Birthday wellies

Hello crafting pals!

I felt it was time I cracked on with some birthday cards for the year! Come and see:

I started this card with the sentiment, stamping it on a card panel cut out with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodles.

The 'happy birthday' part is from Altenew's Birthday Greetings and I thought the 'Rain or Shine' part from Stampin' Up's Under My Umbrella would fit in nicely. And it did! YAY! *jigs up and down happily*

So then I used the wellies from the umbrella set to illustrate the sentiment. Love those wellies! I stamped them on a snippet of long-ago-retired designer paper and fussy cut them. Then I stamped some flowers to grow in the wellies, coloured them with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and cut them out too.

Then it was just a matter of assembling everything. I grounded the wellies with a mint coloured marker, glued the wellies and flowers under the sentiment, popping one up on a dimensional. The panel was matted onto yellow card stock for a sunshine feel and I added a sprinkling of clear gems to represent the sparkle of raindrops!

CHALLENGES
I so enjoyed the Colour Dare Challenge's tic, tac toe chart that I've played along again! I used the bottom line, Lemonade, Nectarine and Evergreen, with a touch of the Mint.
I was intrigued by the Global Design Project's theme of Let It Grow - not least because it made me sing 'Let it Snow' from Frozen all day, which I thoroughly enjoyed (although I cannot speak for the rest of the family!) I planted flowers in my wellies for growing part of this challenge :)
I've had to go with Seize The Birthday's Anything Goes option this time because I forgot to add a creature. Earlier I made a card with a creature on it but forgot to make it a birthday card! *sighs deeply*

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Storm Ciara is not leaving these shores without a last flounce and Eva and I are being battered by strong winds again today. On Sunday night a beautiful old tree came down at the entrance to our road. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness, but it made me feel so sad to see such a huge, graceful, living thing lying sprawled across the pathway like a beached whale.

Have you experienced any storm damage?