SALT Challenge - In Celebration of Marriage

Today it was Stacy's turn to pick our SALT topic and she went with a perfectly timed one (little did she know it), the celebration of marriage. What a great topic!! For one, I'm quite thrilled with marriage and two, my good friend's daughter is getting married on Saturday! WooHoo!! Stacy had much to share on the SALT blog about her own journey as a child and how those experiences formed her view of marriage as an adult. Worth a read... For me...I share some of Stacy's experiences as my parents were also divorced when I was young. And I could post a novel about the ravages of divorce, the affects on children, the broken relationships, the trust issues children of divorce face in their own marriages, etc. but....I'd rather focus on the joys of marriage today!!! I'll just say that divorce should never be an option, outside of unfaithfulness, for a husband and wife. That's why one should seriously consider who they'll marry. If you can't see yourself with the person you're with until your old and gray, then get out of the relationship before you put the ring on your finger. Traditional marriage is taking quite a beating nowadays...Many are dead set against marriage, viewing it with some kind of "ball and chain" mentality. But the Bible tells that marriage is a delight and a blessing. If that's the case then can it be all that bad? Maybe it's the people in the marriage that are broken...not the institute itself. If that's the case, then should we toss out marriage? Instead we should take a closer look at ourselves to see where the real change needs to take place...in the hearts of men and women. In all honesty, I wasn't very commit-minded myself before I met my husband. I enjoyed my single life!! However, once I met my husband everything changed...in an instant. Within two weeks of meeting, we knew we would get married. And we did, five months later! (Hey, I was 32!!) And I've never had any regrets. That doesn't mean everything is always perfect, far from it. But we're committed to our marriage and to making it work, especially now that we have two children to care for. And when we struggle the most? We pray. We pray for God to fill our hearts with love for each other; to help us to put aside our selfish desires so we're able to be of better help to each other; to work together to compromise; to see the other in a better light. God has yet to disappoint me...those prayers have always been answered...I believe it's because God delights to help us fulfill His will. As for those young lovebirds getting married this weekend....I have no doubt that they are fully head over heels in love and fully committed to their pending marriage!! They're young so I suspect there may be some bumpy roads ahead but I'm quite certain that they are in it for the long haul; no matter what comes, trusting that the Lord will bring them through whatever trials or struggles lay ahead. And we pray that God would bless their marriage so that they may enjoy many joyful years together! I've found that those tingly, oogley-googley feelings fade over time...but oh how much more deep and profound the love for your spouse becomes...and that is a tremendous blessing!! OK...the card!!! Well I have to share that I was totally channeling Amy Sheffer for this card (have you seen Amy's work? Stunning!!!). A week or so ago she posted a card using this beautiful paper from Graphic 45. Turns out I have some of that paper in my stash...Then she posted a card using this beautiful rose ribbon...Turns out I have that ribbon...And then another card with some sparkly bling...Hey, I have bling in my stash!! So I simply had to create a Amy-style card for this weekend's big event! And, as it turns out, the wedding colors are black and pink...Fabulous!

With all that fun stuff on the front of the card I had to put the sentiment in the inside, which provided me with another opportunity to design...yeah!! And a spot to showcase a Sweet 'n Sassy digi sentiment. (The sentiment on the outside of the card is from the same set) These are from the Wedding Sentiments digi set, which is available for only $3.50. This was a pretty easy card to put together since I didn't do any stamping and instead used a photo from one of the sheets of designer paper as my main image. All I added was some more decorative paper, paper piercing, and aging before laying down the bling and ribbon. I'm happy with the way it turned out (thanks for the inspiration Amy!!) and am looking forward to the big day on Saturday!! (My little Beanie is going to be the ring bearer...you should see him in a tux...darling!!) Enjoy your weekend friends, and celebrate your marriage!! Oh, and head over to the SALT blog to check out the other work from our design team!