For a Special Lady on Her Special Day

The older I get the more I realize how fortunate I am to have been raised in one place. When I say one place, I mean I came home from the hospital to the house where my daddy recently breathed his last breath, to the house where my mama misses him and carries on with life in her vibrant way. Growing up, our road was populated by family—grandparents, aunts & uncles, lots of cousins—and little has changed. And there were neighbors. Good neighbors you could count on. One such neighbor is celebrating a birthday this week and I am thrilled to have created a card just for her. This lady is a neighbor but she has been there for so long and has been so good to us that it is more natural to think of her as family. As a matter of fact, when my daughter was small, she began calling her "Aunt Shirley." She has been such a wonderful friend to my mother since my dad's passing. She has a special gift for thoughtfulness and generosity. You cannot out give her, however you may try. It is my prayer that on her special day she will be blessed by the only One who can truly repay her generosity. Happy Birthday, Shirley.

In creating this card, I was excited to find such a fun sketch today at Mojo Monday. Immediately, I realized the butterfly image I'd chosen would work well with this layout. It's hard to see in my photo, but I have used a natural fiber paper filled with dried leaves and flowers. There were obvious purple and yellow fibers in the paper which led me to choose those colors, but I was completely surprised by that orange ribbon. As I brought out bits from my ribbon scrap bin and held them against the card elements, an orange fiber in the background paper practically reached out and grabbed that orange ribbon. My daughter contributed the tiny formed flowers. She made them using the technique I referenced in my Mother's Day post. The color scheme is a little stretch for me, but I find it was cheery. I hope Aunt Shirley will, too. Thanks for taking a look. 

Mojo 241 Sketch

My take on Mojo 241