Best Friends

Many years ago I made up a quote that explained my best friend in one neat little sentence, "My best friend is the sister of my heart".  It is a long and winding road to get there, but once you arrive, there's no going back.  I'm funny that way. Loyalty, love and honor are among the things I most prize in life.  I know many people would be surprised to know that my favorite movie is "The Last Samurai" which has more than it's fair share of blood and guts.  But the story is all about honor and having the courage to live by your convictions.  Not many people do that in this life. People talk a good game, but when it comes to showing you what they are really made of, many people fail to have any sort of honor.  I understand that makes them human, but if you've acquired the status of being my best friend, then you've done something to show me that you live as honorably as you know how... that your word means something to you and to me.   My husband is as honorable as my best friend.

We drift away from people who no longer live near us.  That's just the way it is. I'm still not over my husband moving me again in 2010 but there was a lot to leave behind this time -- my daughter and my 2 grandsons and in that time they've added another grandson to the family.  It's a four hour drive now and it used to be 10 minutes.  And my best friend.... I had to leave my best friend there, too.  

Although I wouldn't recommend the way we arrived at this place, she and I have a depth of love, understanding and compassion for each other that most people will never have or know.  We are fiercely loyal to each other and always will be. She is my sister in every sense of the word.  When I was still in Frisco, we had the same doctor and we used to crack jokes about going to our doctor (also a woman) and having her cut our index finger open to mix our blood -- you know-- like blood brothers only blood sisters.  She came from Las Cruces in 2000 while I had been a transplant from Kansas in 1997.  I don't think we were too sure about each other in the beginning, but our hearts were wiser than we were.  Its pretty uncanny how our lives paralleled each other in all the years before our meeting. 

There is simply no other way to say it except that she is my sister of the heart and that's a whole lot closer than any other human being will ever be.  In her honor, I made this card to send her.

  

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Canson Bristol 96# Watercolor Paper. The Bristol is whiter than the Canson 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper although it is not bright white.  It's more of a soft white like Bazzill Marshmallow.  I stamped the Hero Arts Floral Background stamp and heat embossed it using WOW! Gold Rich Pale which is a different color than most gold embossing powders.  It's a little richer and has a bit more gold color to it - like Brass actually.  I always use it when I want to have a hint more warmth to my project.  It melts fast and super smooth.  I colored in all of the flowers using Worn Lipstick Distress Marker and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Deep Green for the leaves.  One of the biggest surprises to me in learning how to watercolor was how the whole feel of a color changes when you add a bit of water to it.  Worn Lipstick seems pretty decidedly pink until you add water and then it takes on a bit of a coral hue.  

For the skinny strip of gold anchoring the sentiment, I cut a strip of Cameo Coral Card Stock and went over it with Versamark Cube and heat set it using the same, Gold Rich Pale — twice.  If you happen to have any of this card stock around, hoard it.  It's no longer available and is a perfect match for Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini Ink.  It's so perfect in fact that I sent a sample of it to a place where I do a bit of business to see if they could get a matching color card stock for their store.  Can't hurt to ask, right?  And they have nothing remotely resembling this color at the moment.    

For the Mama Elephant Scripty "friend", I cut three of them from watercolor card stock and adhered them one on top of the other for a thicker embellishment. I covered that with Versamark and heat embossed it three times using the same Gold Rich Pale Embossing Powder.  The third time really did the trick as far as giving the word the "domed" appearance.  I adhered the gold strip and the sentiment using Ranger Multi Medium Matte and put it all on an A2 card base made from the Cameo Coral.  

I know that everyone has their own stories and feelings about why their best friend is their best friend.  This is mine.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by today.   I really appreciate any comments you'd care to leave for me.