Praying for you....

Hi all! Happy Saturday to you! As you read this, I am in Memphis visiting with my grandmother. For those of you that don't come here regularly (shame on you! lol), my grandmother had a stroke earlier in the week and is not doing well. They have called the family in and so we're there. I hope to come home tomorrow with a feeling that she will get better, not worse. God doesn't make mistakes, though, so...we'll have to wait and see what He has planned for her. :)

Anyway, so today's card is for both the Papertrey September Blog Hop:

 AND the Embellish Magazine challenge:

Let's talk about the Papertrey Blog Hop first. We were to think about fellow crafters that inspire us or who have shown us things that we now use in our crafting. Ok, well THAT is a huge request. I have learned so much from so many people. My main inspirations, though, are Laurie Willison, Julie Lacey, Julee Tillman, and Dana Seymour. Every single day I know that when I wake up and start blog hopping, those four fabulous women will have some of the best stuff out there. I also love that they spread the love - using all sorts of supplies and stamps. It's really great to see people who can take the same stamps I might have and totally rock your socks with them. People who can MAKE you purchase things JUST because you have seen them use it. These women drive me to stamp every single day in the hopes that THEY will love what I create. It's silly, I know, but they are truly the best in my mind.  They have shaped the way I stamp and the styles I love. These 4 women are my stamping inspiration and I want them (and you) to know that they are tops in my book..and they're super nice to boot! Thank you ladies. 

 As for my card today (yeah, yeah, we'll eventually get to it..lol), I used a trick I learned through a Papertrey Ink Senior Design Team group post on Nichole Heady's blog a few months back. It was the post where they showed us their favorite ways to use ribbon. On the post, Ashley Cannon Newell showed us a technique that totally changed the way I use ribbon..and i've used this technique on 32 cards since that post! Yikes!! Here is a link to her post: Ribbon Favorites. Fabulous!!

So, the Embellish challenge this week totally called my name to create something elegant and serene. I thought of my grandmother while making this card. I simply LOVE these colors together! We also had to use background stamping on the card. I used my PTI Damask Designs stamps. They just scream elegance and especially when paired up with the Papertrey Ink Vellum paper. It is SO heavy  while still being delicate and sheer...good stuff! The ribbon - well, I think you know about me and ribbon by now, right? Just love that stuff. 

Ok, so this post has gone on WAY to long and thank you SO much for sticking around to read all of this. So without further ado, here is my card:

I initially had rhinestones where you see pearls, but as soon as I snapped the picture our UPS guy drove up with my order of pearls from Stampin Up! Score!! I quickly changed out the bling and took another pic..lol. 

Ok, well this has been a super duper long post. Thanks for stopping by. If you think about it, will you please keep my grandmother in your prayers? Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you back soon! Laters!

Stamps: Damask Designs (papertrey)

Card Stock: Going Grey and striped dsp (stampin up); Lemon Tart, Vellum, Smokey Shadow, White (papertrey)

Ink: Memento Black

Extras: Lemon Tart ribbon (papertrey); Butterfly punch, pearls, and button (stampin up)