Ok.  So it's not every day you need a "Congratulations on winning the opportunity to be on a float in the Rose Parade" card!  And I doubt very much that our local Hallmark store would actually have such a card were I even willing to pay for it.  But that's one of the beauties of stamping your own cards; you can pretty much make one for most any occasion.  And I happened to be in need of one to congratulate someone who's earned a place at the Rose Parade next month.

Of course the first thing I scoured my stamp collection for was a tiny stamp with roses.  No go.  In fact the only real rose I found in my entire collection was that big gorgeous one from 5th Avenue Floral.  But it was much too big for any parade float ideas that were beginning to stir in my brain.  So, ok, skip the roses and just look for tiny generic flowers…… which I found in, of all places, that oh-so-versatile stamp set – Loads of Love!  So lookie what I came up with!

You'll recognize, of course, the pick-up truck from Loads of Love, but perhaps not so the "float".  You see, I, the person who can't draw anything to save my life, actually freehanded the flatbed float by simply copying the loose, informal drawing style of the truck.  And then I stamped a bunch of the flower bunches from the same set, and colored in everything with our watercolor pencils and blender pens, and then cut 'em all out with our Paper Snips.  (Not one of the easier detail-cutting jobs I've ever tried, lol, and don't miss the even tinier pieces on the truck fenders!  Arghhh!!!  Even *I* was wiggin' out a little over THOSE things!)  Finally, the letters were cut with our Billboard die on the Big Shot, and I added a scrap of leftover paper from the Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit and a retired piece of Ribbon Originals from some time ago.

So whatdya think?