A Very Special Post

Today is a very special post that I am so honored to write. And that is because today is the 50th wedding anniversary of two very dear people, my in-laws! Happy 50th anniversary, Mom and Dad! Wow, they were beautiful then, even more beautiful now as their marriage and life together have been a testimony of God's grace and love. 

I have personally been blessed greatly from this union and lavished with God's goodness by their love, example and producing my Kris :). Here's an anniversary card that doesn't seem to be enough to show how we feel about Mom and Dad.

This next card is totally appropriate for the occasion. Because of their marriage, I have known happiness beyond my expectation and definitely beyond what I deserve by their raising a wonderful son. And they are the best in-laws any girl could ever ask for. I have seen firsthand their love and care for each other (you still see them hold hands...so sweet), their faith and trust in Christ, and their never-ending sacrifice and service to their family. I am truly thankful that God has brought them to my life. I still remember the first time I met them, way back when Kris and I were still dating. They flew from GA to CA to meet me and in an instant they made me feel part of their family.

We love you, Mom and Dad, and wish we could be there to honor and celebrate two of our most favorite people in the world! Here are a couple of my favorite photos with them. They were taken when we made a surprise visit to GA in 2010. I love the expressions on their face. You can see my original post here.

More EP Victoria Garden cards

Thank you so much for sharing my excitement with my new Dream Team. There is still time to comment on that post for a chance to win my 6 bling designs from Want2Scrap. I look forward to showing you all the beautiful things they'll make for our first hop. Stay Tuned...

Today's cards are some CAS I made using some more Echo Park's Victoria Gardens Collection.

The first card uses The Craft's Meow's Celebrating You sentiments.

The next 2 card uses sentiments from TCM Happiness Is...

Something to share

Something exciting is happening to me today. You can check it out HERE. I have a little giveaway to celebrate. Keep reading for more info below!

Today's card features The Craft's Meow's Happiness Is and Timeless Tags and Layers of Color's The Love Chapter (text background). I die cut the tag using Spellbinders' Grommet Tags. The papers are Crate Paper's Portrait collection.

I decided to have another giveaway to celebrate the MFWB post. I will pick a random winner from this post's comments to win the following:

• Layers of Color's Happy Wishes set
  
• The Craft's Meow's Happiness Is set
• Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Motif dies set

The giveaway is open till Wednesday at midnight. The winner will be announced on Thursday! And if you're here to find out more info about the cards on the MFWB blog, here are the links to my posts about them:

Reindeer Joy card
Simple Shabby card set
Welcome Home Butterfly
Thanks So Much 1st Published Card

Just a Note

I've been busy working on some future stamp designs and it's taking time away from my card making. It's a dilemma that stamp designers have, at least for me.

I am so blessed to be able to design stamps that I want to use for my cards. I love coming up with ideas and making them into drawings. I love the satisfaction of finishing artwork that I can send off to the manufacturer. I love touching and seeing the stamps in my hand weeks or even many months later.

I also love card making, but sadly it's the last step in the process, so it doesn't get as much attention. After all the work of designing and waiting for the stamps, I don't always have the time to use them, at least lately. Thankfully, I have DT duties that make me sit down, turn off my computer and just create with my hands using stamps, dies, papers, etc. Don't you just love getting inky with your paper crafting supplies?

That's exactly what I did last night and made several cards for the upcoming The Craft's Meow Little Frieda release. And it was so satisfying :-). I also made this simple note card set using Simply Delightful and Happiness Is sets. I stamped the flowers in various inks and created a background. The patterned paper is from Pink Paislee's Soiree collection.

And don't forget my Spellbinder dies giveaway ends tonight. More info on my previous post. Please note that I will pick the winner from ALL the comments from Friday until today, not just on that post. I randomly pick a day (1 being Friday last week, 2 Saturday, etc). Then I randomly pick the winner from the comments on that day. So, you will have a better chance of winning if you comment on the posts with least comments. And FYI, you don't need a blog to enter the giveaway. Just sign in as Anonymous and leave your basic info, so I have a name when picking the winner.

Happiness Is...

Welcome to the second day of previews of The Craft's Meow's new stamps, available for purchase on May 1st. Today, the TCM team is showcasing the Happiness Is set. I had so much fun drawing these images. The set includes line art (perfect for Copic lovers) and solid images. It also has two bee images. They're little, but they took me more time to draw than the flowers. There are several phrases that will allow you to make 4 sentiments.

Here is my first card using the solid images. The papers are again Stella Rose by My Mind's Eye.

For my second card, I decided to use the line art and practice my coloring with Copics.

Just like yesterday, there are prizes up for grabs:

1. Happiness is... stamp set
2. Prize Package donated by My Mind's Eye from the Lush 2 Turquoise Collection!!! Includes one each of the patterned and flocked papers shown, plus all the accessories!!! Thank you Nick!!!
3. Maya Road The Sweetest Days Shadowbox Kit!!!

Once again, the prizes will be awarded based on random drawing from the comments left on THREE of the Team blogs listed below! You won't know whose blog has the prize... neither do I, actually, until I draw from a hat...so you'll want to leave a comment on each blog for more chances to win. But please play fair... only ONE comment per blog!

You have until 11:00 pm Pacific tonight (April 29th) to make the rounds! The winners will be announced in tomorrow's post.

Here's the TCM DTs' links for more card samples and a chance to win!

The Craft's Meow Blog

Amy Tsuruta

Debbie Pamment

Heather Jensen

Ivana Camdzic

Jean Martin

Kim Yu

Lindsay Amrhein

Sarah Martina Parker

For more chances to win, make sure you become a fan of The Craft's Meow's Facebook page. TCM will give away all 4 new sets per 100 fans!