19th Anniversary Card

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary. I did a little number crunching in preparation for this blog post. During these years there has been 1 husband, 2 dogs, and 3 houses. Our extended family lives in 4 states, and in the 5th year we moved to Georgia. There were 6 trips to Disney World (two were school band trips and one of those my husband chaperoned!). In the 7th year Hannah started kindergarten. Robert and I have taken 8 trips without children. (Thank you Grandparents!) The 9th year was our first trip (of ten, so far) to Palm Island Florida.

It wasn't long after our 10th anniversary following a trip to Palm Island that Robert had back surgery. In the 11th year my Mom moved from Virginia to Georgia, and the girls saw more of their Grammie. We've owned 12 vehicles, which is really hard to believe, since our mini van is almost eleven years old! Year 13 was identified by my cancer diagnosis, and during year 14 we visited Arlington National Cemetery to bury my Mom next to my Dad. 

This year our daughter Amy is 15 years old; we've tallied up 16 trips to St. Louis, MO and Apex, NC; our daughter Hannah is 17 years old; and last year, number 18, we traveled to Japan. I am excited to see what the next 19 years have in store for us. Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband!

Summertime Card

Is there a quintessential Summertime song? One immediately came to mind when I decided to include song lyrics in today's blog, but then I found this article in Rolling Stone magazine and decided there are two. 

"In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry, 1970. 

When the weather's fine

We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea

We're always happy

Life's for livin' yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing a long with us 

Dee dee dee-dee dee

Dah dah dah-dah dah

Yeah we're hap-happy

"School's Out" by Alice Cooper, 1972

No more pencils no more books

No more teacher's dirty looks

Out for Summer

Out till fall

We might not come back at all

School's out forever

School's out for summer

Tomorrow is the last day of school here, and I'm sure it's not far behind for everyone else. So, think about this and get back to me. Let me know what I should be singing in the 21st century. 

Card for Day #22

This is sort of an "Oh my gosh! It's Tuesday. What am I going to post?" post, but it really isn't, because after I finished this card last night, I knew it would be on my blog today. The only issue is what do I write about it? I did give it to my neighbor today for her birthday. I imagine she was surprised, but we only see each other at the summer holiday pool parties, so I will have to wait until Memorial Day to find out. :-) 

Or I could mention it is letter number 131 for my #365project on Instagram @lettersarebetter. And (since I seem to have this thing for short term goals) I am doing a sub set – #the100dayproject with @elleluna, where I was challenged to create a unique hashtag and create for 100 days. I chose #100rubberstamps and this is day 22. 

What you see here is "birthday card 2.0". My first rendition was ho-hum, and though I thought they can't all be my favorites, I couldn't leave it alone either. So... the circle of flowers covers up the part I wasn't wild about, and I added Birthday Wishes. Now all I really want to say about this card is "It's so stinkin' sweet! I think I'll make some more." 

Orange Cards

My hobby is so much fun, because I can make a card with orange slices to thank someone for inviting me to volunteer at the Orange Conference. For three days I stocked book shelves and worked a cash register. I watched as thousands of people interacted with vendors, and I listened as they told me about the speakers they heard. It was an excellent change of scenery for me, and the woman who invited me deserves a big "thank you". 

The Orange Conference, put on by The reThink Group, is an annual event for pastors and leaders in youth and student ministry of all denominations. This is the first year I've volunteered, and I was simply amazed that the 8,000 person capacity arena was sold out!  

I'm not certain of the origin of the name, but it is along the lines of: if church = yellow and home = red, then life + faith = orange. This card if for a young lady I have volunteered with for the past year and she is going back to school. Both women are beautiful examples of orange.

Stamp Credits: Orange slices, flowers, and sentiment by Stampin' Up. Flower pot by Stamp It!