I would like to be able to say that we are having a rare sunny weekend but, we aren't.  Gloomy and rainy again.  A quiet weekend punctuated by a 60th birthday celebration last night.  It was one of my husband's former triathlon friends, so it was wonderful to catch up with a few familiar faces from the squad of 12+ years ago.  It's a bit surreal to see these men and women now, married with children, when the squad were training hard, they were just out of university, coping with new jobs and relationships. So, these 2 challenges dovetail nicely.  This stamp set is about the only one I have with anything vaguely balloon like.  I used vellum for the background to create the illusion of sky, perhaps it worked. Cardstock - BB aqua;  PTI vellum
Stamps - PTI Everyday Button Bits
Ink - SU Early Espresso, Real Red
Buttons - PTI
Thread - DMC

One for my Christmas card collection. I hadn't tried to emboss with this die before, but knew the effect would be lovely.  Just wanted to keep it simple, with just a touch of red and black Stamps - PTI Mega Mixed Messages
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Die - Memory Box
Gems - ?

And just to finish, a quick card for the Stampin' Royalty challenge.  The theme I saw a design similar to this on a quilt (Pinterest).  I forgot to pin it, unfortunately.
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