My Family & Other Animals

Thursday 7 June 2012

"Together Forever..."


"Together Forever and never to part

Together Forever we two

And don't you know

I would move heaven and earth

To be Together Forever with you"

Aren't they just the loveliest words? Who would have thought that Rick Astley could have been so deep! I know that marriage vows in this country are going the way of the great USA (let's be honest here, this is virtually the 51st State already) with couples now being able to get married wherever they want and being able to write their own 'vows' to each other. Obviously during the marriage ceremony we still have to follow the traditional vows first but couples can now write their own promises to each other and they could do worse than to use the words above.

I remember in 1982 when I married my first wife, taking the vows in a church and saying those words before God had a massive impact on me, so much so that they were probably the reason I stuck around for twelve years instead of cutting and running after four! My own parents divorced before reaching their second anniversary and the aftermath of their decision had such a profound effect on my entire life I always 'promised' myself I would never do that to any children of mine. So did I do the right thing by putting my own needs before those of my son? I don't suppose I will ever really know but I do know that I couldn't be any happier now.

My life with Jo is so special to me. We are going to be celebrating our 15th Anniversary in December and the thought of letting anyone or anything come between us kills me. Our marriage is built on trust and respect for each other but with a really strong foundation of friendship as we have know each other for 25 years and the words to the Rick Astley song would have applied to our friendship alone! I know every couple starts their married life thinking it will be forever and you never know what life can throw at you but I think I can say, with a fair degree of certainty, that Jo and I will see out our days with each other. We truly are Together Forever.

So onto this weeks challenge at I ♥ ProMarkers and Challenge #120 is "For A Little Girl". We are being sponsored by the wonderful Lili Of The Valley and as soon as I saw this stamp on their website it made me think of Jo and I as kids. So my card is from the seven year old me to the seven year old Jo (but in real life she would be 15 as their are eight years between us, but that is just too weird to even contemplate!!). I set out to make a 'different' card this week and I think I have achieved that as it turned out a lot softer than I usually make. I used a really old 12" x 12" paper from my (never to be used for cards) scrap stack and that kind of dictated everything else on the card. The flowers are Prima (of course!) and the die is a Marianne while the doily came in a pack from Joanna Sheen and the buttons and wooden apple have been in my stash for ages. I am really happy with the final effect and I just hope you like the card as much as I do.

See you again soon,

take care,

Andy

x

Entered Into: Paper Crafting Journey Challenge: Colour It Up

A & T Digital Designs Challenge #25 - Buttons

Card A Day Challenge: Birthday/Friendship/Red, White & Blue/Just Because/Teen

Just Keep On Creating Challenge #2 - Anything Goes

ATC's and Cards With Attitude Challenge - Anything Goes/Father's Day

Inspire Me Friday's Challenge #62 - Anything Goes

Craft Your Days Away Challenge #47 - Bingo

Allsorts Challenge #158 - Ice Cream Colours

Craft Your Passion Challenge #114 - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Reel Challenge #30 - Strawberries and Cream

15 comments:

  1. This is gorgeous Andy. Fantastic colouring and awesome layout. Thank you so much for joining us at Craft Your Days away this fortnight and good luck.

    Hugs
    Cathy
    xxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andy I love reading your posts and the most gorgeous cards, this one is absolutely gorgeous, love the image and the colors thank you for joining us at ATC's With Attitude this fortnight. Abbie (Co Owner) xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Andy this is simply gorgeous, beautiful colouring a fab layout and lovely soft colours. I was gonna come and play at I love Promarkers then remembered I'd given Distress Markers a go so it wouldn't count (silly, silly me!)
    Thanks for sharing such a personal and beautiful post with us.
    Hugs
    Clare
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow what a beautiful card! I love everything about it.
    Thanks for playing along with us at Card A Day Blog

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a goregous card, beautiful coloring and I love the embelishing. Thanks for joing the Card A Day Blog Challenge.
    Cindy F

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful card Andy, love the colours, very cute, thanks for joining us at crafts your days away, Gaynor DT x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have just found your blog your card's are amazing, stunning layouts and designs. Caroline xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Andy, your words really touched me deeply, congrats on your anniversary and want to wish you lots more beautiful years to come.. and your card is simply gorgeous, love the image and colours.. thank you also for joining us at Emerald Fairies. Good luck xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a gorgeous card Andy, such a sweet image and lovely colouring too.
    Thanks for joining us at The Ribbon Reel this week!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your card, Andy !
    Your colors and image is so beautiful.
    Thanks a lot for joining Craft Your Days Away. Hope to see you again soon.
    Hugs Berit

    ReplyDelete
  11. Andy your card is beautiful and so is the sentiment! I am on my second time round to I've been with my 2nd husband for 12 years and I can't ever imagine being without him either!. Please can you contact me urgently on susielittle@ymail.com I feel my emails maybe going to Spam.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Andy,
    Such beautiful words and story, have been together with my OH for 46yrs ( I was 17 he 19 )
    and married 35yrs. Life without him is impossible to consider.

    Your card is simply wonderful the image, which I have, just says it all.
    Janet

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love this image too! great card
    thank you for joining in the challenge at ATCs and cards with attitude this week
    hugs
    Debbi x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh wow this is a fabulous card Andy - beautiful sentiment - love the Rick Astley reference too. Thanks so much for playing along with us at The Ribbon Reel this fortnight x

    ReplyDelete
  15. your posts are always so interesting to read, I love this card and yes it did bring back memories of Rick Astley. I love the main image and the lovely embellishments.

    Thanks so much for sharing your creation at Anything goes, Just keep on creating, I hope you will continue to play along. Sorry about the the delay in leaving my comment I have been overseas and then got sick, I will be announcing the winners and will have the next challenge by 01/09 :)

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave a comment, I welcome constructive criticism.