When I began making this card this morning, it was another misty, moisty, rainy morning in Houston, after a flooded day yesterday. Before I could finish the card, though, I decided to race out of the house ahead of another blob of rain on the radar in hopes of making it to my appointment this morning.  By the time I came home, the sun was out and all threats of rain gone from the radar. So after all the clouds, we had a silver lining with a lovely, bright day – at least maybe until afternoon pop-up storms!

If you saw news reports about the floods in Houston yesterday, yes, it was pretty bad. Monday night we saw a line of storms reaching all the way across Texas and up into Oklahoma headed right for us, yet before that line got here, a bad storm formed right over my part of town. When the line of storms finally arrived, it combined with the first storm and wow, it rained and rained and rained, like we haven’t seen in years and didn’t move. Even when we thought it was about over, another storm had formed behind all that and it kept raining all through the night, We were perfectly fine in our house, although this time I wondered if this could be the first time we could get water up in the yard or even into the house somehow.  Thankfully that didn’t even come close to happening, but others weren’t so lucky, waking up to step into water from their beds or hearing the slosh of floodwater waking them up in the night. Certain streets in Houston like to flood just with any rain storm because we are so flat, but this one filled streets and highways, and when the bayous rose tremendous amounts in an hour and overflowed their banks they also filled streets and in some cases homes. People were stranded on the roads overnight waiting for the water to go down, some got caught as the water rose quickly. Quite a mess, not to mention dangerous and deadly for some.

As you can imagine, when we all woke up to more rain and thunder this morning, it was a little unsettling. But these storms went a little more north, sparing those of us inundated the other night, and widespread flooding didn’t seem to be a problem today. Other places in Texas have had it as bad or worse, as you have probably heard. Maybe the drought is over.

So that brings me to the card I was inspired to make this morning using the new Sprinkles of Life stamp set, the set that benefits the Ronald McDonald House Charities. With every set sold, Stampin’ Up! will donate $3 to the charity. I stamped and colored in some of the clouds to look like storm clouds with Smokey Slate and Night of Navy ink, and punched them out with the new Tree Punch, coming in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog June 2 that coordinates with this stamp set. The tree and leaves are also punched out and lots of raindrops are stamped in the background. Of course if you were making cupcakes, you could use the raindrops as little candies on top if you wanted.  The “sprinkles” stamp I used to stamp over and over to make grass at the bottom of the card with Old Olive ink. And for all the rain coming down, I sponged on Night of Navy ink to look like the sheets of rain we had Monday night. Several greetings come with this stamp set so it is very versatile.  I’m sure you will want to add it to your collection!

You just have through June 2nd to order from the Retiring List, while supplies last. On June 2nd the new catalog also takes effect, so you will have that day only to order from both the old and new catalogs and the outgoing Occasions Catalog! The new catalog should be online that day for your perusal if you don’t have a hard copy of the catalog.

If you do not have a Demonstrator to assist you with Stampin’ Up! products, I would be happy to be yours!  Just send me an email letting me know you are interested in Stampin’ Up! and we can see about getting a new catalog sent to you.

So go check out the Retiring List of stamps and accessories plus the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals and make your list!