The Winter Olympics Begin!

Aloha, all!

     Half way around the world today, the 2014 Winter Olympics begin in Sochi, Russia.  As do most people who watch the Olympics, I have events that are my favorite – Figure Skating and Ski Jumping.  In many years, I have kept abreast of what's going on in the winter sports.  But now that I'm thoroughly entrenched in the very non-winter-sport state of Hawaii, I have to confess that I do not know who the United States or even the World Champion skaters and skiers are!  But I'm sure I'll be brought up to speed before the Olympics have gone on too many days!

     Whoever our representatives at the Winter Olympics are, I wish them all the best.  And I thought I'd take this opportunity to make a card in honor of them all!

     One thing that I do know is that every one of the athletes who competes in the Olympics has been dreaming of this for years.  With all of the work that these young people have to do, there is that dream that is always pushing them on.  What a perfect sentiment is this one from the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, Loving Thoughts!

     To make this card, I dragged out my carefully put away box of holiday stamps to find the Festive Flurry Stamp Set as well as the Festive Flurry Framelits Dies for that big winter snowflake.  But I think the effect was worth it.  Did you notice that my card for last Friday was also made up primarily of Marina Mist and Whisper White Cardstock?  I really will try not to use this monochromatic color scheme next week (hard to use blue on Valentine's day, so that's probably a pretty safe promise!).

     The dotted paper is one of the sheets from the Sutbles Collection Designer Series Paper Stack.  I used it because it reminded me a bit of falling snow, as does the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder that I used on the Whisper White layer.  That embossing folder, by the way, is from the 2014 Sale-a-Bration Catalog, and you can get it FOR FREE with just a $50 purchase of Stampin' Up! products!  To make the stamped sentiment show up on the paper, I stamped it using Versamark and then White Stampin' Emboss Powder, which I embossed with a Heat Tool.

     White was the perfect color to use to tie this project together, so I used a piece of Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon.  It's been hiding out under the rest of my ribbons and I'm glad I found it for this!

     As is usual these days, when Friday comes around, my project is part of the Sketch Frenzy Friday Design Team samples.  The sketch this week is simple and fun, and I hope you'll take the opportunity to check it out and maybe even enter a project of your own in the challenge! 

     I hope you have fun this weekend as the Olympics begin!  And let me know if you have any questions about the products that I've used in this card.  Those Snowflake products are STILL available from Stampin' Up!