Hello, Friends!

It’s time for another monthly challenge at Canvas Corp!  And since this is February, and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, our challenge is to make a Valentine…and then share it with someone who isn’t expecting a card from us.  Well, this challenge is right up my alley, because I love Valentine’s Day…always have!  From the time when I was just a little kid, cutting pink and red hearts from construction paper, to my wedding–which took place 2 days after Valentine’s Day–to the present day, when I love getting the chance to make all sorts of shabby chic creations with glitter and lace and ribbon….Valentine’s Day makes me happy!  I mean, what could be better than a day set aside with the sole purpose of letting your dear ones know you love them?  With that in mind, I cut into the deliciously vintage Gypsy Moments collection from 7 Gypsies and made a Gypsy Moments Valentine for my dear friend, Dianne.

I used a 5″ x 7″ Ivory Card Base from Canvas Corp and re-scored it to create a gate fold card. Don’t you just love these vintage cabbage roses in the Board and Room paper?  I stitched these onto periwinkle cardstock and then began to build my layers with cards, tags and loads of other goodies from the Gypsy Moments collection.  I freehand cut the little heart, then treated it with UTEE, and while the UTEE was still soft, I pressed my clock hand into it to resemble an arrow. The card front and the seam binding bow were spritzed with Tattered Angels spray mist. (Lavender Fields, Cranberry Zing Mountain Mist.)

I love the way the Poses and Reflections paper has all these great cut apart images…and this saying about friendship could not be more true: “You’ll always be my friend…” and then in teeny tiny letters…” you know too much!” So let me tell you a little bit about my friendship with Dianne!

Dianne and I met in 1979.  We were both young mothers, poor as church mice living in Jacksonville, Florida.  My husband and I had just moved there to help out in a small church start up.  I had never had a close girl friend up to that point…or at least not since junior high school!  And Dianne came into my life like a breath of fresh air!  She was funny….and thoughtful…and very creative.  She and I spent hours and hours and hours getting to know one another, sharing recipes, finding ways to make our limited budgets stretch.  She even taught me how to wear make up and do my hair.  We both got pregnant with our second babies within a few days of one another, so we shared morning sickness and pregnancy woes….and then sleepless nights and colicky babies….and toddlers and potty training…and so much laughter!  Dianne drove a school bus to earn extra cash, and morning after morning, I would hear that bus pull up outside our apartment, and know to roll out of bed, put on the coffee and get ready for a good chat.  Oh, the laughter we shared…and the tears!  Sometimes we  hurt each other’s feelings, but we always got over it, because the friendship was just so precious to us both.  Even after I moved away from Florida, we stayed close.  When our 3rd baby was born, I gave her Dianne as her middle name, to honor my dear friend.  We have walked a thousand miles together, gone on dozens of diets together, shared countless meals together, shopped until we have dropped, prayed for one another, and now that both our kids are grown with kids of their own, we are still closest friends.  She and I are almost total opposites….but it’s true what they say: opposites attract!  I just think she is fabulous in every way…and she loves and accepts me just as I am.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.  We have our own share of “Ethel and Lucy” stories to tell, and we’ve walked with one another through some deep dark valleys….and I am so thankful for this friendship that has spanned more than 3 decades.  Wow!

Here’s a peeky at the inside of the card.  I wrote a little verse that says, “True friends…we’re never apart.  Far in distance, but close in heart.” And that’s the way it is!

Here’s the fun part!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Create a Valentine board on Pinterest (if you don’t already have one)

2. Find 3-5 of your favorite Valentine cards on the Canvas Corp BLOG and pin them to your Valentine board using the hashtag #myfavoritevalentine

3. Place a link to your pinboard in the comments!

Somebody’s going to walk away with a$50 gift card to the Canvas Corp Brands online store. So kick up your feet, find your favorite valentine and get pinning! (Contest closes on Monday, February 9 at 10am. Open to international contestants. Must be 18 or older to enter.)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing these memories and my Gypsy Moments Valentine with me.

Cheerio,

kathy