Truly Grateful for NC Demo Quarterly

I am headed to my teenage "stomping grounds" tomorrow with Marianne.  We are going to a NC SU Demo Quarterly meeting in Shallotte.  But, on our way, we will be stopping by Lake Waccamaw which is less than an hour's drive from Shallotte.  Our family went to Lake Waccamaw for two weeks every summer with my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins .... and our maid who was like part of our family.  Oh the tales I could tell of my "coming of age" at Lake Waccamaw!  My oldest cousin, Landon, taught me all about smoking, boys, sneaking out of the house at midnight, boys, plucking my eyebrows, boys, etc. etc.!!  We had such good times.  I met a boy there when I was in high school and we were quite serious and had a relationship through my college years off and on.  Who knows what the future would have held if he had not moved to California!!  Not that I am not grateful and in love with my husband (even after 40 years!!) but don't you ever wonder - if some little detail had changed, how different your life could have been???

Our family had some sad news today.  My Aunt Carol passed away this afternoon.  She has been struggling with dementia for several years.  My cousin, Candy, who lives in Mooresville had her at her home for a long time until it just got too much for her.  So her sister, Jane, who lives in Raleigh has had her for almost a year.  She went to a Hospice facility on Monday and we knew the end was near.  Candy and her brother, Bobby, went to see her last weekend.  And today Candy took her daughter, Alex, to Raleigh one last time.   Alex posted the most touching tribute to her Facebook page this evening.  "Today at 3:30pm I stayed by my sweet Grandmommy's side and watched as she drifted off to heaven. I'm so glad God let me see her in time to say goodbye. I remember when I was a little girl, she would lay with me at night until I would fall asleep, and I'm so thankful I could do the same for her at her last moment of life. I will always love you Grandmommy ♡ RIP My beautiful angel."


Anyway, I have been furiously getting prepared for the Quarterly.  I am doing a presentation on Saturday and teaching them to make a tag booklet with shipping tags and the envelope punch board.  I'll be sharing my book soon.  I also organized the card swap and will share my Perfect Blend hybrid card with you later.  Marianne is in charge of the Christmas tag swap and I made a snowman tag (later share also).  Friday night we will be doing a shoebox swap with 23 people participating.  That's a lot of cards to make in one evening!  But it will be fun!  Here is my shoebox card using Truly Grateful.  I really like how it turned out.  I used Summer Starfruit for the base and Cajun Craze for the layer.  I stamped the background stamp onto the Cajun with Cajun Craze ink.  I die cut the Chocolate Chip label and a label from Naturals cardstock.  On the Naturals cardstock, I sponged Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake ink.  On top of that I stamped the wheat.  I punched 2 small holes and threaded some strings from the burlap ribbon in them.  On top I stamped the acorn and adhered it with dimensionals. 

I''ve been working on my new computer today - love how fast it is!  But I think I may have to download all the elements I have bought over the years for MDS which will take me a little bit of time!  I'm hoping there is an easy solution to that but I will tackle that problem when I return.

OK - gotta go pack for my trip.  Have a great weekend!!  I probably won't be able to post again until Sunday.