Link Up Love Party with K Andrew and Getting Cricky!!

Happy Tuesday to all of my WONDERFUL bloggie buddies and FABULOUS followers!! :)  I'm so very glad you are joining me today, the FIRST day of SUMMER!! :)  Guess what else today is???  It's the "Link Up Love Party with K Andrew" of Getting Cricky!!  Woot-woot!! :)  On the 3rd Tuesday of each month, Kristal has this fun link up love party as a way to get to know each other and find new blog inspiration -- What a GREAT way to share our talents and CELEBRATE one another!! :)

I have one of my favorite recent projects to 're'share with you today...  I wanted to post two, but based on an experience from today, I decided to give this one card all of the attention :)  I'll share the details first, and then I'll share why I selected this card (thanks for sticking around to see why)...

This is my "Thank You, Hero" card that I posted in the "Getting Cricky with it" Blog Hop (ya know, the one where we all said, "HOORAY! Kristal's stamps are now available!!")...  Since I promised to post the details of each of those cards, I'm starting with this one.

This is a standard A2 card (4.25"x5.5").  I started with a plain WHITE piece of cardstock measuring 4.25"x5.5"...  I then cut the letters "H-E-R-O" at 2" using the font on the Plantin SchoolBook Cricut Cartridge from plain WHITE cardstock.  I used caramel ink on a sponge to distress and 'color' each of the letters.  I also used the ink/sponge to discolor the base paper -- giving it all an 'antique' look.

After adhering the letters to the top half of the card, I added a 2" strip of 'designer' kraft cardstock from my stash of scraps...  This kraft cardstock has a watermark-like image all over it and already had the red distressing at the edge (gotta love finding those perfect pieces for cards in your scraps!); however, you could easily use regular kraft paper and sponge distress it for a similar look.  Three bronze snaps were added to the paper before adhering it to the base.

I added some variegated hemp cord to a 3/4" strip of textured brick cardstock, popped a strip of foam dimension to the back of the strip, and adhered that at the top edge of the kraft strip.  My sentiment is one of the wonderful stamps found on K Andrew's "Freedom Isn't Free" Stamp Art Set...  If you'd like to see all of her stamp sets (or get in on the final pre-orders), please CLICK HERE...  I stamped the sentiment with dark green ink onto smooth white cardstock and then inked it to match the card base.  The frame was adjusted with my Gypsy, but can be found on the Reminisce Accents Cricut Cartridge.

So how did this card get my final vote for today's 'Link Up Love Party'???  Well, today was grocery day...  Grocery day is not necessarily a fun experience for me. :)  Sure, I love getting great deals and only buying things on sale -- I am not as obsessive about it as those on "Extreme Couponing"...  I'm not even as into it as my mom (who has dubbed the grocery store her own version of a casino -- since she gives them coupons and they give her more coupons at checkout!), but it does make me happy to get discounted gas (and TEN free tubes of toothpaste today!)!!  :)  Anywho...

Usually when I roll my cart up to the checkout, I get one of 'those' looks...  The cashier doesn't look too thrilled to be there, she usually sighs as I hand her a stack of coupons and my advantage card, and she just looks overall annoyed with me...  Well, did I have a surprise today!!  My cashier was Sandy...  Sandy greeted me with a HUGE smile and asked me how I was doing.  Taken by surprise with her happy demeanor I quickly answered, "I'm good!  How are you?"  Sandy continued to surprise me by striking up a conversation as she scanned each item (all 99 of them!)...  She asked how I was enjoying the weather and if we had any fun plans for the summer...  After telling her that The-Girl-Child (whom I had somehow managed to drag along with me) had just graduated high school so we were stocking up for college (true fact - Fruit Gushers were on sale - how can The-Girl-Child go to college without taking some Fruit Gushers???), Sandy talked about her own kids...  And how her daughter had joined the military 10 years ago...  Her daughter has a little one with another on the way now...  Sandy chit-chatted with us as though we were old friends...  She happily exclaimed that today was the first day of summer ("well, at 1:17 officially" she said, since it's her favorite time of year)...

I left the grocery store feeling incredible...  We practically skipped to the car!!  Why???  Because ONE person decided that her job wasn't mundane.  Because ONE person decided to BE the sunshine on the first day of summer...  As we drove home, I started to think about something that the always fabulous Kristal said in her "Simply Sunday" post this week....

"....Let Your Light Shine--and don't let anyone or anything dim your light or stamp it out. Life is just too precious to sit around worrying about anything silly, dwelling on the negative, or feeling anything less than terrific.  So go ahead and take your candle--and light your world. Let your "sun" shine--unleash your happines and joy on the world--you might just be surprised to see what comes back. You can't possibly let good out without it coming back. You can't reflect light--without it reflecting back onto you."  -K. Andrew

Truer words were never spoken...  Sandy expressed that she misses her daughter (and both of her sons) every day.  Even though she talks to them often, it would probably be easy for her to get down in the dumps missing them...  It would be easy for her to be frustrated with the customer who hands her a stack of coupons...  It would be easy for her to scan a cart full of groceries without mumbling more than the total to the customer on the other side of the conveyor belt...  But Sandy chose to be that light today -- and she couldn't just be that light without having it reflect back on her!! 

So this card is dedicated to SANDY for being a hero in her childrens' lives (something tells me they would agree) and to Sandy's DAUGHTER for her dedicated service in the military (and as a mother too!)...  I wish Sandy's daughter could have been there to hear the wonderful things her mom shared!!  But maybe, just maybe, Sandy's daughter will somehow come across this someday...  {If your mom's name is Sandy and she's a cashier at a grocery store in a small town north of Pittsburgh, Pa, then this might just be for you!}  :)

Today, on this first day of Summer, I'm grateful for people like SANDY...  who choose to BE the sunshine and share their joy with others...

Now pop on over to Getting Cricky to link up YOUR favorite project!!  And may your first day of Summer be FILLED with SUNSHINE!! :)




Until next time,
Amy :) at Love To Crop!