Freshly Made Sketches: Peace on Earth

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by the amazing Jennifer Timko.

I've been very focused on using stamps and dies from my unused pile, but I have a tree and snowflake die that I just love and knew that they would make a great little scene on top of that banner!

The tree and the snowflake are both from Reverse Confetti so that led me to the die and stamp set for the sentiment.
Do you ever have an emotional reaction while making cards?  I doubt it's just me. As I was creating this card, I realized that I had the perfect recipient, which then brought back a flood of memories along with a lot of tears. There's a wonderful gentlemen that I know through church. Recently he lost his wife to cancer - they were an amazing couple and I worried about him, but he seems to be keeping active. He follows me on Facebook, and on FB, I'm a bit political - OK, maybe a lot political. Every so often he replies via email, but I think the account must be in his wife's name, because I get emails from his deceased wife. It's very jarring, but at the same time, it causes me to remember this wonderful lady.  Just a year before his wife's cancer diagnoses, they lost their oldest son who was a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps and died in a mid-air collision between a Coast Guard aircraft and Marine Corps helicopter off the coast of San Diego. This is where the tears started. I was making this "peace on earth" card while being overwhelmed with memories from his funeral. I remember how long his commanding officer knelt in front of the family with the folded flag and spoke softly to them, sharing memories of their son and probably a message of hope. I remember the 21-gun salute echoing through the church. The deep faith of this amazing couple throughout all of it remains an inspiration for me to this day.
Of course, there needs to be laughter too.  I was one of two pianists for our church. For this funeral, I was playing the organ and the other lady was on the piano. Both of the instruments are toward the rear of the church near the open door outside of which the 21-gun salute was happening.  So as we watched the flag ceremony, we looked at each other with tears streaming down our faces. Then the guns went off and even though I knew it was coming, I about jumped off the organ bench. After that we were supposed to start a powerful rendition of "Eternal Father, Strong to Save". My hands were shaking so badly that I wasn't sure that I could find the right organ keys - and the pianist later said the same. We made it - it doesn't take long with such amazing and meaningful music, to feel the power and the peace of God wash over you - but, maybe inappropriately, we still laugh over the mental image of standing up and telling the congregation they would have to do it a cappella!
OK - back to cardmaking!  
I hope to see you play along with Jen's fun sketch - it's a great layout, but with so many options to take in the direction you wish.
SUPPLY LIST
The patterned paper is an older 6x6 pad - Fancy Pants Timbergove.

RC Branch Out Dies	RC Let It Snow Dies	Reverse Confetti Winter Words	RC Winter Word Coordinates | Reverse Confetti, LLC
MFT Tropical Teal CS	SU Sahara Sand CS	PPP 4mm Sparkling Clear Sequins

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