Missing You Zinnia

Hey y'all, we are once again in the throes of preparing to move and it is stressing me out.  Ugh.  After I write this post I'm going to go sit down with my cuppa and watch the 1,000th episode of NCIS and try not to think about moving for a while.

In the meantime, here's the card I made yesterday:

I'm really enjoying the Flowering Zinnias DSP, and this time I used the Simply Zinnia dies to make my flower.  I used the Try A Sketch on Tuesday sketch:

I just realized that challenge is closed now but oh well!  It's odd how the various challenges cycle, sometimes it seems like there's a plethora of sketches but right now it's all about the color challenges.  Speaking of which, I used this week's Paper Players palette:

I wanted a bit of color variation on my cardstock flower and leaves, so I used the coordinating Stampin' Blends to get darker values; it's easiest to see on the leaves, but one of the Melon Mambo die cuts is darker and the little ring on the center of the flower is also a bit darker (and a touch sparkly with Wink of Stella).  I like the bright, summery palette.

I'm also entering this at Cupcake Inspirations for their latest challenge:

Like I said, I'm having fun with the Flowering Zinnias paper and playing with the coordinating stamp set and dies.  When I was a kid, we had a neighbor who grew zinnias in their front yard and I remember her telling me how she harvested seeds from them at the end of the season.  I can't remember the lady's name as she moved out after only a year or two of us being neighbors, but I always think of her when I see zinnias.

That's it for me today, y'all.  Time for me to watch NCIS :)  Cheers.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Vertical Blooms
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Stampin' Blends in Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Thick Basic White, Flowering Zinnias DSP
Accessories:  Simply Zinnia dies, Stitched So Sweetly dies (retired), Opaque Faceted Gems, Dimensionals, Wink of Stella