Hi Everyone. Happy Wednesday.
Hope you are all having a great week so far.
Tonight's card uses the great sketch from Freshlymade this week and was designed by the very talented Linda Callahan.
I knew I wanted to keep it fairly clean and simple, but really wasn't sure what stamp set to use. Even after staring at my stamping cupboard for 10 minutes, I still wasn't sure. Mmmmm… what is a girl to do when she doesn't have quite the right stamp? Ah. Ha! MDS to the rescue.
I remembered there was a great Christmas set included as part of the original software. I opened up MDS, checked out the stamps and, lo and behold, there was exactly what I was looking for.
Old St Nick is a great digital set. I then needed a sentiment. Mmmm…. Ah. Ha! MDS to the rescue again! Jolly Jingles was used for the sentiment. The great thing about using MDS for both of these items? I could scale them to the size I needed.
Here's my card
Isn't that cool? It's such a great focal image and I love the sentiment. I layered the card with an old piece of Webster's Pages DSP, some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine and put it all on Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla card stock.
On a personal note:
Thank you to Cherie and Rach for talking about their friends Brenda and Robin. Close friendships can be so hard to talk about, but they cherish us and nurture us. My thoughts and prayers go out to my best friend Pam and her hubby John tonight. John's father passed away today. It doesn't matter that intellectually we know the loss is coming. It doesn't matter that there is time to prepare for the impending loss. None of that intellectual analysis and readiness prepares us for the emotional impact of losing someone we love.
As it seems to have been a reflective week for me, I dedicate this post to Pam and John and John's beloved father. I'll finish with part of a sermon delivered by Henry Scott Holland, following the death of Edward VII. To make it easier to read, it is arranged as a poem
Death is nothing at all. It does not count.
I have only slipped away to the next room.I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.
As John's father was a very talented musician, and John is a very talented photographer, I thought that it was fitting to see this put to music by Enya, with gorgeous photography. You can find it on youtube by clicking on the photograph below
Jaydee
7 Responses
Wondeful!
Beautiful card, Jaydee! Thank you for sharing the sermon. I had never read it before. It is very touching.
Love the card and I don’t know where you find the time to even think of making cards and what to do. Thanks so much for all that you share with us. Your stories are always very touching and love reading what you have to say.
Have a great day,
My thoughts and prayers for Pam and John. The video was beautiful and Enya’s music a perfect accompaniment.
The card is another stunner. The white space…ah…all that glorious glorious white space. :o) It would seem MDS is a fantabulous tool to have in the stamping studio. :o)
Hugs and prayers for those in need.
A beautiful card and a very touching poem/sermon. Thanks for sharing. Today would have been my grandma’s birthday-she passed away when she was almost 90. It was nice to read the sermon and think about her waiting for us. Thanks again.
Blog friend near or far, sympathy is not that far away. And if it touches your heart, and so it touches my heart too.
Thank you for sharing your story…Hugs
Thank you so much for the poem and link to the beautiful video. Brought tears to my eyes. November is a hard month for me – loss of my dear husband (it’s been 6 years), but on the bright side, the birth of my only grandson. Thanks for sharing so much with us. Hugs to you and Lou.