Every Leaf...

 Hello, hello!  Popping in to share a card that I made for the current JUGs challenge.  This week it is mood board week and it is a beautiful fall themed one!   I have had some lovely fall themed Greetery products on my desk since they arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and I have been wanting to use them.  So thankful for the JUGs fall themed challenge so I could finally get something made, lol. At JUGs design team member Bobby's suggestion I'm going to add this to the gallery at Time Out - Favorite Season.  Let's look at what I created.

Even though we sometimes don't have the best weather during the fall here in the PNW fall is my favorite season.  I love seeing all the pumpkins appearing at farmstands and in the stores and the leaves changing colors.   When the Greetery came out with the Autumn Harvest die set I knew I wanted to add it to my collection.  I mean just look at those pumpkins!  I was finally able to at the end of August.  At the same time I also purchased the Autumn Bliss stamp and die set.   Because they just go together like peanut butter and jelly, lol!

I die cut the wheat stalks from kraft and the pumpkins and gourds from white cardstock.  I inked up the wheat stalks with scattered straw and bundled twigs distress inks.  For the pumpkins and gourds I started with scattered straw as well and then added in carved pumpkin and spiced marmalade for the pumpkins and a little bit of carved pumpkins for the gourds.  I did also add a bit of gathered twigs to the pumpkins for more depth.  I absolutely LOVE how the pumpkins turned out!   I stamped the leaves from the Autumn Bliss set by pouncing scattered straw on to the leaves, stamping and then pouncing on carved pumpkin to some and gathered twigs to others for that layered look.  The leaves were die cut with the matching dies.  I used a Memory Box arched die for the stamped sentiment.   For the sentiment I also started with pouncing scattered straw onto the whole sentiment and stamping.  I then added carved pumpkin down to the word fluttering and stamping.  I finished with some gathered twigs at the top for the variegated look I wanted.  Again, I love how the sentiment turned out.  Now it was time to put the card together.  I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything as I wanted a relatively flat card that I could send in the mail. 

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp/Memory Box STAMPtember Collaboration Release!

 Hello friends!  I'm popping in to share a couple of cards that I created with the new collaboration stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp and Memory Box!   This super cute set is called Good Cheer and you can find it here.  Don't forget that it is a limited edition set so once it sells out it is never coming back.   Let's have a look at what I made.

This card was made with the sweet little snowman from the set along with the cute little tree and snowflake images from the set.  I also used the Birch Press Design Wavy Hillside die set.  Memory Box glitter cardstock with a light blue sparkle was die cut with the Wavy Hillside die for my snowy background.  I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored them with Copic makers.  I arranged the hillside pieces and then stamped the snowflakes.  Once that was done I adhered the hills using thin foam tape for the bottom hill so I could slip the snowman behind and glue for the rests of the pieces.  I stamped the sentiment, die cut it with the matching die and then adhered it with thin foam squares.  I finished with a little bit more sparkle from distress Rock Candy glitter.

The stamp set also has two cute penguin images.  I did stamp and color both images with Copic markers, but I haven't gotten around to make a card with the second image.  I just love this cute little penguin holding a cup of hot cocoa!  There is even the image to stamp the steam... love it!  I used Memory Box Yuletide Plaid patterned paper for the background.  Die cutting the papers with Poppystamps Simple Rings (top circle) and Nordic Heart Pattern Rings dies.  I adhered them to a kraft cardstock panel die cut with a Memory Box rectangle die, stamped the sentiment and then added my little penguin, cup and the trees.  To give the card a little more of a Christmas feel I added the little yellow stars to the tops of the tree.  

That's it for me.  Make sure you check out this limited collaboration stamp and die set here on the SSS blog.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

September BPD Post #1

 Hello, hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek at what I created.

I hope you will take the time to check out what I created.  I also wanted to let you know that Birch Press Design is sponsoring the Die Cut Divas challenge this month.  You can find out all the details here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

fall leaves...

 Hello!  Fall is on its way.  I can feel it in the mornings when I walk the dog, but by mid-morning summer has come roaring back, lol!  Weather here in the PNW has been all over the place this year!  However, despite it feeling like summer I am ready for fall and with that in mind created this card for Color Throwdown and Just Us Girls - anything goes with dies.  Let's have a look at what I made.

A few weeks ago I received the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Leaf Fragments die set in the mail.  It has been sitting on my desk waiting for me to make something with it.  I thought the CTD combo was the perfect vehicle.  I started by spraying a panel of ivory heavystock with distress sprays in Festive Berries and Rustic Wilderness.  I was careful to let each layer dry first before adding the other color and I didn't do a lot of overlapping of colors.  Meaning if you saw the panel I created one side was mostly red and the other side mostly green.  Then I spritzed on bits of green on the red side and bits of red on the green side.   If there was excess color on one side I dabbed it up and pounced it on the other side to get the mix I wanted.   I finished with a light spritzing of Harvest Moon distress mica spray.   Once the panel was completely dry (ie the next day) I die cut my leaves.  I die cut the entire panel so that I had enough leaves to determine which ones to use. I tucked the extra leaves into the envelope with the dies to use in the future.   As I was determining the layout I thought about a very old Tim Holtz/Sizzix die set I have called Mixed Media.  I pulled that out and decided to use one that you see in the background.  As I was die cutting the kraft panel the washi tape I used to hold the dies in place pulled off some of the cardstock.  I decided to go with it and roughed up the corners where the cardstock was damaged with a distressing tool.   I determined where the panel would be placed and then spritz more Harvest Moon on to my card base for more yellow.  The sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp stamp set was stamped in the corner using VersaFine Clair Acorn ink.  I then glued the panel to my card base, added the leaves and the yellow twine bow.  Also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to stamp it since I did stamp the sentiment. 

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

It's a STAMPtember Blog Party!!

Hello, hello!  Can you believe that it is already September?  And with the arrival of September that means STAMPtember has also arrived!!  Today I'm participating in a BLOG PARTY hosted by Simon Says Stamp to celebrate the start of STAMPtember. And because it is a celebrate there are party favors!  I have a code to share that allow you to get a free word die with ANY PURCHASE!  Check out all the deets in the banner at the end of this post.  Simon Says Stamp was so kind and provided me with the super adorable Best Witches stamp set to create with.   You can kind all the new STAMPtember products right here.  Let's have a look at what I created with the Best Witches stamp set.

When I pulled the stamp set out of the mailer it arrived in, I saw the stack of books and thought how fun it would be to create a little scene with one of the critter witches (that's what I call them, lol) sitting on top of the stack.   I love this card turned out.   A little side note, thanks to Simon Says Stamp I have done more masking and coloring of images in the last two months than I have done in the last FIVE years!   I figured out my scene, created my masks and then stamped all the images.  Once stamped I colored everything with Copic markers and then die cut the panel with a SSS A2 Rectangle frames die. I stamped the little book in the magic spell (or at least that is how I see it, lol!), colored it and then trimmed it out.  To finish the card I placed the masks back on the images and then used some distress mica spray in Harvest Moon in the approximate spot where the little book would be floating.  Once everything was dry I stamped the sentiment and then added the little book.   

As you can see, there is a bit of similarity between the two cards.  This card is the one that I actually made first and it gave me the idea to keep going in the same vein with the card shared above.   I created the tag using the largest Simon Says Stamp Label Tag die.  I stamped the little critter witch on the tag and colored it with Copic makers.  I then made a mask of the little critter witch, covered up my coloring and spritz the tag with distress mica spray in Bubbling Cauldron and Fortune Teller.  I stamped and colored the bubbling cauldron with Copics, trimmed it out and then adhered it to my tag.  To keep the sparkle going I trimmed down strips of purple, bright green and black glitter card stock and adhered them to my rectangle panel.  The tag was added to the card front along with a bright green twine bow.  I stamped the sentiment, die cut it with a sentiment strip die and adhered to the card front. 

That's it for me!  Make sure you check out the full release at Simon Says Stamp.  There is a link in my sidebar that will take you directly to Simon Says Stamp.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!