Gratitude is homemade Day 1-8 Aunt Teresa

The center can is Crafty Secrets, the other stickers are Recollections (Michaels)

The white cardstock is Wausau Papers (love it!) it's a bit shimmery and holds the embossing well. The pink gingham and twine is Martha Stewart, the kraft is Coordinations.

Hello Friends, today I have a sweet card that I made for my Aunt Teresa. I was raised by my Grandmother so my Aunts and Uncles are like big sisters/Aunts all in one. I have to say that although I really didn't have my Mom in my life I always felt like I had a bunch of Moms. Sometimes that's good, sometimes (like in my teens) it isn't so good. I am so very blessed that I have 6 Aunts and 2 Uncles that I grew up with. With a family that big you really get all kinds of personalities. Every one of them has an AMAZING talent, they are ALL amazing mothers, sisters and daughters. Like many other very close, very big families we are each other's best friends. For sure there are times we don't always get along. Duh, anyone who says their family doesn't disagree sometimes are TOTALLY fibbing! But we ALWAYS love each other.

I am so grateful that I know during the most difficult times in my life I have these BEAUTIFUL women there by my side. Actually there was a day in my life that I was in a very critical situation and was living 12 hours away from my family. I made a phone call to my cousin at 4 pm one day and all of my aunts and uncles were there the next day! Like at 11 am. They had rented a big old van and went to get me. In the dead of winter. Ready to bring me and my girls home. Those are the things that make you love your family forever and ever. Yeah lucky me right?  

 We always have a birthday to attend, wedding getting planned or a baby being born. Being a member of my family is a full time job! So a little about Aunt Teresa. She is an amazing strong woman. She has the most kids of all of us, 5! She is the diplomat of the family, she has the kindest personality, she is the definition of grace under pressure. She is a great baker, an AWESOME Mom, and a loving devoted follower of Christ. One of the things I notice about her is she is such a sweet wife. You never see her talking down to her husband or being disrespectful. Her and my Uncle's marriage is an example to me, they just are a great couple. So this is for you Aunt Teresa. Thanks for being an example of awesomeness and grace.  

In honor of this month of gratitude I will post a month of gratitude. I have 8 aunts and uncles,  so they are my first 8 things to be grateful for.

Unity Goodness!

Hola, hope everyone's Summer is going great. Any plans for this weekend? Hope so. We have a weekend planned of staying in town, our tradition is that we go to a big PowWow that is put on very close by. That's Saturday. It's BIG and the fireworks are GRAND to say the least, they do it both nights of the weekend before the 4th. Most counties in our area have cut down a lot on fireworks and celebrations :-( due to the economy, private richies have actually pitched in to help out, which I think is REALLY cool and Patriotic. So on Monday we'll be finding a cool place to watch those. In my opinion it doesn't matter how old you get, fireworks are AWESOME. It's INSANELY hot here so hopefully nobody passes out! LOL

I have an exciting card to share with you. Oh, yeah it's exciting. It's my first Unity card that I share. The truth is that I ordered my first Unity stamps as a grab bag to test them out and see how it went. Well, let me tell you I LOVE THEM! I fell in love and after that I got the Kit of the Month for my Birthday (Yay hubby). You can see for yourself here . No I don't work for Unity they are just REALLY good stamps. They stamp a really clear image with various types of inks, they seem to clean off well too. Don't know what that means but they do, the rubber seems a little thicker. Since then I've ordered several other things from them and have them stamped and colored but not put together yet.

I made this card with this  Kit of the Month from March. The stickers are Crafty Secrets, Ribbon is American Crafts, the flower is Prima, Patterned Paper is DCWV, Cardstocks are Coordinations (Grandpa's trunk), Wausau Papers, Cuttlebug embossing folder victoria, button is vintage, inks are Ranger antique linen and tea dye, gold Tsukineko Brilliance pigment ink. 

Hope you enjoy it, have a great 4th of July and stay safe. Until next time Amigas.

Crafty Secrets Card

Hi, I so glad it's Friday! It's been a very, very busy week I made 30 Father's Day cards in 2 days! And it will be a busy weekend but that's ok. Saturday we are going to a garage sale that I was told about from one of my husband's co-workers (super nice lady :-)). I guess someone passed away and the family is selling thier stamping stuff. Am I evil for being excited about the sale? Hum, for sure I'm sad that the person passed away but excited about the stamps. Do I haggle? Will I be riddled with guilt? Hum? Maybe they loved thier stamps and will haunt them. Eeek better not think about it :-( I'm looking forward to spending Father's Day making a special dinner for my husband. He REALLY deserves it with a house full of girls and a crazy dog.

Anyway, I have another card to share. This is a card I made last week. I've been trying to make cards that are totally different than my cutesy style, also this is my first card with so much distress ink. I am very new to the distress thing, scares me a little. So this is my version of an elegant lady card. So serious huh? So maybe a card you would give an older person or a fancy person, yeah Fancy! Let me know what you think, would love your input. Until next time.



Card recipe:
Paper: Patterned- K&Company Cut & Paste (luv this pad & it was only $10 @ michaels)
Cardstock-DCWV, Card Base & Envelope- Recollections.
Stamps: Dress form- Crafty Secrets, Sentiment- Inkadinkdo
Brads: Pearl-Recollections, Metal Ivory- Artsylicious
Ink: Martha Stewart -copper Tim Holtz distress-Antique Linen and Tea Dye
Ribbon: Michael's & Lace Joann