Sunday, January 24, 2016

If You Build It

So much snow out East! Oh my goodness. I feel very blessed to be sitting in the midst of a mere foot of snow!

A local priest, from the Diocese I reside within, with a group of high school students headed to the March for Life in Washington, DC only to get "stranded" on the PA turnpike. So what do a bunch of kids on a bus with a priest do? Why, they hop out of the bus, create a snow alter, and the priest says Mass, of course! Mass, not only for the students but for hundreds of motorists who stopped by. Such an awesome experience for those in attendance!

No Roman Missal on hand? Have one in the bus but don't want it to get wet?
No worries! Pull up what you need on your iPhone!


"If you build it they will come."
 
So Much SNOW!
 
Speaking of travels. My card can relate. I finally used my Tim Holtz Compass Blueprint stamp and dies. Had so much fun with it! And THIS time I will remember to link up my card. TOTALLY forgot to do that last week so I missed out of some virtual atta girl from Just Us Girls and Shopping Our Stash. Note to self...compose...post...link!

 

Chevron Compass
~Base card - PaperTrey Ink Enchanted Evening
~Layer of gold color cardstock
~Layer of The Paper Studio The Garment District
~Sizzix stamps/dies by Tim Holtz
~Sentiment stamped using Not Quite Navy Stampin' Up ink
~Compass stamped on chevron layer and coordinating gold print from The Garment District
~Popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals
~Versamark and Stampendous Cobalt Blue
Challenges | Inspirations
Just Us Girls - photo week
Southern Girls - anything goes
Crazy for Challenges - popped
Shopping Our Stash - 3, 2, 1 (3 Tim Holtz stamps, 2 Tim Holtz dies, 1 embossing powder)
Stamping Sensations - anything with die and stamp

Here's to church alters of snow, faith, and finding the right direction!

Nancy in Iowa

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

No Wind on a Flat Earth

So...I drove roundtrip to Brookings in one day! No unplanned hotel nights. No white knuckle driving! The last career fair I recruited at was also in South Dakota. A state which has an abnormal aversion to road salt. Not only that but when the snow gets a blowin' they CLOSE the interstate. CLOSED. BOOM. NO ROAD FOR YOU!!!

My previous trip up north in South Dakota ended up with an unplanned overnight and a 2 hour 45 minute trip home that should have taken me 35-40 minutes. I was NEVER so happy be back in the land of salt and clean/dry roads as I was that Saturday! So...surviving Brookings which is further north than Vermillion was indeed momentous!

While it didn't snow today...it was bleak! White sky. White earth. Made me understand the 'flat earth society'. The horizon was indistinguishable ...where did the land end and the sky take over? At least on this trip the ROAD wasn't white!



Yes. We have had plenty of snow. And yes it is COLD! But... not THAT COLD. We went to dinner with a long time friend and his long time friends on Friday. The three guests all currently reside in NYC. Of the five of us - four of us are originally from the Midwest. The one "odd man out" hailed from Texas. The subject of weather naturally came up as the HIGH that day of ZERO and the low in negative double digits. The Texan born commented on how frigidly cold it was amd I casually said, "at least it's not windy!" Mr. Texas exclaimed, "What is it with you people?! Anytime I mention how cold it is to a Midwesterner their immediate come-back is, "well at least it's not windy". It's COLD - what does the WIND have to do with it?"



SERIOULSY? Stick around dude! Wait for a sub-zero day WITH a blustery wind creating a wind-chill of minus 30! Then you can call my home-scape COLD!



Even with it being as cold as it was we still, like little kids, went outdoors "geocaching". Prancing around in the snow...searching for a tiny slip of paper. (More on Geo Caching later....)

Now for the card. With all this talk of cold, wind, no wind, salt, no salt...I decided for a touch of spring. Butterflies!


Butterfly Blues
~Base card light blue PaperTrey Ink
~Navy blue card stock frame
~Cryogen white cardstock
~Inkadinkado Butterflies stamped with Versamark, embossed with white embossing powder, colored with Copics
~Blue pearls
~Sentiment stamped with Navy embossing powder
~Tim Holtz die cut
Challenges  | Inspiration
Just Us Girls - color week: light blue, dark blue, white
Shopping Our Stash - monochromatic
 
Here's to plenty of salt - on roads and my food, minions, hints of spring, and 'no wind'. 
 
Thanks for clicking by,
Nancy in Iowa