Flourishes has a sad goodbye...

I wasn't sure how I was going to write this post honestly. Do you ever have trouble with saying the words you want and feel? Today is Leslie's last day with the Flourishes design team family, she is taking time to spend with her family, Wally, garden and in general take a break and focus on Leslie. This is bitter sweet from my end as I adore her so much. I type how I talk so bare with me on this. Instead of making this a sad post so much, I want to share with you the things I adore about Leslie and how I have come to know her.
I came across a card of Leslie's on SCS long ago and have been ever so grateful. Her style is simple yet has an elegance to it that makes you say "how did she do that" and I love that. Plus have you seen what she can do with white space.. ACK the women can do it all. When she became part of Flourishes she just exploded with her designs and her creations I thought. I started to follow her blog, really she probably thought who is this crazy lady always commenting. ha ha Then she probably really freaked when I came on the team about 3 year ago. :0) Thinking oh crap this lady is really stalking me... Kidding of course.
Anyways, I got the honor of meeting Leslie last year at CHA. She has such a fun outlook on life and had us laughing just about everywhere. The thing that was so real about it I guess is, she made you feel as if you knew her from long ago. I learned first hand how much she LOVES designer paper, I mean LOVES designer paper. You can tell from her work how much she loves paper. Leslie is very devoted to her family and puppy Wally. She shares pictures and stories of Wally often, that make you just smile. He is totally cute ya know. When we got Ranger I showed Leslie a picture first thing as I knew she would be just as excited as I was. She has prayed for me on several occasions when needed and didn't hesitate to check on how things were going. I have even emailed asking gardening advice as she has a gorgeous yard full of flowers that I can never seem to keep alive. ha ha Leslie is a great cheerleader and encourager when you need it, she knows just what to say and gives you the smile you need at the time. This is not an end to our friendship I know, just means we will be keeping in touch a different way. I hope you stop on over and give Leslie a hi and happy retirement as they say today.
Now for my creation... we all wanted to honor Leslie and her work she has done and all her time spent with Flourishes. Christine came up with the idea of taking one of Leslie's creations and casing it. How do you suppose I do that? Choosing one is not easy, but I did choose this one. Shows the simple yet elegance that she creates! I have often said how do you use the pearls like that and have it look like it is suppose to be? I kept the layout, shapes for the most part, stamp set and over all feel of the card the same. Changed the sentiment tag. I sent this to Leslie and she hopefully gets this in today's mail. I know her decision is from the heart as hard as it is. She is irreplaceable! I want her to know that we love her and that I truly am thankful to have designed with her at Flourishes.

Please check out the creations the girls have today as well:
Christine
Cindy
Julie
Dawn
Barbara
Sharon
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