Everything In The Garden ...

... is lovely, and growing like crazy in all this lovely warm sunny weather we've been having.  The stars have aligned for a few challenges with this card.  The leaf background (Penny Black - Fronds) had been sitting in my stash patiently waiting to be used, and I thought it would make a nice background for my new Poppystamps die.  I'm adding it to the following challenges:

AAA Cards -Watercolour (watercoloured background and die cut)

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Summer Garden.  The team are showcasing Paper Artsy stamps, and although it's not a requirement, I did manage to use a Paper Artsy stamp (the text stamp on the background).

And because I've used a text stamp on the background, I'm entering it into Inkspirational where the word prompt is 'text'.

My first time playing along at Poppystamps - this month's challenge is Tic Tac Toe.  I've gone for the diagonal - flower, yellow, twine.

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

And last but by no means least, CAS Mix Up where the challenge is stamping, dies and your choice.  I've used watercolouring, sponging (round the edges of the petals) and twine.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #46

Time for another tag, I think.  When I was prepping for my guest design spot at Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas, I prepped an extra tag by tearing some of the top layer off and smearing it with a light coating of gesso.

So today I covered it with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, which dries to a lovely sheen, then stamped the bell from Holiday Sketches: Christmas Bells, coloured it in with Distress Inks, cut it out and added Wink of Stella, then took the clappers out of two metal bell charms and adhered them to the cut-out bells.  I added some diecut 'greenery' which I'd coated with Wink of Stella, then punched a hole and added some pewter-coloured ribbon.  Oh, and some Icicle Stickles to the centre of the poinsettia (after the top photo was taken).

I'm adding my tag to Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas,

Inkspirational - Anything Goes with Silver (ok, technically, it's Brushed Pewter on the tag base, Iced Spruce on the bells, and metal for the clappers, but they're all in the spirit of silver :) )

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - Tag,

and Happy Little Stampers newest challenge, Mixed Media Challenge, which is also a Tag. (The challenge badge is the same as the one above.)