Moments

When I started thinking about Valentine's day this year, I had several ideas. This is one of them. I've always loved the sketchy drawing look stamps and this is from one of my favorite sets.

I was going for a look that could pull off "masculine" without being too manly. Does that make sense? So I went for less. Just paper and no embellishments. I debated adding embellishments, but other than a button I couldn't come up with the right look so I left it off completely.

The couple(Stampin Up) in the main image is colored with Prismacolor pencils. I typically color a sunrise or sunset with this image, but neither would coordinate with my color scheme so I decided to go for blue skies and white clouds. Before I had a chance to color it, I remembered I had this piece of printed paper. (I think it's from Basic Grey but I don't remember which pad it came from.) I stamped the image again on the printed paper. Then I trimmed the image ignoring the pieces of grass sticking up from the sand,and stuck it down right over the image stamped directly on the paper. I think you can tell in the close up below if you look really closely.

Since this didn't make it as my Valentine, I stamped a sentiment (Penny Black) that could be use for any day, or any special occasion.
The finished size is 4 x 9-ish. It fits into a business size envelope.


Well, I guess I'll be back more frequently in the next couple of days because I took pictures of 9 (yes, that's nine) cards this morning while I had good light.




On a personal note:
I love the message that I used on this card, because it reminds me to appreciate the small things in life.

I attended the funeral of a 19 year old young man the other day. He was just that kind of person. Although I didn't know him very well and only personally talked to him a handful of times, his sparkling personality was unforgettable. That what I mean by take a moment. He did that. We belonged to the same church at different times, so I know a lot of people who know that family very well. His family has a way about them that instantly makes you comfortable in their presence. The fact that there were 1,000+ people in attendance at this funeral and many more stood in line to visit with the family the night before was evidence of that.
During the funeral, the pastor pointed out that although he was well loved my many, he wasn't perfect. But he knew he was forgiven. He had accepted Jesus as his Savior. When invited to do the same many many people prayed to receive Christ as Savior the same way Ryan had. Can you imagine at least 50 and possibly as many as 100 people have had their eternal destination changed because of his short life?

It really makes me think about what I'm doing with my moments everyday....

Moments--
Stop for just a few to bless, compliment, encourage, give, help, hug, love, pray, smile, speak...
it just might make a world of difference. jaj

I'm editing this post to add this link. If you're interested here is this writer(among other things) and blogger's take on the Ryan's life and funeral.
Bruce Goddard's Blog -- View from a Hearse.

And coincidentally, the verse of the day from the Bible Gateway widget on my blog...
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:11-12