For Yayoi, my friend forever!

Back in the summer of 1989, my family had the pleasure of hosting the sweetest girl from Japan for a month. Although I haven't been great about staying in touch with Yayoi, I have thought about her often over the course of the past TWENTY years. Wow. I cannot believe it was really that long ago. I suddenly feel very old! :-) Anyway, imagine my surprise and delight when a few months ago I got an email from Yayoi, completely out of the blue!! And get this - she found me because of this blog!! She googled me, found links to my blog, and found my email address here on my sidebar. YAY!!! Even more reason I am thankful that I started this blog on a total whim about two and a half years ago...! :-) And everytime I see the sweet little Asian stamps from Hero Arts, I always think of Yayoi. So, I made this card with her in mind:The idea for the card came from the Hero Arts blog challenge a couple weeks back, to make a card inspired by one of the 2010 catalog sneak peeks. I used the same basic layout as some of the cards here. This particular challenge is long finished, but I encourage you to check out the current challenge - cards that give - because Hero Arts gives away some AWESOME prizes with each new challenge!!! Plus if you win, you get to email ME at the winner's email address, and that is fun for me so GO PLAY ALONG NOW FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! LOL! Some other details on the card you may not be able to see in the photo - I colored all the girls' hair with black Glaze pen, to give it a nice, healthy shine. :-) The dresses are highlighted with Sakura Stardust pen, Stickles, white gel pen and a little bling on the flower of the middle girl. I borrowed the Four Dolls stamps from my friend Rae Anne a couple MONTHS ago, intending to make this card! It took me that long. Geesh. Thanks for the loan, sorry I've had your stamps this long Rae Anne!! :-) The background on the Hero notecard was created with the flower from this set. Can you tell that I love purple?? LOL!

Yayoi, thank you again for finding me, I hope we will stay in better touch now (and I *STILL* dream of visiting you in Japan someday!!) and everyone else, thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Four Dolls from Hero Arts
• Paper: Hero Arts notecard, Bazzill swiss dotted cardstock, white cardstock
• Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
• Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities dies, Sakura Stardust pen, Stickles, white gel pen, black Glaze pen, Hero Arts gems