Stitched with love.

It is always exciting hearing from you!  Thanks to all who have entered my blog candy draw.  I have been visiting all the sites you have shared with me and have even added a few to my google reader.  You have until the 20th to get your name in to win my stamp set called Take Three: Spring.

I am so excited today because my stamping friend Glenda Wyatt  is coming to visit me again!  She will be teaching a class in my city this morning and then stopping by this afternoon so we have planned to stamp together.  I can hardly wait.

Today's card is a special one.  Spring is in the air...and that means love is too right?  On April 19th, DH and I will have been together for 11 years (we've been married almost 10 now).  While most people don't celebrate the day they were "officially" a couple DH and I never take that day for granted.  And every year we make sure to tell each other what that day means to us often reminiscing about the things we did as a couple--you know before the marriage, the kids, the dog, the cat, the truck, the house, the bills, the RESPONSIBILITY!

DH and I have been friends since 1995 and officially started dating in 1999.  In friendship we supported one another through the ups and downs of life (and at the time other relationships).  One January (1999) I noticed his name on a blanket e-mail sent out by one of my friends and decided to send him a note.  It read: "I'm finally single and I am finally getting to know myself."  (I was in a relationship for years as not to be alone).  It wasn't long before I had a reply "I'm single too.  Maybe we should meet for coffee and chat."  A few weeks later we met for a few hours and parted ways.  We continued chatter over daily e-mails (would you believe I still have the entire stack of e-mails we sent back and forth too?).  A few of those e-mails led to "friends going out" and continued over the course of months...until that day in April, when I looked into his eyes and something changed.  An epiphany actually.  Upon realizing that I could spend the rest of my life alone if I had to I was willing to let a piece of my heart become attached to someone else again.  I still remember the restaurant we went to...that "moment of change", the conversation we had, the feeling I had within and "the kiss".  This was the guy I had been pushing away for years.  The one who showed interest in me.  The one who made me laugh. The one who challenged me.  The good looking guy that I could never tell I thought was good looking because I didn't want it to go to his head.  This was the perfect guy for me but the one I was afraid to let into my life because why should I be so lucky?!  Within 3 months of dating, he dropped to one knee at the end of the pier and asked for my hand in marriage.  It was all too quick and yet was years in the making.  The timing was finally our timing.  We were married 13 months later.  Life always has ups and downs.  And while the 11 years haven't been "easy" sailing they have been the best .  And while I didn't think it was ever possible, I love my husband more today than ever.  And that is why today's card is stitched with love. 

SUPPLIES
Stamps: sentiment from Daily Designs Sentiments by PTI
Ink: Pure Black by PTI
Cardstock: Vintage Cream by PTI
Other: Paper from a book
Accents" Buttons by PTI, Floss by Bazzill
Tools: Heart Punch by Fiskars, Scor-Pal

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Create card base 4.25x5.5.
2. Score lines around the edge.
3. Punch hearts and thread buttons onto hearts.  Adhere to card.
4. Stamp Sentiment.

I hope you have a fabulous day.  Don't forget to enter the draw if you haven't already.

Hugs;
Alli