You & Me = Smiles ....

... Good morning from a very snowy Northville.  All this white stuff is the perfect excuse to stay indoors and craft.  So last night, while Jonathan ventured out (really) to a camera group meeting, I played and made a couple of cards.  Here's the first:

Stamps: Hero Arts - Smile Background; Lawn Fawn - Science of Love
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Smoky Slate, Tempting Turquoise; Memento - Grey Flannel
Dies: Die-namics - Fishtail Flags Layers Stax #1, Fishtail Flags Stax # 1 & 2
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Tempting Turquoise, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey; SU DP - Tempting Turquoise, Basic Grey; SU Marker - Tempting Turquoise

I used the colours from this week's Colour Throwdown Challenge - CTD#273 and the layout from the current Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#117.  I'm so pleased that the FMS DT extended the deadline for the sketch!

One of the big craft chains, Archivers, announced last week that they are closing down which is really sad.  Yesterday morning I visited and got a few new stamps sets - I arrived a day before the big reductions!  Silly me!  I used a couple of the new sets on this card.  The background is a large stamp from Hero Arts - my daughter, Kathryn, saw it and said that it was a must have!  I inked it up in Smoky Slate and stamped directly onto the card base.  I used my Die-namic flag die to cut a number of different sized flags and adhered them to the card.  I cut a white panel onto which I stamped the words, from Lawn Fawn, adhered them to the card base and added a line of faux stitching.  I finished the front with a tiny camera.  This card is for Jonathan - just because!!  I left the inside blank for me to write a message.

Canada and North America are experiencing some of the coldest weather they've had for years - it's come as a bit of a shock to us. Our first couple of winters in Michigan were very mild, but this year, not so much!!!  Round one of the snow clearance challenge was completed this morning, with the very kind assistance of a neighbour with a snow blower.  It's warmer today than yesterday, but still below 0°C.  The weather forecast is for more snow today and for a blast of really cold air to come down from the arctic.  They have issued wind chill warning for Monday through Wednesday, we're not expected to get above -10°C here, but it's going to be so much colder in the mid-West.  Kathryn is hoping for a few snow days!

I know that many of my UK friends are experiencing awful weather too with high winds and lots of rain and many areas being flooded.  Wherever you are keep safe.

That's all for now.  I'm off to play in my craft room where it's warm and dry!