When you think, "Mother In Law", what comes to mind? If you know she's on her way over, do you rush to clean the house because you she'll be checking for dust with her white gloves on? Perhaps you start to panic about what meal you will prepare, knowing that no matter what you do, she won't like it. I know when it comes to "in laws" there are people who face challenging situations, but thank God that's not the case for me.

I love my Mother In Law so much. Her name is Alvena. My kids call her Grandma, My niece calls her "Grams". My Son In Law calls her "Grandma Alvie", I think that my favorite name for her!!!

From the first day I met Alvena, at the YWAM base in Honolulu, I thought she was amazing!. She's a licensed pastor, a powerful communicator, a great listener, an amazing counselor, a prayer warrior, a former school administrator, a small accounting business owner, an excellent cook and she's as cute as a button especially when standing next to her handsome hubby of 54 years!

When visiting her last month, I noticed these beautiful flowers on her front porch.

These flowers inspired the birthday card I created for her this year.

I chose a stamp set that I hadn't worked with before called, Bouquet Blooms. This set comes with coordinating framelits called Gatefold Blossoms.

Here is the card I made for Alvena.

I used the Gateway Blossoms framelit to cut out a floral pattern on both the top and bottom flap of this card.

Below, you can see where I attached a Granny Apple Green Card Stock to the top flap to cover the back of the die cut area. This also became the place where I added a small Whisper White Card Stock and stamped the"Happy Birthday" sentiment from the set Blow Out The Candles.

I then layered on a bunch of bright flowers that I colored with Stampin' Blends. I also added lots of basic Jewel Rhinestones, both clear and red.

The inspiration for the colors on this card, came from this floral Macy's Gift card that was hidden inside.

Over the years, Alvena has taught me many valuable life lessons and I have a lot to thank her for. One thing I realized the other day is that as she was raising her boys, she was praying for their future spouses. That means when I was growing up, she was praying for me. What an amazing blessing that is to know that!

I am also grateful to her for raising such an incredible son who has been my husband for 30 years this November!

Now that I am officially a Mother In Law, I hope that my kids will feel the same way about me as I do about Alvena. I hope that like Alvena I will live my life to honor God, to love and serve others and to choose joy everyday.

Happy Birthday Mom! We are all thankful, grateful and blessed to have you in our lives!

Thanks for being such an amazing Mother in LOVE!

Mother In Love

Stamped With Aloha

Mother In Love

Let's KIT Together!

So Santa

Stamped With Aloha