Sweet birthday wishes ....

.... This morning I found out that it is our Hotel Manager's birthday today.  Katie is such a lovely person; always smiling and cheerful, and she has made us so welcome.  I've used three challenges as the basis for my card design:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC89 - card design by Renee
• One Layer Wednesday - OLW84 - hosted by Susan this week; she wants us to use pinks and one shade of orange
• Less is More - LIM59 - Chrissie and Mandi have given us a theme this week - they want to see evidence of masking 

I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try out my new Waltzingmouse stamps.  I started off by masking off a narrow border all round the card.  Next I stamped one of the lovely Vintage Label frames in bright orange, and a couple of pretty flowers in the bottom corners.  I covered these images with some masks and then stamped the chicken wire background in pale pink.  I stamped a few more flowers at the bottom corners and, after removing the mask, I stamped the sentiment in the frame.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Vintage Labels 25, Chicken Wire, Compact Sentiments; Dawn Bibby - Flower Patch
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red
Accessories:  Card from stash

I'm not sure whether this is completely within the Less is More rules - but I think the chicken wire background does allow a lot of white space to show!!  Ladies, if it's not quite right, feel free to delete and I'll have another go :)

The weather today continues to be absolutely wonderful - I'm sitting by the window in my bedroom and I can hear crickets and birds outside - it's just fab!  We are expecting record temperatures today about 83F, which is 28C!!!!  However, temperatures will be dropping by the weekend towards 60F, which is still higher than normal for Michigan in March!

That's all for now.  Back soon with something from Kathryn!