Stampin! with Jaydee

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.

I got to play along with the fabulous ladies at AAA Cards this week.  They have a great sketch - and they are celebrating their 100th challenge!  So, how could I not play along :-)

Here's the sketch:

I love the simplicity of the sketch - and the fact that you can take it in so many different directions.  I decided it was perfect for my new Majestic Mistletoe stamp set.  But... I wasn't sure what to do about the sentiment and then remembered that I could keep the beauty of the mistletoe stamp - and have the sentiment all at the same time.  I used the new Merry die-cut to cut out the sentiment and placed it back into the base of the card.   I die-cut the sentiment several times so that it stood "proud" of the card base.  It was a really easy card to create and I love the variation in greens with the pop of red.  I stamped the "berries" and then added some nuovo drops ofer the top.  I wish I had the red glitter nuovo drops... but I had to make do with transluscent. 

Here's my card:

I very slightly offset the backing Merry die-cuts, so it looks like there is a slight shadow.  The bright pops of green really do work against all of that white space and I was happy with how it came out.

I hope you will join the team at AAA and help them celebrate their 100th challenge.

On a personal note:

NOOOOOOO!!!!!   It got down to 34 degrees this morning and I swear I could hear my bones moaning.  I am just NOT ready for winter and this morning was a reminder that winter is very close by.  I know I will love the first snowfall and the first fire.. but I still want to be able to sit out under the deck for a little while longer!

Some of you may remember my coloring post, where I shared some photos of a bunch of wildflowers that I was practicing coloring on.  You can see the post here.

One of the things that I really loved about that image is that we have many of those native wildflowers in our own garden.  Some of those flowers are not quite past their peek yet and I went around and took some photos to share with you.  The thing about having native wildflowers in the garden, is that they provide seeds and food for the birds throughout winter.  Oh... and they look great, too!

Here's one of my favorites - the bright yellow of the Rudbeckia never cease to make me smile.  The goldfinch love the seed heads in winter.

The tickseed - aka Coreopsis - is a gorgeous little plant.  This is the first one that we have managed to keep and not have them eaten by the deer.  We have usually planted the yellow color, but we couldn't resist this gorgeous shot or reddish pink of this one.

I love the fact that each flower is different - some have more pink - others have more yellow.  It's such a fablulous little plant.

Another shot of gorgeous red is from the Bee Balm.  This plant is loved by the bees and the humming birds.  It's a mid to late summer plant, but we have one that is still holding out and providing a little bit of color.

Another shot of late summer pink - is from the Echinacea.  We have multiple colors; white, yellow and pink.  Most of them have faded, but this little guy was still showing some beautiful color, especially when he has the backing of the Little Bluestem grasses in the background.  I love their fall colors, too.

I found two fabulous wreaths on sale at Pier 1.  They add a gorgeous pop of orange and yellow for fall - and look great on the doors.

They match the pumpkins on the front step.  Once fall is over, we cut open the pumpkins and leave them for the animals.  However, the squirrels got to them before we had time this year!

I hope you enjoyed some of the flower photos.  I will have some more photos for you during the week.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Stamps:  Majestic Mistletoe - Altenew
• Inks:  Altenew
• Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White
• Die: Holiday Script Words - Altenew