You Know You're Friends When ...

Best friends are really one of those sweet treasures in life. The people who help ground you, give you an honest opinion and call you when you need it, even if you just have five minutes to talk.

I never really knew what a best friend was all about until I went to college and met one of my roommates. And I didn’t like her at first. Here was this uber athletic chic who was, on first glance, the exact opposite of me. My idea of a good workout was taking the stairs, holding my choir notebook “properly” the entire hour and wiping down the dining room tables.

Since living quarters were small, we learned more about each other, and all I can say is I am thankful.

We walked side by side on our very different college journeys – from track meets and cadavers to speeches and photo shoots. We met our first boyfriends/future husbands … and told each other everything. (We married great men – they get our relationship.) We stood side by side at our weddings. And her sweet baby and I even share a birthday!

We’ve shared many things in the years we’ve known each other. But one way you really know the extent of friendship is when you share trash.

Even though our styles are different, we both enjoy crafting and we respect each other’s talents. When I recently visited my dear friend, as we chatted about projects we were working on and trying to reduce clutter in our lives, the light bulb flashed. She had finished a large scrapbooking project and had a stack of trimmed paper “ends” she just couldn’t make herself toss … and I was making cards.

Naturally, I gladly accepted her trash, and we were both pleased.

I’m not sure if this exactly classifies as helping me reduce clutter in my home … but it’s always great to turn trash into treasure!

The rest of the materials from these cards come from my wedding. The black background is a portion of the classy ribbed cardstock I used to create pocket fold invitation jackets. And the ribbon … yep, I’m that girl … it’s saved from a gift. (Is it sad that I even remember what gift it came from? I have a memory like an elephant!)

With each project, I keep trying to make things a little better or learn a new way to improve my processes. I’ve also been striving for the perfect card – straight stitching, no extra needle holes, no pulled ribbon – it’s a lot harder than it seems. I taught myself a new finishing trick on this Halloween set – I’m now pulling ALL of the threads through to the back so the front of the card has no stray thread ends/knots. I’m quite pleased with the results! And I think this card is as close to perfect as I’m going to get.

See the Trick or Treat card set and some of my sewn cards on Etsy.com.

And thanks, friend, for being my best friend … and enabling my crafting. I’ll help you curl ribbons any day!