Keeping Busy

In my part of the world, schools are closed, public events are canceled and people are being told to stay home unless it's absolutely necessary to go out.  I've been heeding the advice as best I can.  Baseboards have been scrubbed, laundry has been done, shelves have been dusted.  There are still several 'shoulds' on my list, but I decided some arting is in order.  You know...therapeutic and good for the soul and all of that.

I ran across an umbrella-themed swap over on SwapBot and decided to see what I could come up with.  Being in the Seattle area, rain came to mind.

Well, no.  Not an umbrella in sight but in my rain quote search the definition of a pluviophile came up.  My daughter is definitely a pluviophile and this is my little tribute to her.  

Even though I grew up in sunny Southern California my many years living up here in the Pacific NW have given me an appreciation for the pitter patter of rain.  I kept being drawn to the uplifting or happy quotes about rain.

I've had this boots stamp for SO long and I think I've used it maybe 5 times.  I colored it to look like my old rainboots that I loved until they got a hole in them.  Too much jumping in puddles with my little peeps!

I just noticed as I posted this that I gave her purple hair.  Kiana's (my daughter) hair is purple, too.  Coincidence?  Maybe the subconscious hard at work...

Last one is this happily-colored confetti rain ATC.  I suppose if you have a wee bit of sunshine you might actually see those colors in the raindrops!

So that's it for now.  I keep thinking I'm going to be more artistically productive but we're also having unseasonably lovely weather here so I've been getting outside and getting dirt under my fingernails, too.

Wishing you good health and clean hands.

Play Date Cafe - Splash of Yellow

It's been a while since I've played along with any card challenges.  I just couldn't resist when I saw this one from Play Date Cafe though.  Lovin' the grey and black with a splash of yellow  of the inspiration photo. 

It also helped that the umbrella stamp and die set just showed up in my mailbox a couple of days ago.  :)

Here's my card:

I made it for my sister and brother-in-law who have been so supportive of my family the past few years as we've dealt with life's ups and downs.  They are awesome and we're so fortunate to have them in our lives.

Here's the scoop on the card...
I die-cut the umbrella base from an old page protector.  I had those old transparent umbrellas in mind.  The clouds were stamped with background stamps and then I cut around the cloud image.  The raindrops have little bits of sparkly clear Stickles on them to be shimmery and shiny like rain.

Thanks for peekin'.  :) Julie