20 Years and Counting my Blessings

Twenty years ago today, I married Bob Nahrstadt Jr. This is what we looked like on that unusually cool, beautiful day.

Here's what we looked like Saturday, when we went out to celebrate our special occasion.

We had a quiet, low-key dinner at Wild Fire Grill in Sandy Springs. Bob chose the restaurant because it was the closest thing he could find to Houston's, a restaurant we loved going to while we dated. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, it started to rain. We sat in the car 20 min., reminiscing to the soundtrack of our dating months (we only had 3 before we were engaged).

When the rain stopped and we got out of the car to go have dessert at Alon's, we discovered a full double rainbow in the sky above us. To me, it was symbolic of our life together. It has been BLESSED. Blessed with unconditional love. Blessed with soul synchronicity. Blessed with growth. Blessed with passion. Blessed with peace.

While Bob isn't one to really need a card for any occasion, I couldn't let this one pass without something to commemorate the milestone. I used the rainbow as inspiration, as well as hearts for all the love we've shared. I punched the hearts from various security envelopes I'd saved, thanks to inspiration from Lydia of Understand Blue. I stuck them on Brights Collection buttons and tied silver cording through each one, since platinum is the modern gift for this anniversary.

I looked online to find out how many days, weeks, and months we've been married and stamped them using my retired, yet go-to number set, Headline Numbers. The interior message reads: "It all adds up to 20 years, but you had my heart from day 1."

I love you, sweetie! Thanks for making 20 years seem like finding the pot at the end of the rainbow.

Pretty Ribbon Daisies

My very creative crafty friend Lydia posted this card with fabby flowers awhile back, and ever since I have been thinking about them and scheming how I would make them.

Today, I was in the mood to create (translation: not do laundry or housework) after work, and again these flowers came to mind. I pulled out my little container of Brights buttons and my glue dots and the same silver cord she used, when I was practically mugged by my mojo. SU! is offering 1/8" ribbon in 13 colors (!), and I purchased Whisper White.

So I pulled it out and began looping and sticking and petals emerged from my buttons to form daisies! It takes quite a few glue dots, and the ribbon builds up on the back, so I may go back and re-engineer this, but I like how the first attempt turned out!

Then I had to figure out how to create a scene adorable enough to stand up to these cuties. I punched out 3 scalloped edge circles, cut them in half, and created my own clouds. I started AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CARD and sponged around them using Tempting Turquoise. Then I moved up a little bit, staggered my template, and repeated the sponging. Such a pretty sky! I was so NOT a Brights gal before the Color Renovation, but now I find myself going to this collection all the time.

I stamped the stem from Apple Blossoms, one of the new Hostess sets, in Old Olive. I had some left over Designer Series Paper in OO that was solid on one side, so I made my own little grassy patch for the bottom of my scene.

I adhered the daisies using Stampin' Dimensionals and matted the entire scene on Daffodil Delight. The base of the card is Tempting Turquoise.

There's a great saying in Apple Blossoms that I wanted to incorporate into the design. I didn't have enough guts to stamp it in the clouds for fear I'd boff it somehow and render my card unusable, so I stamped it on a .5" strip of Whisper White in Pumpkin Pie, unstacking the sentiment and making it into a single sentence.

Now if I could only figure out a way to make them smell like real flowers...