Forever in my Heart....

Good evening fellow Bloggers,

No, I have not completely disappeared from the face of the earth, I just had several important matters to attend to.... namely, sick children, out of town travel for work and well, life...I'm sure you all know what I mean. So, blogging (and creating) had to take the back burner for a bit. Fall, though it is my favorite time of year, tends to send me into a tail spin and I don't really snap out of it until around Christmas sometime when I get some time off. This is due in part to my travel for work as September & October tend to be the optimum time to hit the road since usually we don't yet have much snow and the roads are still good. (I say usually as I think about the blanket of white which covered our yard and hung around all day this past Saturday!)Children are back in school so I make all my "transition to school" visits sometime in late August, September and/or October and that makes for busy times with the size of the district I cover (approximately the size of France). Because I work for a non-profit, we do not have "wings to fly", so we spend literally hours driving. Thank goodness I get along really well with my most frequent travel partner. Of course, on the home front, fall is also the time that extra curricular activities start up again and the germs start to have their hay day as people begin to congregate regularly indoors (school) - oh such fun!

Anyhow, I received some very sad news this past week while I was on the road that a dear friend and former co-worker had passed away. It was not a surprise as she has been very ill the past couple of years, but my heart is heavy nonetheless. She was a warm, kind and caring woman who had a true (and catchy!) passion for life. She was genuine and true and had a kind, giving heart. Some of my fondest memories of Sue are of the few times I had the opportunity to accompany her and a group of others Christmas Caroling. The first year, we visited onw of the local hospitals and other years, we sang in the neighbourhood of the Church where her husband was Minister. I LOVE Christmas, and carolling was such a fun and festive thing to do! We often attended the Christmas Teas and Roast Beef dinners at the Church and although we were not part of the congregation, we were always welcomed with open arms. Sue was wonderful to work with - she had such compassion for others and always had a smile to offer even if she was not having a good day herself. She will be sadly missed by many, but I am honoured to have known such an amazing woman.

So, I had been in a "funk" for awhile, my attention turned to any number of other things and I had not been creating at all. With the prospect of having to make not one, but three sympathy cards (that is another post...) I had no choice but to force myself out of my "funk" and just try to create. I started Sunday night and was able to complete my three cards by Monday afternoon, bit by bit. I must say that I feel so much better after poking around in my stamping room! So, this is the card that I made from my family to Sue's. I couldn't believe it when I was thumbing through my CTMH sets and found this one (Kanji Phrases), as yet uninked, because it was perfect for what I wanted to say! I have a hard time with Sympathy cards, wanting to say something supportive, and yet not too blunt. I thought this was a really nice alternative to "With Sympathy" or the regular sorts of sentiments widely available. The patterned paper is by Cosmo Cricket and the butterfly is also from a CTMH set called Celebrate Life. Cardstock is CTMH cocoa and the baubles are Bella Bling - gotta love Bella!

Well, if you are still with me, thanks for hanging in there - I guess that's what happens when I don't post for nearly two weeks! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Hugs,

Shanna