The Flower Challenge #49

 Hi everyone!! Its a very exciting month for us at The Flower Challenge, its our 4th birthday and we are celebrating with LOTS of prizes!!!!! I can't believe four years have gone by since we started this challenge, its quite scary how quickly time goes by, must be because we have so much fun each month not only making our own cards but seeing all the incredible entries too. I'm honoured to be part of this talented team and here's to many more years to come.

Unfortunately we had Rachel and Karen leave the team recently (they are sorely missed), however we now have a new member the fabulous Loll Thompson of Stamping with Loll.  She is very well known and loved in card making circles and we are so happy to have her with us. 

Our theme for this month is 'Circle/Circles' and you can incorporate them however you like into your project with floral images being your main element.

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Alex Syberia Design and she is generously giving the winner of this challenge a $10 voucher to spend in her Etsy store. Lucky them!!

And because its our birthday we also have SIX more prizes to give away this month. Photos of the prizes and all the details are on the blog.

For my card I was very lucky to come across an image I had printed months ago from the very first release Alex did with her digital floral images. And it even has a circle in it so it couldn't be more perfect:

This 'You are Amazing' digital image was so easy to print out and couldn't be more perfect for colouring with lots of different flowers and leaves. If you haven't already I really encourage you to check out her Etsy store, the images will blow you away!

I started by quickly colouring the flowers and leaves with Altenew Artist Markers, not worrying too much about blending etc. I then went back in with my new Faber Castell 'Polychromo' pencils and spent ages adds more indepth shading. Once I had finished I found a die (from Uniquely Creative 'Cross-stitch Circle Frames Dies') that fit perfectly around the image to cut it out.

I needed a background but didn't have anything that suited that had circles incorporated into it. So I used some patterned paper (shock, horror!). I found this one from Rosie's Studio 'Flourish' 6x6 pad, adhered it to the card front and then popped the circle on some white foam. I then finished off with some Studio Katia pearls.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my second entry.

You have until Sunday 25th October to link your projects to 'The Flower Challenge' and we will be back on the 15th with some more 'circle' ideas. Good luck with winning a prize and can't wait to see your designs in the Gallery!

Take care

Shona