The Paper Players #177

Well, it's been quite the winter so far here in Ontario. Over the last couple of weeks, Mother Nature has generously provided us with: an ice storm (in which we, along with 250,000 others, were left without power for days, some even spending Christmas 'power'less); freezing cold temperatures reaching -40 C; and as a result: frost quakes! For those of you who aren't familiar with this term (I wasn't either until I experienced my first on Christmas Eve), basically it's when the temperature drastically drops, thus freezing the water that has seeped into the ground which causes the newly-formed ice to expand to the point where it 'cracks' the ground surrounding it. The result is an incredibly loud, thundrous noise-a loud BOOM-that has literally caused me to jump out of bed more than once! It's an amazing phenomenon, as well as frightening, to experience for the first time, but one that many of us have gotten used to over the last couple of weeks. As for the ice storm and resulting power outage, we were forced to find creative ways to keep ourselves busy and warm, one of which was to crowd ourselves (my sister's family included) into room one room and put on shadow puppet shows using candles, a bed sheet, and cardboard cut-outs! It's been a crazy end of the year, but definitely can't say it's been boring!  

Here are some photos of the ice storm. Everywhere you looked, ice, ice, and more ice.

Sadly, many of our cedars are drooped over at a nearly 90 degree angle, and our Maple tree on our front lawn broke in five places :(  
Although it caused a lot of damage, it also left breathtakingly beautiful scenery in its tracks.

Every single branch of every tree and bush was covered in ice:

Icicles, icicles everywhere!

Here's my son and nephews taking advantage of perfect skating conditions - If you look closely, you can see the ice that has formed on the tree branches in the background:

Now onto fresh starts/clean slates for the new year: My first card challenge of the year comes from The Paper Players.  Nance created a challenge that involves using the chalkboard technique, which I've never attempted before but have always wanted to. Here was my chance!

The card is actually much more sparkly and bright in person, which makes for a striking contrast against the black, and allowed me to keep it simple. The sparkles in the light pink cardstock even shine through the darker printed pink acetate paper :)  

Supplies Used:

Paper: Recollections black, pink & black glittered; K&Co. patterned pink acetate

Stamps: Verve 'Making a Statement'

Embellishments: CTMH baker's twine; gemstones unknown

Other: Versamark; Recollections Snow embossing powder; CTMH White Daisy Ink; heat gun; sponge; Scotch Vellum tape; Verve Rounded Scallop Frame die; Cuttlebug