Omedetou Gozaimashita!

... or "Congratulations" in Japanese ... at least I HOPE that's what it means!

Happy Saturday!  I've been a busy little beaver this morning.  I guess that's what happens when you get up at 6:30 am on a weekend!  Of course this is the ONE day that everyone (including the cat and the dog) were sleeping in ... I, on the otherhand, seem to be reprogrammed to now wake up at 5:30 am (thanks to Koda's bowels!).  Today he slept in (apparently the pills we have him on are helping in the pooping area!) but I couldn't.  Oh well ... nothing I enjoy more than sipping a hot cup of Joe in the peace and quiet of a beautiful morning!  Rebecca woke shortly after me so we headed to the basement to keep things quiet.  She watched cartoons while I finished making my "He Is Risen" batch of Easter cards.  Alicia woke and so did Koda so he and I headed out for a loooooong walk.  It was such a beautiful, quiet morning.  Add in the sunshine and the light fluffy snow that was on the ground and I just couldn't stop walking - it was great.  I was back by 9:15 am full of energy, smiles and pink, rosy cheeks :)  I cleaned up my craft zone a little ... and I mean a little ... just enough to clear a space for my next project.  A family close family friend just got married in Japan last week.  That called for a very special card.  I am just thrilled with how it turned out:

I again turned to my Mojo Monday sketches for a layout.  This one grabbed me.  I already figured the colors would be red and gold - I threw in the black after seeing the grooms wedding outfit.  I printed off the sentiment on the computer (I hope it's right - I found a few different spellings!).  I used my 2 1/2" circle punch (I'm using this punch more and more lately - it's another must have!)  I then searched through my "to-be-sold" pile of stamp sets hoping I hadn't sold my "Embrace Life" set.  I hadn't (obviously!).  I think this one will make it back into my cupboard.  I struggled with whether or not to sell it ... I'm thinking not ...
I used gold card stock, black and red - the red I spritzed with the gold Smooch Spritz - it doesn't show too well in this shot but the sheen on it matched the sheen of the gold card stock perfectly!  I stamped the flowers with my retired gold metallic ink and colored it with my watercolor pencils (white with a touch of red in the centres).  I popped up the black circle and the sentiment with dimensionals and added pearls as the finishing touch.  Love it!  Clean, elegant, simple (although it took me about 2 hours to get it that simple *lol*

Right - I'm off to go sledding with the girls ... ok - they sled - I watch.  The last time I went sledding I though my spine was going to break and my tail bone hurt for a week, despite the ample padding I have back there!

Have a fabulous day!

Tam