The Flower Challenge #85 - a party reminder!

I hope by now you've had a chance to join our 7th birthday celebration over at The Flower Challenge?  If not, please do!  I would love to see this gallery full of thanks for Aileen's brilliant plan to start it all seven years ago!  I for one can't get enough of playing with florals: stamped, die-cut, Copic colored, water colored, or left as line-art - I love them all!  Here's the party plan:

Right now, I'm working hard to get as many Christmas cards made as possible for my Seniors - so it's another holiday card today!  Hope you don't mind?

By now you might know I adore pink at Christmas!  and a shaped card is

so fun, right?  I used an older die from PTI to make it happen.

Since I had that sweet set from The Greetery I used on my first card at hand, I stamped a few pink blooms using these inks...

It was fun to arrange my bouquet on one of those Ornate Nesting dies from Altenew.

My sentiment comes by way of a new addition to Pinkfresh Studios collection of Basic Banners: Christmas!  It's one of those time-savers that stamps all the sentiments, then cuts all the banners at once.

Okay, that's it for me - there are even more cards from my teammates to see so let's go - they inspire me, too!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #85 - our 7th birthday!

Yes, you read that right - we are celebrating seven years of challenges using florals at The Flower Challenge and we want to make sure it's extra special by inviting YOU to party with us!

Since it's a birthday party one might think I'd have made a birthday card - nope!  Our challenge for this month: Mix or Match - stamp sets, dies, or companies!  For my card, The Greetery + Pinkfresh Studio came together seamlessly to add to my Christmas card stash!  Don't believe me?  Take a look at my card...

Here are the inks I've used for stamping today - I like that I 

didn't use one bit of black on my Christmas card!

It all began by stamping a few images from Pinkfresh Studio's 

Modern Layered Florals

in these dusty greens right onto my card base.  I then added two sprays of greenery and berries from The Greetery's Merry Sprigs - popped up for a little dimension - and stamping the berries in red for a little POP of color!

This wonderful sentiment can also be found in that set.  I've chosen to keep my cards as 'one layered' as they can be this year to help with postage - stamping my sentiment right on the card base helps with that.

SO, no matter what kind of card you make or whose products you combine - please be sure to use flowers as your main focus!  We can't wait to see you in our party gallery before October 25th!  We have another new teammate, and some wonderful guests this month!  Our design team has so much to be inspired by - let's go see, shall we?  Before you go, along with this happy celebration comes some not so happy news... 

Sadly, we are saying goodbye to Aileen who because of her love of flowers, started all the fun seven years ago, and to Viv who has stepped in when Aileen needed her!  All my love to you both for all the wonderful leadership you've shown this team ... I will miss you both dearly! xx

=] Michele

Folk Art Reindeer - even one for Color Hues #72

The Color Hues team and guests are honoring a fallen teammate, Lindsey, who lost her battle to ovarian cancer a year ago.  It's such a wonderful experience to find true friendships here in blogland - it's even harder to lose one of them.  

Here are their colors for Challenge #72 in honor of Lindsey who loved these colors as much as anyone!  Something tells me she wouldn't mind a Christmas card.

I purchased a new little die from Waffle Flower recently and think he's just about as cute as he can be ... especially in these fun colors!  

I sure wish I had a purple ink to match the purple paper I found in my stash!

On the other hand, I suppose it is a color HUES challenge, right?

An older frame die from Papertrey Ink created the perfect setting for snowy hillsides

for my duo of deer.  You'll notice I clipped the antlers off of one of them to make her a doe.

Here are a few other 'folk art' color combinations...

Snowy hillside dies from The Greetery.  Altenew's Dotted Starburst Debossing plate.

MFT Snow Globe Greetings

I'm also working on the Christmas Postage Collage stencils I found in my mailbox on Saturday ... hope you are as excited to see them as I am to use them!

=] Michele