Friday, September 15, 2017

Hugs from my Heart



Hello, Friends!

Happy Friday!  You made it!  While your week might have been rough, it probably didn't compare to what the people in Texas, Florida and other areas that were touched by Hurricane Harvey and Irma faced this week.  You, probably, got to go to sleep in your own bed in your own house.  Don't take that gift for granted!  Please reach out with hugs, prayers and support for the people that cannot have that luxury any more!

This card was made for a dear family to me who have had a very hard time lately.  I've known them since my first few days as a college Freshman!  When I went to college, I moved 9 hours away from home.  So, if I wanted to get away from campus I had to go home with someone who lived a lot closer to school than I did!  Luckily for me, I had a dear friend who's family adopted me.  So, I'd drive us to her house and we'd spend the weekend with her family.  They were the perfect surrogate family with wonderful parents, two brothers, a lovely home and home-cooked food!  If you saw what we had to eat in the cafeteria, believe me, you'd be quite thankful for that home-cooked food!  I still remember her parents telling my parents the next time we were all together how much we ate that first weekend we went to her home!  :)

Recently, the Dad of that family was diagnosed with an illness that would take his life within the next two years if he didn't have a stem cell transplant.  This is a man that the world needs 100,000 more of, not one less.  We all began praying like crazy for him to be accepted as a donor candidate (due to his age, it wasn't automatic) and for a donor to be found, quickly.  Our prayers were answered positively when he was accepted as a donor recipient and his brother was a match to be the donor of the stem cells.  After several rounds of chemo, the father began to receive his stem cell transplant from his brother this week.  So far, everything is going as well as can be expected which is a big answer to our many prayers.  However, he will have to stay in the hospital for a total of two weeks to continue to receive the transplanted cells.  He will also have to be monitored very closely, including lots of painful tests during that time.  There is also the chance that his body could reject these cells, even though they are there to heal him and not hurt him.  When he gets to go home from the hospital, he will have to stay home for 100 days to try and minimize the chances of him getting sick.

As I'm sure you can imagine, this has been an exhausting, stressful and scary time, even though we all know God is in control.  God is not a genie in a magic bottle that gives us three wishes and sometimes, no matter how many prayers are prayed, things do not go as we have hoped.  Things are looking good right now and I wanted to let the family know that I love them and am continuing to pray for them.  

I created this card by stamping this background stamp by Simon Says Stamp, called Flora, in Versamark Ink which I embossed in silver embossing powder. 

Simon Says Cling Rubber FLORA BACKGROUND SSS101735 Mothers Fathers Florals Preview Image

Isn't this stamp incredible!?  It is so beautiful!  I colored it with a pink and a green Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  Because the silver embossed area created a raised little border, it was super easy to color.  When I was done coloring a large area, I die cut it with a heart die.  I took the Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Scripty Hugs die and cut that word out of the center of my heart.  I replaced it with fun foam and two layers of white card stock cut by the same hugs die to replace the word!  My card looked a little simple and like it was missing something, so I cut out four more hearts from the paper that was left over from my background sheet that had already been colored.  I adhered them around my heart.  Now it felt like the card was complete!  

Inside I will remind this family that I love them and I am praying for them daily!


I am entering my card in the Paper Players #361 challenge.  Although I didn't use the exact colors of pink and green in my card, I used the closest to each that I had.  I really would like to learn how to use my Zig Markers better since I've seen lots of gorgeous cards made with them.  This gave me a chance to get a little bit of a feel to them while coloring a stamp I couldn't really mess up!

Have a great weekend, Friends!

Happy Stamping!


I used the following products to make this card:

Flora Background Stamp by Simon Says Stamp
Infinity Nesting Hearts Dies by Hero Arts
Scripty Hugs Lawn Cuts Die by Lawn Fawn
Stitched Heart Collage Die by Simon Says Stamp
Versamark Ink Pad by Tsukineko
Solar White Card Stock by Neenah
Clean Color Real Brush  Markers by Zig
Cotton Candy Card Stock by My Favorite Things
Ultra Fine Silver Embossing Powder by Simon Says Stamp
White Fun Foam from Hobby Lobby
Heat Gun
MISTI by My Sweet Petunia




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful story and I hope it has a beautiful ending. Science and medicine are just amazing what can be done compared to 25 years ago. Sending my own thoughts, prayers, and well wishes for your "adoptive" family.

The card is so pretty and so special. They will love it, I am sure! Such fun colors. What a fun stamp and the way you colored it. Then, taking it one step beyond by die cutting it out. Love it!

You have been doing an amazing amount of creating - don't wear yourself out so much that you will be in more pain and cause other problems.

Hugs!

Chris R. from Iowa

Kim Heggins said...

This is so beautiful Angela...love your gorgeous heart and your colors are incredible.

Annie S. said...

A beautiful card for such a heartwarming reason. Thanks for sharing the background story and I hope everything works out well for your beloved "second family." They will love it! Your card is wonderfully colored and the silver embossing is a great complement! Thanks for joining in The Paper Players Challenge this week!

Cindy O said...

Your card and coloring are so pretty! and the four little accent hearts make a big impact in the design.

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