Last Card for 2011

Is it just me, or did this year seem to go by exceedingly fast? It really is difficult to think that a new year will begin in just a little over a day from now. Three years ago, on New Year's Eve, I said good-bye to my Mother as she slipped peacefully away in hospital. It seems, in many ways, as if it was only the other day but here it is, three years later. So many days have past.

So, we must look forward and not backwards as we anticipate another year. What will 2012 bring? There will be blessings and joy. There will be sadness. There will be laughter and also tears. It seems as if each year is the same in so many ways and entirely different in so many other ways. Yet, I look forward to a new year coming. I look forward to finding out what the new year will bring. I rejoice in the opportunities and challenges that await.

So enough "Auld Lang Syne" and melancholy. On to my last little card that I've made for 2011. This little card is for no particular reason except that I was in the mood to create and already had the LOTV image coloured up. Isn't she a cutie? She makes me want to throw caution to the wind and dance (and believe me, at my age, it would be throwing caution to the wind - ROFLOL). I have a sign up in my craft room that reminds me to "Dance as if no one is watching." Well let me assure you, it is best if I dance when no one is watching (LOL)!!

My image is coloured with Copic markers on X-Press card and cut into a rectangle shape. My base card is white (5.5x5.5 square) on which I've adhered blue card and then my patterned paper. I have this random stack of 8x8 paper that is not in a pad, and I don't know where I acquired it. I thought it was a gift from a friend, but it is card weight, and she tells me the paper she sent me was paper weight, not card. Consequently, I cannot tell you the manufacturer as it is not printed anywhere. I cut a strip of matching paper (also from that random stack) which I layered on the same blue card and adhered onto the top. The little flower border along the bottom is cut with a Martha Stewart border punch. I added some flowers (Wild Orchid Crafts), some pearly dots, some ribbon and a freebie "ticket" sentiment that I found on the web. (Again I have to apologize -- gosh, I've spent a lot of this entry apologizing -- but despite the fact that I try to save my freebies with the name of the designer, this one doesn't have it, so I cannot give credit where it is due.)

My idea for this little card was something fun and uplifting -- a joy to make and (hopefully) a joy to receive. As the new year approaches, may we all be blessed by God's Grace. May we enjoy each day to the fullest. May we "Work as if we don't need the money; Love as if we've never been hurt; Dance as if no one is watching." Happy New Year!