I meant to go running Saturday morning. I really wanted to go running Saturday morning. I'd gotten up early to go running (like 5am early) and as I was sitting outside, lacing up my running shoes, there was a big flash of lightning. I tore off my running shoes and dashed inside and that ended any thoughts of running.

It was probably so-called "heat lightning" (is that for real, by the way?) and I could have probably safely gone for a run, but I'm chicken when it comes to lightning. If I hear a rumble of thunder even, I scramble for cover. The irony is that I LOVE thunderstorms (one June we had one everyday for the entire month and I absolutely loved it!), but I love them most from a sheltered spot. Hey, The Weather Channel backs me on this one...don't they always say to take cover when you see lightning? I'm just listening to the experts...(Alexandra Steele, Paul Goodlow, Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams, and Mike Bettes have never let us down LOL!) (Wow, do I really know the evening crews names? Brian and I are such geeks LOL)...

So anyways, since I "couldn't" go running and I was awake, I decided to stamp something. I headed for my craft table and my eye fell on this Real Red cardstock I'd bleach-stamped snowflakes on about a week ago. I had been playing around with this technique for next month's Technique Tuesdays class and had made a bunch of pieces, which were lying in a stack on my craft table.

I cut my Bashful Blue cardstock to 2-3/4" x 11" and folded in half (this size gets you three cards from one sheet with virtually no scraps and fits into Stampin' UP's fun small open-ended envelopes). I glued my bleached snowflake background down and then used the paper piercing tool from the Crafters' Tool Kit to make a border. Using Bashful Blue and Real Red Classic Inks, I stamped the same snowflake (from Seasonal Whimsy) onto vellum, which I then tore. I glued this over my background. I stamped "Happy Holidays" (from the retired Warmest Regards set) in Real Red ink onto a scrap of Bashful Blue, used my Crop-A-Dile to attache silver eyelets, then strung silver cord through the eyelets and around the card. I used the paper piercer to put a hole in the card fold for the cord to go through.

This card came together fast and I really love pretty much everything about it. Bashful Blue and Real Red is one of my favorite color combinations - the contrast is so striking and I like how one calms while the other excites; vellum is a super way to overlap backgrounds; you can never go wrong with tearing paper LOL (my comfort technique); silver cord and paper piercing always seem to finish a card off perfectly.

The bleaching technique was so fun! I have more cards to share with you using more card fronts I made with bleach, so be sure to come back for those. Also, I invite you to Technique Tuesdays class - bleaching is one of the techniques we'll learn in October and they are really a lot of fun. The ladies who attend are a fun bunch, too!

Now go create!
-Nicole