Beautiful Brocade

I got the idea for this card while I was sitting in church last week. My jacket was a brocade, and I thought, “How gorgeous would this be on the Beautiful You glamour girl?” (I really was paying attention to the sermon, but you know how creativity strikes when you least expect it!) I remembered a very cool technique my friend Jackie (from our Friday Stamp-Offs) has used on the dresses in the Beautiful You stamp set, so I tried it – and it worked wonderfully for this.

I stamped the image on Sahara Sand Cardstock with Basic Black Archival Ink. Then I stamped it again on a post-it note, and cut out the dress. I used this as a reverse mask, and stamped the tips of the flower image from Timeless Textures over the dress (through the reverse mask) in VersaMark ink. (Whew – did you get all that?) After embossing with clear powder, I masked it again and sponged the dress with Black Ink. I wanted the hat to coordinate but not necessarily match, so I stamped the top half of the image again in black on Basic Gray Cardstock, cut out the hat and layered it over the stamped/embossed image.

To bring the Timeless Textures and brocade idea back in, I randomly stamped the floral image on the Basic Black Cardstock layer, then clear embossed. It was actually quite simple and not time-consuming at all. It’s a very elegant look, don’t you think? It gives her dress a pattern, but it doesn’t overwhelm the image.

Brocade is a fabric, and every time I think of it, I think about the cotton commercial that talks about the fabric of our lives. For some reason, that keeps running through my head today, because our lives had a “blip” today.

I woke up to a text from Wesley. Bleary eyed, I read, “Got in a bad wreck…truck is dead.” Ok, I’m awake now, and my heart is pounding too hard to even think of going back to sleep for a few more minutes.

His truck is, indeed, totaled. My first question, of course, was, “Are you ok?” Yes, and so is the other driver. So everything else is fixable. Fortunately, we have a spare vehicle, so he can borrow that until he’s able to buy a new one. I learned a long time ago not to grieve over things that can be fixed with money. Yes, it’s a pain to have to borrow a vehicle. And, yes, it’s heartwrenching to discover your insurance won’t replace even part of the vehicle. But Wesley is ok. Which brings me to…

Follow those little “nudges” you get in life. I always pray for my kids, but sometimes I get a “feeling” that I need to pray for one (or all) of them at odd times during the day and night. It’s usually a general thing, but last night, I had this thought…No, it was more than a thought. It was a command, and I know it was God speaking to me. I heard, “Pray for Wesley,” in my head. Wesley is a correctional officer at our regional jail. I pray for him every day, because this is a very physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding job.  And I pray for Jon, who works for our electrical contracting company (dangerous work!) and is a coach at the gym and often holds over three times his body weight over his head (also dangerous); and, of course, I pray for Amelia, and all the girls that are part of our lives, plus Mike and our parents. But this time was different. It wasn’t a, “Hey, don’t forget to pray for the kids,” thought. It was specific to Wes. So I immediately prayed.

When I saw his truck and the area around the wreck today, I almost collapsed in tears because of what could have happened. If Amelia had been with him, she would almost certainly have been injured. And Wesley could have been seriously injured as well. But he wasn’t. He’s a bit sore and has a bruise on one finger. As we used to say in church every Sunday, “God is good – all the time. All the time – God is good!” All my kids, my granddaughter, my husband, and my parents are well. God is, indeed, very good.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a wonderful day!

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