Ombre background stamping: MIM challenge this week

I made another attempt at ombre background stamping today.  If my stamping was a little bit crisper, I would say this card is practically perfect.  I tried to do a gradient of reds and greens for the holidays, topped with a kraft frame with one of my favorite things of the holidays--cookies!  I am a baker at heart, and I am already filling up my freezer with Christmas cookies like date nut bars, gingersnaps, chocolate gingerbread, faux matzo pecan toffee bars, rugelach, fruitcake cookies, salted chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, buckeye brownies, mint brownies, turtle brownies, pecan sandies, oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies,  cheesecake gems, and probably some more.  I plan to take trays of cookies to church on Sunday mornings, give trays to some of our doctors that have been involved in John's ongoing care with his brain tumor, friends, and to Christmas parties.  Plus I will be giving some to family as gifts as well.  Who doesn't love cookies, and they never get put on the shelf in the closet.  

What kind of goodies are you making for the holidays?  What is your must have Christmas treat that you either have to make or have made for you?  Are there any other food traditions you are passing down to your children that have been passed down to you?  

Supplies:
Art Deco background, scentimentals, real red, hibiscus burst, pink pirouette, limeade ice, kiwi kiss, and avocado inks, avocado satin ribbon, red bakers twine, kraft and white card stock.

MIM ombre backgrounds

Here is my next entry into the ombre background MIM challenge.  Laura was saying she wanted to see if we could create a Christmas themed background.  Well, here is my attempt.  The sentiment circle needs something, but I can't figure out what.  Maybe I need to scatter some sequins on the card...  Anyway, I used SU! real red, pink pirouette, pool party and kiwi kiss.  I tried to follow a rainbow gradient with green coming in between the pink and blue.  I used an old PTI sentiment set from Lisa Johnson.  I also used a framed out die.  The card stock I used to stamp on was shimmer card stock so it shimmers a little.

MIM challenge: PTI

Well, I finally got around to stamping again after several weeks of just no mojo.  Didn't want to stamp, didn't know what to stamp, and didn't have time to stamp.  I really liked Laura's MIM ombre builders stamp challenge.  I love the ombre builders set and what she and some of the other design team members have done with it.  So I saw this awesome fall color palette on the ColorQ blog.  It just seemed like it would really work well for an ombre piece.  I also added a touch of Laurie's MIM challenge from a couple of weeks ago by stamping partially on my die cut word.

Okay weird random finding. I have had my thankful word dies for at least a year and a half, maybe even two years.  I just got them out today to die cut this word and realized that I have 2 "grateful" dies and no "blessed" die.  Gotta see if PTI will fix that after so much time.

Anyway, here is my card.

 I used SU! inks in chocolate chip, crushed curry, pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss, and PTI canyon clay.  I used a PTI die for the word, Autumn Acorns dies for the leaves, and Autumn Acorns for the leaves and mini acorns partially stamped on the word die cut, and Ombre builders stamp set.  Whew!  Hope you are having a blessed month of November and are taking the time to remember your many many blessings.  God is so good and gives common grace to all.  We need to thank him for that.

Speaking of blessings, it was 2 years ago this week that my amazing younger son, John, had his 8 hour surgery to remove a lime sized brain tumor.  He was just a week or so away from turning 9. We were so scared, wondering if he would survive the operation, if there would be brain damage due to bleeding from the surgery, what type of tumor it would turn out to be, if they would even be able to remove the tumor....so many unknowns.  God was so amazing in his grace and mercy to us that day, really the week before when we found the tumor, up through the week of his surgery and 4 days in the hospital till we got to leave.  God gave us a supernatural peace through the whole process that really defies all explanation.  God allowed them to get pretty much all the tumor out, with our John really being the same little boy as before.  No brain damage.  The tumor was not malignant so as to spread to other areas of his brain or body.  He recovered in record time, and has had to have only one radiation treatment.  His follow up MRIs every 3-4 months have all come back with no growth to the tumor that they could not remove.

The whole story of how we found the tumor and the doctors we have had working with us is another story of God's sovereign hand in all of this.  Praise be to God who does all things well!!

I also count myself blessed to have a wonderful godly husband, whom God had allowed to work hard to provide for our family.  And I have another wonderful son, Nathan, who is 13.  So far navigating the "teen" years with him have been a joy.  God is molding and shaping him into a wonderful young man--serious but with a quirky sense of humor, tender hearted but with a self controlled strength.  I am so blessed each and every day just getting to have a relationship with all three of my guys.

What are your blessings?  Feel free to leave a comment and share.