In Memory of Janis

Hi guys, I just wanted to post a few words today to remember our dear blogging friend Janis Woolbright, who sadly passed away earlier this month. 

Many of us got to know Janis through her Cat Lovers Blog Hop, which took place each year in October and must have been a herculean task for her to organise.  Janis hosted the hop on her sweetly named blog Her Peaceful Garden, where her son James posted the sad news of her passing on Friday 6th January. 

I'd been chatting with Janis just before Christmas and had been planning to ask her to be my elf again later this year. During the conversation she was full of concern for me and my family and made no mention of her own health worries, brushing aside my queries with her usual humour and endless concern for others. 

Janis was my first elf here at Christmas Kickstart and created this adorable card for our Festive Felines Challenge. 

She kindly made a return visit in the same year for Challenge #25 when we played with The Christmas Story as our theme. 

 

Her encouragement and support were invaluable when I first began this crazy Christmas Kickstart adventure and I will be forever grateful for the help and ideas she supplied. 

Her son James has been very kind in keeping in contact with her cardmaking friends, and I was especially touched by his comments about how crafting played a big part in her life:

'As her health continued to falter, she continued to keep busy, working in her garden as she was able (until she finally retired from it last year), and returned to her old interest in cardmaking and papercrafting, which became her most satisfying hobby and occupied her last years.  She entered her greeting cards in contests on the internet and won many prizes and delighted in sending them to friends both online and offline.  Her most successful venture was the annual Cat Lovers Hop that she created and hosted on her blog, which drew entries from cardmakers all around the world.'

I'm glad her family have a sense of what a special part of our crafting community Janis has been and how much we will miss her. I'm know you'll all want to join me in sending love and special thoughts to Jim, James, Betsy and all her family during this weekend which will see her memorial service and burial take place at at St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Kamiah, Idaho.