CCEE1735 Monochromatic and dies

What a week we have had in the Texas Gulf coast area! Hurricane Harvey came for a visit and many of our coastal towns and cities, and he didn't seem to want to leave.  So, I have lost track of days, have been in and out of my home, and finally realized, oh, it's Thursday. I need to get a card done for CCEE stampers. So, Ann's challenge for us this week was to use a monochromatic color theme and diecuts on our cards this week. I went with all white.

My husband and I did not think we were in an area that w going to be threatened and we had just returned from a week in Louisiana on a mission trip and just were glad to be home. Hubby had to go back to work on Monday, so we just came home to button down the hatches. We did not get the direct hit of the winds in our area, but we were on what they refer to as the dirty side of the storm. So, it rained, and rained and for 4 days it rained. Harvey just could not decide where he wanted to go. To add a little humor to this disasterous situation someone on  FB wrote: " Look what happens when you name a "Hurricane" after a man. He loses his way and he's too stubborn to stop and ask for directions, and he leaves a mess without cleaning up after himself. "

We left our house Monday night fearing our house would quickly be taking in water. I saw water rising higher and closer to our house than I had seen in the 20 years in this house. We had to walk out in the rain, wading through water to get to the point that a friend could retreive us with his truck. What a Godsend this sweet family was to take us in! Our next door neighbor had pets that could not be evacuated easily, and was staying in her house. She kept our cat, and she never lost power while we were gone, so we kept in touch with her. Tuesday, our neighbor informed us that we had not gotten water in our houses. So, Wednesday the water had gone down off the roads into the neighborhood  and we returned home. I have never felt such gratitude in my life to be standing in my house with no water. It was a miracle. When we left, it was inches from coming in our front door. It rained the rest of that night, and the next day, so I was expecting all of that to be all it would take. My sister, Lynn and parents live in the city where the eye of the storm hit earlier in the week, but they had evacuated to the city one of my sons lives. So they were safe, but were not sure how their houses faired during the storm. Today they arrived home and found no significant damage at their homes. I thank God for the grace He has shown my family. My parents are in the 80's and this would have been more than they could have dealt with; my sister had lost her husband this past year, and she has already had enough grief for this year, and I am so grateful God had put a hedge of protection around them.

Please continue to pray for many who have not been as fortunate and whose homes are ruined. The love and support of all who have come to be part of rescue teams and put their own lives in danger to do the wonderful job they are doing, have been God's hands and feet.

National day of Imperfections

Being an avid rubberstamper, I am always in search of a new challenge to motivate my creativity. Recently on one of my favorite websites Splitcoaststampers, the challenge was to make up a national day for something and make a card in honor of it. I recently purchased this great sentiment "This card is handmade and perfectly imperfect." It just seems to speak for me. Although I love being creative mixing colors of inks and making patterns and textures with the use of stamps, stencils, and inks, I never seem to create anything perfectly without a smudge here or there in the wrong place, or things not quite turning out as I had envisioned them in my brain. I have just learned to accept that in my art. I have come to embrace the idea that imperfections are what determines the places for embellishments.

My life is much like my art, so imperfect in so many ways. I hold to the fact that God is not finished with me yet. And my imperfections remind me that I can do nothing alone without the guidience and strength of my heavenly Father. He is always refining me; I just need to be still, listen, and be obedient.

As I write this, we are in the midst of Hurricane Harvey, and life is far from perfect and ideal. But again, I am reminded of just how great God's love is for me. The stuff of our lives too often become our priorities, but situations like this remind us of the real things of importance. Suddenly I become less offended by attitudes and opinions, and when souls are hurting and in despair, it is a game changer. There are plenty of hurting and imperfect people of our world, even without the physical storms of this life. Perhaps it is time to let loving them, accepting them, and  tending to them be our top priority. It is time to admit our own imperfections, and accept the imperfections of others, and let love be the source that fuels us.

Alphabet challenge - L is for lovely lace

I did this for the Alphabet Challenge L is for lovely lace. I wanted to keep this a flat card and easy to mail, so I stamped my lace as a background by repeating the strips. I am not sure the source of the lacy stamp, the chair is Stampendous, and the sentiment is Unity. I used Tim Holtz's distress oxide inks.

Little C's Aloha Friday Challenge - medallions

We are riding out a hurricane here on the Texas Gulf coast and stamping seems to be the best distraction. We have been fortunate this time to have our power. I have just recently gotten into using Tim Holtz's distress inks and oxide inks and they just cease to amaze me what all you can do with them.  I used the smash and spritz method for my background. Then I stamped a partial Stampin' Up medallion on the edge. I also added a little French Script, The cake and sentiment are from Unity.
I colored the cake with copic markers. I also used a silver metallic pen,

This is the first time I think I have taken part in the Little C's Aloha Friday Challenge, but I have been trying to find new challenges every week. The challenge for this week was to use a medallion.

Less is More 343 - use a real object

I am homebound and stuck here for a few days as we are getting constant rain from Hurricane Harvey.  I had just gotten some new stamps in the mail this week from Unity, so as long as the power holds out, I can spend some quality time in my stamping room. Not too bad of a way to suffer.  I have made this card for the Less is More challenge to make use of a real object. I used a real clip on this, and a tag. I used one of my new oxide ink colors on this one. You can check on the challenge here.

Sketch Saturday #478

This card is for the Sketch Saturday Challenge #478. You can find that challenge here.
I used some cute design papers and an old Stampin' Up stamp I have in my collection.
I added a piece of black thin ribbon as I could not find my twines. I paper pieced the onesie!

CCEE1734

This week I am serving at UMCOR (United Methodist Corp of Relief) so got this done ahead to schedule it's appearance here on my blog. Anne is again hostess, and here is her challenge for us:
Make a background using water colors, then finish the card in whatever way you wish.

I have been having so much fun making watercolor backgrounds with Tim Holtz's new distress oxide inks. That is what I used for this card. When you dry each color between applications, the inks keep their colors and don't bleed together like so many wet types of media do. I stamped the silhouette and CS Lewis quote in versafine black ink. I added a few sequins has a finishing  touch.

Please check over at the CCEEStampers blog to see all the lovely creations the team has come up with for this week. Please use CCEE1734 as your keyword over on SCS, and please load your card over at the blogsite.

Moving along with the times #52- Things beginning with B

Here's my card for the Moving along with the Times #52 challenge, to include things that begin with B. So, I used blue and a bird. My background was done with the Oxide Ink smash technique. I also inked the inside of an embossing folder to add the printed circles up the left side. I paper pieced the little bird, and stamped the sentiment and then cut it out with a heart die.

Just Add ink 373 and Tic Tac Toe

This card I made for the challenge over at Just Add Ink 373 which was to add a stencil. The other challenge I used is TicTacToe  and here is the grid:

For the TicTacToe challenge I used the leaf, thank you, and yellow. The card was made with Distress Oxide Inks, then I stenciled leaves on it with the darker yellow. I stamped the dots on the card with an old SU itty bitty background stamp, and I inked the inside of an embossing folder, spritzed it with water and stamped the pattern on the left. I diecut my Thanks and added it to the card.

In the pink 124

I used this for the Free for All challenge on SCS which required a bow on the card. I also am using this card for the "in the Pink" challenge #124.  I used some of the next oxide inks by Tim Holtz for my background and I inked an embossing folder, spritzed it with water and stamped on the background with it randomly. The image and sentiment are from Unity Stamps, that I colored them with copic markers.

Little Red Wagon #407

This is for the Little Red Wagon challenge #407. I got this die cut set from a bargain rack and have not used it yet. So thought this challenge of "Bows and Arrows" seem to fit the die. I did a smash background of oxide inks (which I just love) and added the sentiment from Unity and then arranged the diecuts around it. I loved the earthy colors for this and the red for a pop color.

Freshly Made Sketch 301

Trying out the Freshly Made Sketch this week. I made an oxide inked background, used a background stamp from Stampin' up and added a sentiment.  Here is the sketch for the challenge

CCEE1733

Anne is again our fabulous hostess, and as the summer draws to a close, she asks that we  make a card with a nautical theme.  This can include the beach if you so desire.

I used a nautical set I won from Flonz stamps. I embossed thewhite card base and diecut the blue anchor.

Check over at the CCEEstampers blog  at all the team's interpretations of this challenge and link over there if you want to play along. Keyword for SCS if you download over there is CCEE1733.

Make my Monday #52 Grey and pink

I did this for the Make my MOnday challenge #52 to use grey and pink. My grey is a silver metallic and it appears more blackish in the photo. I got out an old set I got from Paper Trey years ago. After stamping the flower and leaves, I painted them with Oxide inks. After it was dry, I fuzzy cut it out and then diecut the believe out of pink paper. The white panel is stenciled using hickory smoke distress ink.

Mod Squad - Wheels

When I went to check out the Mod Squad challenge this week and saw that it was wheels and that Kitchen Sink Stamps is their sponsor this week, I pulled out my KS classic truck. I used my distress oxide inks to stamp and sponge my card.

Try Stampin' On Tuesdays #335

Check out the challenge over at Try Stampin' on Tuesdays. This week's challenge is a sketch with a twist and the twist being embossing. I found this embossing folder on sale last week, so was anxious to try it out. I cut a strip of some of my experimetations with Distress Oxide inks for the strip portion of the sketch.The stamps I used were from Unity Stamps. I colored the image with copic markers.

Tuesday Throwdown #356

This is for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge. Just a little invite to get the girls together. A night for our mental health!!! I used an image from Unity Stamps and the sentiment if from Kitchen Sink stamps. I just used a direct from pad method to put on the color. An easy to make invitation for that special group of friends. Add a few sequins and we are ready to party!!

CCEE1732 Insects

Anne is our fabulous hostess this week and her challenge for us at CCEE Stampers was to use an insect. So it might be a bee, a dragonfly, or any insect you would like. She also suggested using a little stickles or sparkle to the wings if it is a winged insect. I went through my bug stamp collection
and found this  old favorite of mine from Stampin' Up. It was a from a free set that I got during their Sellabration event years ago. I love the artwork on it and so I wanted a softer look for my coloring and a simple background so I went for a one layered card.  I watercolored with oxide inks and embossed the edges.

SOS #315 Spice up your life

Searching for a challenge to do this morning as my daily therapy, I found this cool one over at http://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/ where I am to be inspired by one of the spice girls. I love orange and "ginger" color,  so I picked "Ginger."  I used one of my favorite stamps from Unity Stamps that seem to go right along here with this whole "rocking" challenge.  I used the medallion background stamp from Stampin' Up  (an old favorite as well) and inked it with oxide inks in those orange and ginger tones. After stamping and coloring my image with copic markers, I popped her up in front of the stamped background. This great sentiment is included with this Unity set, and then I added some silver stars. Thanks ladies at Shopping our Stash, I had such fun with this challenge.

CCEE1731 Embossing

 Anne Harmon is our hostess for the month of August.

For our first challenge,  she is asking us to use any technique that involves embossing - wet, dry, resist - whatever appeals to you.

I die cut my circle. and then did the dry embossing on the front.

I tried a new embossing ink on this by Ranger, and some old gold embossing powder. Apparently, embossing powder may lose its effectiveness because it did not turn out like I had hoped.

This diecut is from Stampin' Up.

Come join us this week by adding your card over on the CCEEstampers blog.
Please use the CCEE1731 as your keyword if you load onto Splitcoaststampers.