listen. Say nothing. Listen. Listen to "the story" again and again. Now...say these three phrases again and again until they are committed to your heart. Ready?

Hug them, hang around, hush!
Hug them,_____ around, hush!
Hug them, ____around, ___!
Commit them to memory:
____ them, ____around, ____!

I really hope that someone will get something from this part of my post. These tips for the initial contact are really right on center. The book I mentioned above has 52 ways to show you care and has been an invaluable resource for me. I hope you will take a look at it.

So, I'm sorry for the mostly sad post today but you get my posts as my life goes and sometimes sorrow comes in waves...just like happiness. Take some time to hug your loved ones today!

send over sunshine

Happy Friday morning! Woohoo...I'm so glad the weekend is almost here!

Awhile back I showed you guys a card I made for a one on one swap that I am in to bring sunshine into each others lives during a gloomy spring here. Anyway, I finally finished my gift for my SOS sister. I made her a "from the desk of" ensemble. It includes this wonderful holder (template from PTI), four cards with envelopes, some flower seeds, a band aid tin (with stamps and address labels inside), and some of those wonderful, new gourmet M&M's.

Most of the supplies I used are from Papertrey Ink except the letters for the name plate. For that I used a Just Rite stamper. Oh, and the flowers wrapping around the ribbon are from SU!'s Filigree brads set.

The card set includes four cards that look just like the card you see here but all have different sentiments.

I truly hope that my SOS sister likes this! I hope you will stop back tomorrow. I have a pretty card to show you that I, unfortunately, had to make for a friend who just lost a family member. I actually have two more sympathy cards to make today as well as plan a little Mother's Day card for an impromptu class tonight. Yikes!

So...you all have a super Friday! See you later! *Yay...my box got a shout out on Susanna Boyd's blog today. Exciting!*

Project deets:
Stamps: Just Rite Stamper, PTI Everyday Classics
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Melon Berry
Paper/card stock: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Green Tea Leaves, PTI Bitty Dot Basics
Accessories: PTI Dark Chocolate Satin Ribbons, SU! Filigree Brads, Band Aid Tin, Melon Berry Twill Ribbon, PTI Dark Chocolate Buttons, Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones

limeLIGHT sketch and product focus

Morning everyone! I hope that you all have a super day planned! Thursday is probably one of my favorite days of the week.

Today is limeLIGHT sketch and product focus day. I say this every time but I LOVE these days. I always have fun with the products and Mandy sets everyone up for success with the sketches as they are PERFECT for the products.

Anyway, today's product focus is....PEARLS!! Y'all know that I love those Kaisercraft Pearls that Mandy carries so this we easy for me! See the little row of pearls on the bottom? And how about the Pearls on Lily's hat and dress? Such great accents, huh? Remember that fun turtle paper from yesterday? Yep, I used that with this SUPER cute Lily on the Beach image. My Lord...this is adorable!

So? Wanna get in on the Pearl action? Just design a card with the sketch you see here, add some pearl (could be pearls like mine or anything that is pearly), upload it to your favorite place (blog or gallery) with the tag LLSC20 and then link it back to Mandy's blog HERE for a chance to win THREE packages of Kaisercraft Pearls...I'm jumpin' up and down for ya! Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT's cards for this challenge...you can link to them from my side bar.

Now...go forth and create! Ooo...and go HERE to check out some great blog candy!

have to share...

Hey, guys...just want to share something with you. If you don't want to know anything personal then go ahead and move on to the next blog.

Today I was just heading into my kitchen when I saw someone walk up to the door. I thought it was Todd coming home for a quick break but it was our friend Al. Al and his wife Nancy are "adopted" grandparents for our kids here in WA. You see...Todd and I both know how important that grandparent relationship is and since their biological grandparents are so far away (1700 miles) we "adopted" grandparents for them here. Anyway, it was Al at my door with the absolutely lovely yellow/orange roses for ME!!! It is Rotary rose day here and he bought me these roses (he is in Rotary, too...double duty) and wrote the nicest card thanking me for doing a good job with my kids and the kids of our church. It brought tears to my eyes. Very sweet...very much needed.

Now...do you see the lovely lilies on the left. Those are from my sweet husband. Stargazer Lily's are my second favorite flower and although they are hard to find right now he brought me home these LOVELY day lilies. Do you not love them all blooming and wonderful?!

I am just too blessed. Thank you to both of these wonderful men...I am privileged to have you in my life!

Thanks for putting up with this break in craftiness...I'll be back tomorrow for my limeLIGHT sketch challenge and product challenge card AND you are going to LOVE it!

blog hop day

Good morning everyone! I hope that you are enjoying the Sweet N Sassy Stamps Summer Fun Blog Hop! How much are you loving the summer theme...ahhh...I can't wait!

I thought it would be cute to make a little beach scene with a stamp from the set Summer Fun. The sentiment is from the complimentary set called Summer Sentiments. To make this a really fun, bright card I used the brand new Basic Grey paper pad called Lime Rickey. What a FUN set of papers! And, the sketch? This week's Monday Mojo Sketch Challenge. Did you notice that I used birds instead of brads/eyelets for my side embellishments. Do those birds on the top patterned paper not just make you smile. So cute!

So, now you need to go ahead and hop on around the to other design team members blogs to see what they have in store for you. Next is Sandy. You can check out who else is featured today by checking out my sidebar for the complete schedule. Now, go...have a great time and be sure to come back tomorrow for my limeLIGHT sketch card tomorrow!

Card deets:
Stamps: Summer Fun, Summer Sentiments
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Tangerine Tango
Paper: PTI White, Basic Grey Lime Rickey
Accessories: Spica glitter pens in green, clear, and black...Nesties, dimensionals, and grosgrain ribbon

okay...fine

Morning everyone! Why is it when I post that I'm not going to be back for a couple of day that I end up finding time to finish something I was working on? Too, weird!

Anyway, I have had this wonderful Dawdling Turtle stamp (and sentiment) from Paper Makeup for sometime and I just love him. His eyes are SO expressive and the sentiment...it is important for all of use to remember. So, when I found this super cute turtle paper I knew I had to use my sweet Dawdling Turtle. And, if you know me...I had to fit a couple of challenges into the card too. This works for both the PMS sketch (that I had to flip) and Kerry's challenge for this week. Go ahead and click on the links to find out what they are all about.

Alright...I'm back to working hard! Have a super Tuesday everyone!

Card deets:
Stamps: Dawdling Turtle
Paper: PTI White, PTI Brown, Three Bugs in a Rug Snips & Snail
Ink: PTI Brown
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Copic Markers, Nesties, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Up! Clips Assortment

busy, busy

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that I'm working on a couple of projects and SNSS and limeLIGHT DT cards for ya. I'll be back on Wednesday for sure! HUGS to you all!