Cheers to me!

Sorry I didn't post much last week, but we were gone on vacation and I only had a couple of cards I could schedule to post while we were gone.

We were on a dive trip to Bonaire and had the pleasure of having tropical storm Omar develop right on top of us. He hovered over us for two solid days and destroyed all the docks on the island. The diving industry will be hurt for a while as far as boat diving goes, as we were told by the people at the hotel where we stayed that it would be two months before their permit to rebuild their dock would even be approved. The wheels of government move even more slowly on these little islands than it does here in the states! Luckily Bonaire is known for its great shore diving, but when we did get to dive after the storm was over, it looked like there had been a snowstorm underwater - everything was covered in sand.

At any rate, we didn't get in as much diving as we had hoped, but we had a good trip nonetheless. It's good to be home, though, and we have received lots of kitty love since we returned Saturday night! Our cats are very fortunate that our next door neighbors check in on them every day while we are gone and make sure they are fed and have water and clean litter boxes (thanks Kay and Chuck!), but they are always happy when we are back and they have the run of the house again!

OK, on to the card....I submitted this card to Scrapbook News and Review for their September issue and it was selected! So, I've officially had my first card published, but unfortunately, it's a digital-only publication, so there are no hard copies to show - that will be my next step! They were doing a technique feature on embossing, which this card contains in two forms. The background was stamped with black pigement ink and heat embossed with clear detail embossing powder on the purple card base and the grape cluster focal image was dry embossed, using a brass stencil, on some Core'dinations card stock, which has a black exterior with a colored core. I used purple core paper and sanded the grapes after they had been embossed to make the purple layer show through the black. I also tore the edge of the panel to highlight the purple center. Finally, I used chalks to color and enhance the remaining portions of the grape cluster, added a gold embossed wine glass punch, layered a couple of pieces of ribbon and added a grape cluster charm to finish it all off.

This morning it was in the 40s here in Atlanta. What a rude awakening after a week of diving in the Caribbean! Thanks for stopping by!

Card Details:

Cardstock: Core'dinations; Joann's Craft Essentials (card base)

Stamps: Just For Fun (background), Impression Obsession (inside), Rubber Stampede (inside)

Ink: Versafine, Clearsnap

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Chalk: Stencil Collection

Ribbon: Offray, Making Memories

Wine glass punch: Marvy Uchida