This will be a short post since I was in Tucson for several days attending a Handbell Festival and have been trying to catch up on things since then.

 The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Tucson was the heat, of course, but then as I was driving to the hotel I kept seeing these vivid red-orange flowers that were a real contrast to the brown/olive background around them. 

When I got to the hotel these flowers were growing right outside my balcony, so I got an opportunity to get a closer look.  I was blown away by how much they looked like orchids- very lacy and delicate.  They were truly stunning. 

I have no idea what they are called but I am hoping someone out there will comment and let me know!  I would hate to keep calling them “red-orange flowers” when I am sure they have a much lovelier name. 

As I was out looking for a letterbox the next morning my first reaction to the scenery was that it was lacking in color so therefore not very interesting.  But as I continued to walk I saw that while there wasn’t a whole lot of color there was a lot of texture.  The variety of textures in the cacti alone was mind-boggling! 

This card, a sketch from this week’s Clean And Simple  Stamping Blog   reminds me of my trip.  I used a great handmade silk paper for the flower (one of the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers with some alteration), and my butterfly antenna technique (adding small dots of paper to the ends of the stiffened embroidery floss) as well.  My Tim Holtz embossing folder used with a sand colored cardstock seemed to make a fitting background and I used a sewing machine stitch that looked quite prickly.  Even the red mottled cardstock I chose for the card itself added some texture.

I hope you enjoyed this tribute to Tucson, AZ!