Simply Thankful--#tgifc291

The TGIF Challenges inspiration challenge this week is "Thankful".  I was inspired by the Fall colors in the inspiration piece and by the Country Home stamp set (#147678).  It has some of my favorite "Thankful" sentiments, but the other stamps in the set haven't seen much ink lately.  Time to use a couple of these neglected stamps for this challenge:

The card base is Crumb Cake splattered with a bit of ink from my Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker.  Next is a two inch wide layer of Cajun Craze card stock embossed with the Tin Tile 3D embossing folder (#151801).  I masked off part of the sentiment stamp image, then stamped it in Early Espresso ink onto another piece of splattered Crumb Cake card stock.  It was die cut with a Stitched Rectangles die (#151820).

The focal point is a floral arrangement in the pitcher.  The pitcher was stamped in Crushed Curry ink on to Very Vanilla card stock, then colored with the So Saffron Combo Stampin' Blends (#154905).  The top of the pitcher was masked off with a pre-stamped post-a-note and then the cotton branch arrangement was stamped in Early Espresso ink over it. The cotton branch arrangement was stamped twice more on Very Vanilla card stock scraps. The arrangement on the pitcher was colored with Granny Apple Green Combo (#154885), Old Olive Combo (#154892), Poppy Parade Combo (#154958), Cajun Craze Combo (#154879) and Cinnamon Cider Combo (#153105) Stampin' Blends.  Once colored, the arrangement was die cut with the largest circle in the Stitched Shapes dies (#152323).

The seed pods in the second stamped arrangement were colored with Cinnamon Cider Combo Stampin' Blends, fussy cut and popped over the seed pods in the pitcher arrangement with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.  The cotton branches that extended outside the die cut circle were fussy cut out of the third stamped arrangement and glued over the corresponding images in the pitcher arrangement.

You will be truly inspired by the projects this week over at the TGIF Challenges Blog.  Check them out here.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

--Sara Nell 

Spirit of Peace--#tgifc290

 My card today was inspired by this week's TGIF Challenges sketch challenge:

The greeting is from the Peaceful Boughs stamp set (#150541).  The boughs and pine cone are from the coordinating Beautiful Boughs dies (#150661).  The greeting was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Very Vanilla card stock.  The boughs were die cut out of Garden Green card stock and the pine cone out of Early Espresso card stock and a patterned paper from the Gilded Autumn specialty designer series paper pack (#153520).

The background was created with the same patterned paper from the Gilded Autumn paper pack. It was layered on a piece of Early Espresso card stock for strength before being embossed with the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder (#152320).  An oval was die cut in the center of this piece using the Layering Ovals dies (#151771).  This piece was then was layered over an smaller oval die cut out of Brushed Metallic card stock (#153524) to create a double oval frame around the greeting.  

A bow created with the gold metallic thread from the Forever Greenery Trim combo Pack (#152475) and a card base of Garden Green card stock complete the card.

This week's sketch is very versatile, so check out the entries for a lot of fun interpretations of this sketch.  See them at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a great week!  I have lots to do before Thanksgiving company arrives.

--Sara Nell

Harvest Blessings--#tgifc289

This week's color challenge from TGIF Challenges is Garden Green, Merry Merlot, and Crushed Curry. Those colors remind me of Autumn and Christmas at the same time.  It was hard to decide which way to go.  Then I spent some time clomping through fallen leaves with Roxie.  Falling leaves it is!

My background was created on Fluid 100 watercolor paper (#149612).  I misted the entire piece with water, then dropped in Garden Green and Crushed Curry inks using a Water Painter (#151298).  Once this background was dry, I splattered Merry Merlot ink across the front.  After the splatters were dry, I stamped the large leaf from Gather Together stamp set (#150589) randomly on the background.  I stamped one leaf at a time in VersaMark (#102283), then coated it with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109129).  Once all the leaves were in place I heat embossed them using the Heat Tool (#129053).

The greeting is one of my Fall favorites from Country Home stamp set (#147678).  It was stamped on a 3/4" wide strip of Merry Merlot card stock and heat embossed in gold.  One end was punched with the Banners Pick a Punch (#153608).  A loose circle of gold trim from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo Pack (#152475) was placed under the greeting piece. A Merry Merlot card stock layer and card base complete the card.

For more inspiration with this fun color combo, check out the entries over at TGIF Challenges here.

I am trying to talk my husband into not mowing over all the fallen leaves until after my grandson, Easton, visits during Thanksgiving.  He doesn't get to experience the fun of clomping through fallen leaves in Coastal South Carolina. I want to share one of my simple joys with him. 

Here's to simple joys!

--Sara Nell

Wonderful Moose--#tgifc288

 It's another designer take-over at TGIF Challenges this week.  These are really fun! This week's challenge by Stampin' Up! Artisan Team and TGIF Challenges design team member Tammy Wilson was especially fun for me.  The challenge is "Going in Circles".   Fun because I rarely do cards with a multitude of circles.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the challenge was plaids and the Merry Moose stamp set (#150494).  That's what I did:

For the background, I did two layers of Mint Macaron watercolor wash over two separate pieces of Shimmery White card stock.  One piece I die cut in circles using the smallest circle die in the Stitched Shapes dies (#152323). I  adhered those circles randomly over the second piece and then embossed the whole using the Subtle 3D embossing folder (#151775).

The three patterned circles were die cut using the three smallest circles in the Stitched Shapes dies and patterns from the 'Tis The Season designer series paper pack (#153489).  The moose was stamped in Shaded Spruce ink onto the same Real Red pattern as the second largest circle, then punched out using the Moose Punch (#150652). 

The greeting from Wrapped in Christmas stamp set (#153481) was stamped in Shaded Spruce onto Shimmery White card stock and die cut using the Stitched Rectangles dies (#151820). A few Wonderful Gems (#153536), a layer of Shaded Spruce card stock and a Whisper White Thick card base complete the card.  

You can tell the design team and challengers were really inspired by this challenge.  Check out all of the entries over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a wonderful day!

--Sara Nell

Creation Station November Blog Hop--The Great Outdoors

 

Hello! Welcome to the November Creation Station Blog Hop.  We are a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world who create and share projects with you each first Sunday of the month.  This month our theme is "The Great Outdoors" and we are creating with monochromatic color palettes.  If you landed here from Yvonne's blog, you've already seen some fantastic projects.   You are sure to find more great inspiration around our hop, so remember to click on the "Next" link at the bottom of each post to travel around and see each design team member's projects.

To me, there is nothing cuter in nature than a little chipmunk.  Lucky for me, chipmunks have their very own monochromatic color palette and I went with it:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Early Espresso.  The chipmunk image is from the Field Journal stamp set (#152609). It was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Very Vanilla card stock, then colored with Crumb Cake (#154882) and Soft Suede (#154906) Stampin' Blends.  He  It was die cut with a Stitched Shapes circle die (#152323) and layered over an Early Espresso scalloped circle die cut using the Layering Circle dies (#151770).  The "Hello" is from the Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468).  Leaf shapes were die cut out of Soft Suede and Early Espresso card stock using the Forever Flourishing dies (#152714) and then layered under the chipmunk.

The plant image from the Field Journal stamp set was randomly stamped in Crumb Cake onto Crumb Cake  card stock for the top layer of the card.  It was spritzed lightly with water and embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D embossing folder (#152718).  It is layered over Early Espresso card stock.  A double length of Linen Thread (#104199) tied around the layers and into a bow and a Crumb Cake card base complete the card.

I used the "Hello" greeting, so the card can be used for one of several different occasions or to mail out to a friend.  I made a coordinating tag with no greeting for the same reason: it may be tied to a birthday gift, a Christmas gift or a gift basket:

Many of the same elements used on the card were also used on the tag.  Instead of die cutting the leaves, the smaller leaves on the tag were punched out using the Sprig Punch (#148012).  The Scalloped Tag Topper Punch (#133324) was used to create the tag.  The Early Espresso tag bottom was punched from a 2" by 5-1/2" piece of card stock.  The stamped and embossed Crumb Cake piece was cut 1/8" smaller on both the height and width measurements so it could be layered over the Early Espresso layer as on the card.  A piece of Faux Suede Trim (#152472) was threaded through the tag top hole and tied with a double length of Linen Thread. 

Hope you enjoyed my monochromatic projects half as much as I enjoyed making them for you.  Now it's time to head over to my talented friend Denita's  blog for more inspiration.

To Denita's blog . . .

Have a great day!

--Sara Nell