Enchanted Iris for Paper Players # 350

Hi Everyone.

It's the fabulous Nance's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a great sketch for us:

 

I had so many ideas going around in my head for this sketch, but finally settled on my new Enchanted Iris set from Altenew.   I love this set and it's a joy to color.

 

For the vertical side panel, I used my brick stencil to make it feel as though the iris was growing in front of the wall.  I needed a thank you card for another colleague who has been a complete brick (excuse the pun!) over the last couple of months and I really wanted to send her something special - so used some gold mirror card stock to die-cut the "thanks".  

 

To add just a little more sparkle, I took my gel roller pen and added some lines into the flowers - here's a look at the coloring and you can see the slight shimmer from the gel pen

 

 

Here's the full card:

 

I paired the card with a metallic gold envelope and stamped the outline of the iris on the outside:

 

 

I hope you will join us and play along this week.  As always, if you are looking for some inspiration, you have to look no further than the creations from our amazing design team:

• Claire
• Joanne
• Laurie
• LeAnne
• Nance 
•  Sandy
•  Crystal
• Valentyna
•  Deanne

Talking about design team..... we say a huge thank you and a sad goodbye to two of our guest designers this week.  Valentyna and Crystal.   I have so enjoyed having them on our design team for the past six months and seeing their wonderful creations every week.    Deanne will be staying on with us for the rest of the year and is being joined by two new guest designers and we are thrilled to have them along.   So, welcome Jan Clothier and Annie Abrahamson.   We will be seeing the first of their creations in the challenge gallery next week.

On a personal note:

OK.  'Fess up.   Who took summer?  I'm not kidding - it's the middle of summer and the high yesterday was 63 degrees.  Of course, it also rained, hailed and was windy!  Just as I was getting used to the warmer weather - it disappeared!  It feels more like late April than the end of June!

The colder weather doesn't deter the birds though.   We had a new visitor to the feeder this week - sadly, he only stuck around for a little while.  I think there was just too much activity for him.   I had to take this photo through the screens - so it's a little (!) fuzzy

He's a different sort of Oriole and is much smaller than the normal Baltimore Orioles that we get all summer.   We had an Orchard Oriole visit us a couple of years ago for one day.   They are much smaller than the normal oriole, have a rust colored breast and a much smaller beak.   If you want to see just how much smaller he is - here's a side by side comparison with him and a female Baltimore:

I couldn't risk going out onto the balcony to get a better shot, so had to take the photos through the windows and the screen - so they are fuzzy.  But, I think you can get a decent idea about his size.  If you are interested in learning more about these lovely little birds - you can check them out here.

I'll be back tomorrow.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card receipe:

• Stamps:  Enchanted Iris - Altenew
• Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White
• Stencil:  Crafter's Workshop
• Die-cu:  Thanks - Altenew