Bright Hopes and a lot of sparkle!!

I was in the mood this morning for a sparkly Christmas card (I'll show you why at the end!).  I had a huge Stampin' Up order come in yesterday that included the Silver Glimmer paper - it is amazing!!  I've never seen so much sparkle.  So before I even opened up the new stamps (4 sets) and punches (the stocking) and mica flakes with the shaker frames and glitter and ribbons - I had to use the silver paper.  (The stamp on this card was not in the order, but used at a friend's house...but I'm thinking when I order about a dozen more sheets of the silver paper, I'll have to tuck this set into that order!)

I think I set a record this morning with number of pictures that I took of this card, in a number of places, with a number of different lights, at different angles, and a number of Adobe Photoshop adjustments.  I still haven't begun to capture the glitter and glow of this paper.

So...here's what we woke up to this morning!  Sparkly snow (or at least it will sparkle when the sun comes out!)

Wow!  Even for the Denver area this is early...October 8!  Denver has a reputation for rough winter weather because we are the foot of the Colorado Rockies - but Denver is actually quite nice.  We have a few hard storms, they usually melt in a few days and we are back on our bikes or on the golf course.  Of course, I don't know if Denver itself is getting this snow.  I am in Parker, just to the southeast of Denver.  Denver calls itself the Mile High City (5280 ft.) but my house is over 6000 ft high so we have our own little weather patterns.

This is my teenager after I said "smile".  We had to leave at 7 a.m. this morning for a marching band contest - scheduled to be held outdoors!  By the time we got to the high school where they were going to rehearse and then bus to the contest, the contest was postponed, so we sat in the car while he napped.  Then, of all the strange things, they decided to hold the contest indoors, standing in place (aren't they MARCHING bands?), with no judges.  So I left him and came home!

This is what he and I wished we were doing...

Apparently the little one and the cat cuddled into dad's warmth while Andrew and I were out in the snow!

Happily, I get to spend the day indoors working on cards.  We had church cardmaking last week and there are a few card kits left over that I want to get done. Early in the life of this blog, I had done a five part series on Church Card Ministries (just click on Church_Card_Ministry under labels, then scroll to the bottom of the entries).  The final part was on fellowship which is truly one of the highlights of a church card ministry and, for that matter, cardmaking in general.  At our gathering this week, I was thrilled to see Valerie and Holly - two truly addicted cardmakers that I hadn't seen in months.  They come further than anybody else and, last year, they were the only ones that made it during an ice storm...and...they aren't even members of our church!!!  It was great to see you ladies!!

I know that I have Colorado readers, and many that shop at the same Archivers as I do so I know you are near Parker.  If anybody ever wants to join us - we meet the first Thursday evening of the month and the Friday afternoon after that.  We have cards that appeal to beginners and we have cards that showcase new techniques.  If you make three cards, you get one free.  But...most importantly, you get to enjoy the fellowship of fellow cardmakers - and there's no sales pitch - just enjoy!  Feel free to email me for details.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Bright Hopes, Curly Cute
• Paper: Stampin' Up Island Indigo CS and dsp, white, Silver Shimmer
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Misc Silver Embossing Powder, Stampin' Up Island Indigo Ribbon, Fiskars border punch
• Challenge: I used a Technostamper sketch from a few weeks ago...too late for the challenge but it worked quite nicely for this card!