Remembering Carissa

A month or so ago I posted about my little sister Carissa being in the hospital with pneumonia and blood clots in her lungs. We thought she was getting better and had been out of the hospital for about 2 weeks, but about 3 weeks ago she took a sudden turn for the worse, and on the 13th of April she passed away. Our family misses her so much because she was really the light of our lives, but we know that her mission here on Earth was finished and that she is now with our Heavenly Father. It has been amazing, over the past couple of weeks, to see just how many lives she touched during her life. She helped so many people to feel the pure love of Christ, and she never missed an opportunity to share her testimony of God's plan. I made a book of remembrance for the viewing and funeral for people to write in, and it filled nearly 100 pages! I hope that I can live my life in such a way that I can bless peoples' lives the way Carissa did.

This picture is the cover of the book. The pp is from SEI, from the Winnie's Walls line. This bright, happy paper was the perfect way to capture her personality. I used a Coluzzle circle template to create the big scallops, and the Cutterbee piercing bug to do the holes for the stitching (this is the niftiest little tool!). The little letter rub-ons I used for her different nick-names are from American Crafts. "Carissa" is cut with the Cricut Alphalicious cartridge at 2 1/2", and the swirl behind it is cut from Christmas Cheer (it's actually two swirls glued together, one cut at 5 1/2" and one cut at 3").

Many of you who read this have already done so much to show love and support for me and my family -- thank you! We have been truly overwhelmed by the love of our family, friends, and neighbors, and many people we didn't even know! God bless all of you!