OCC Sketch Challenge and BIG NEWS

Happy Weekend, everyone! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted last. My apologies - it's been a very hectic time. Here's my story;

2 weeks ago there was enough cleaned out from my mom's house that it could be listed for sale and people who came to see the house would see the house, not the piles and piles of 'stuff'. In less than 48 hours after being listed (2 Sundays ago - the day after my last post) the house sold for a perfectly reasonable price to someone who wanted to renovate and live there, not someone who intended to flip the house. I was stunned because we felt certain we would be dealing with a lot of flip offers and it would take a long time to sell the house for a price that would be acceptable to the probate judge. The hitch was that the new owner wanted a quick possession date and there was still a lot of 'debris' to be removed from the house.

I've put in 10-14 hours a day on clearing out just over 10,000lbs from the house and garage over the last 10 days. Last Thursday (2 days ago), just before lunch, my dad and I declared the house cleared and left all the house keys in a drawer in the kitchen and left. The possession date was yesterday. After the last 8 weeks, I was giddy with joy to be done with this immense task that had taken over my life. My dad and I took just over 20,000lbs to the city dump and donated enough stuff (furniture, household goods and clothing) to fill 2 1/2 twenty six foot trucks in total over the last 8 weeks. Now, I sit and wait on the courts to decide what will happen with the estate since there is no will. I have done my best to do the right thing with every decision I've made.

And I've got my life back. My family is happy to have me back and focused on them, being the wife and mom. And I'm stamping again.



This week our January host, Joycelyn Turner, has challenged the OCC to a sketch challenge. We can’t wait to see your take on the sketch!!

There is no time limit on our challenges - feel free to participate whenever you are able. To play along, upload your creation to your blog or gallery, then leave us a comment linking to your project so we can check it out. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: OCCC

Here's my take on this sketch;

I think I might have shrunk my reference down a little too far to be perfectly true to Jocelyn's sketch, but I'm just getting back into the swing of things, and I love the way this card turned out. I adore the tiny polka dots on the designer paper because it takes the grey from blah to totally sweet. It's a new-ish release from SEI called My Romeo from the Juliette collection. When I first saw the coral/grey/plum colour combo of this collection I wasn't impressed until I got these papers in my hot little hands. The foiling is DIVINE and there just enough glittery bling to satisfy the crow in me. There are several colours of the tiny, darling polka dots. I'm not fond of polka dots as a rule (I challenge you to find more than 5 cards over the last 400 posts on my blog that have used polka dots) but I really like these tiny dots. Enough gushing - on to some more news...

I've joined the inaugural design team for a new digital stamp company called Sugar Creek Hollow Designs. The Grand Opening is March 1st. I think I might be in over my head this time. I know diddly squat about computers and can barely use my own computer. Fortunately, I am in ministry with the teens in my church and I happen to live with 2 teens and 2 up and coming teens all of whom know a lot about computers! And my husband works in the IT industry. All these people think I'm a little pathetic when it comes to technology and are more than willing to help me at the drop of a hat.

May I say digital stamps are *uber* COOL!!! I love the way I can re-size and manipulate the images. Allow me to rephrase... I love the way my daughter can re-size and manipulate the images according to what I ask her to do for me. *grin* I don't love what my printer does to cardstock, but I've just got to figure that out.

The 'Forever' image is stunning. There is a scrolled heart image right below this image on the SCH website that excites my creativity happy place as well. This celtic knotwork/ironwork frame will be released soon. Consider yourself sneak a peeked!! I printed the frame at 4"x5 1/4" and cut out the center, popping it up for a little more dimension. I used my trusty Sakura glue pen for some precision glue application in the frame so I could fill it in with some glitter - I love the way it turned out. Forever was printed at 2 1/2" wide.

Enjoy the rest of the work by the OCC design team and have a terrific weekend!

stamps; images by sugar creek hollow designs
paper; juliette (SEI), berlin, coconut swirl (bazzill)
ink; pebbles, mushroom adirondack ink (ranger)
accessories; petite oval and petite scallop oval nesties (spellbinders), satin ribbon (May arts), butterfly pee wee glitter kit (art institute glitter), black rhinestones (heidi swapp)