Non-traditional Pumpkins--#tgifc335

We have an inspiration challenge from TGIF Challenges this week:  a picture of a big pumpkin with a pink rose and some Fall foliage.  I pulled out the pumpkin and the pink from the picture and die cut some rather non-traditional pumpkins from the Expression in Ink designer series paper (#155464): 

Yes, there is a bit of orange on the card--coming from the Pale Papaya in the two paper patterns I used for two of the pumpkins.  But the small pumpkin was die cut from a pattern with gold and Magenta Madness and layered over a second Magenta Madness die cut Pumpkin to give it strength to pop-up with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The pumpkin dies used are from the Detailed Pumpkin dies (#156477).  The pumpkin plant leaves were stamped with Mint Macaron on Mint Macaron card stock using the same die set and the coordinating stamp set , Pretty Pumpkins (#156471, also available in a bundle with the die set for 10% off, #156478).  The background was splattered using the Pale Papaya and Magenta Madness Stampin' Write Markers.  The greeting from the Pretty Pumpkins stamp set was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. 

The Pumpkin piece was layered over a piece of Magenta Madness card stock embossed with the Painted Texture 3D embossing Folder (#154317) and the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine (#149653).   A piece of Gold 1/4" shimmer ribbon (#152156) was wrapped around the Magenta Madness layer and tied in a bow.

This is not the first time I've used the Expressions in Ink designer series paper with the Pretty Pumpkins Bundle.  A few weeks ago I was looking through my designer series paper for a Fall pattern to go with the pumpkins for my Facebook Live.  I found some other Fall paper but pulled out the beautiful Just Jade, Shaded Spruce, Evening Evergreen and Gold pattern in the pack.  I just had to use it even though it was a bold choice, especially paired with the gold striped pattern in the paper pack.  My viewers liked it though--better than my traditional version:

There are some beautiful inspired cards over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

My grandson Easton (age 2-3/4) told his mama he wanted to Facetime us to show off his Halloween decorations on the front porch last night.  He was so excited and went from pumpkin to pumpkin picking each one up and then showing us each of the giant spiders and telling us the colors of the lights.  Just to make sure we saw them all--he made the rounds about 7 times.  He is so excited about Halloween this year.  You can see the banners I made him here.  They are hanging on his bedroom door and he calls them his "Halloween Trick or Treats".

Have a great pumpkin season!

--Sara Nell  

       

 

Sale-a-Brate a Merry Christmas--#tgifc334

The TGIF Challenges team has challenged us to feature Sale-a-Bration products in this week's challenge entries.  I have featured two of the paper packs:  the Be Dazzling Specialty pack of glittery champagne paper (#156629) and the Peaceful Prints designer series paper (#156628) full of holiday inspired designs.  You can choose either of these products Free with a $50 purchase from now until the end of Sale-a-Bration on September 30.

Two patterns from the Peaceful Prints papers and a piece of Be Dazzling paper were cut in different widths and arranged across a 5-1/8" x 3-7/8" piece of Real Red Card stock and the striped piece was layered over a 5-1/4" x 4" piece of Real Red card stock, then over a Garden Green card base.   

A piece of Be Dazzling paper was die cut using a die from the Tasteful Labels die set (#152886).  It was layered with three evergreen trees die cut out of Garden Green card stock with two dies from the Cabin Dies set (#156404). 

The greeting is from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set (#153475). It was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in black.  The ends of the 3/4" wide strip were punch using the Banners Pick-a-Punch (#153608).

Find more ideas for using your Sale-a-Bration free products (and decide on your last minute choices), by heading over to the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!!!

--Sara Nell

 

Halloween Banners for Easton

My grandson Easton is all into Halloween this year--he's already insisting on wearing pumpkin shirts!   Since, I'm headed to Charleston for a visit, I thought I'd make him some little Halloween banners to hang in his room.  The Cute Halloween Suite of products, some black glitter paper (#153518), black baker's twine (Baker's Twine Essentials pack, #155475), Basic Black card stock, the Tailor Made Tags dies (#155563) and the Playful Alphabet dies (#152706) were used to create these fun banners:

The Cute Halloween Suite (#156279, all inclusive order number) includes the following products which were used on the banners: Cutest Halloween Bundle (#156483/stamp set, #156480; Halloween Punch, #156482);  Cute Stars adhesive backed sequins (#156484); Black & White 1/4" gingham ribbon (#156485); and the Cute Halloween designer series paper (#156479).  The suite also includes Tombstone Treat Boxes (#156486)--which I will be decorating for Easton to share with his day care class.

The pumpkin, ghost and skull images were all punched or fussy cut from the designer series paper.  The spiders were stamped and heat embossed in black with the web lines drawn on with a Black Stampin' Write marker.  All of the designer series paper tags were backed with Basic Black card stock to make them durable.  I adhered the paper to the card stock before die cutting the tags.  Each tag also has a Basic Black reenforcing tab at the hole (dies for these are included in the tag die set).

To string the tags together to create the banner, I threaded Basic Black baker's twine through the ribbon or baker's twine on the backs of the tags (yes, that's a plastic dental floss threader you see in the photo):

I can't wait to help Easton hang these in his room (I've got a package of removable plastic hooks packed in with the banners).  

Have a wonderful week!

--Sara Nell 

 

Halloween Smile--#tgifc333

I've been creating all week with the Cute Halloween Suite of products.  I used a leftover from another project to create my project for the TGIF Challenges sketch challenge this week.  In honor of the 333rd challenge, the sketch has 3 strips in the background.  I added another layer to the sketch and loved how my leftover piece looks on the final card:

The focal design is stamped on a gray bottled piece I die cut from the front of a Tombstone Treat Box (#156486) using a Painted Labels die (#151605).   The images are all from the Cutest Halloween stamp set (#156480/bundled with Halloween Punch, #156483).  The spider and greeting were stamped on the label with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Black Stampin' Emboss Powder (#155554, Basics set).  Note:  I found that ink smeared on the tombstone boxes, so I started heat embossing all images I stamped on them.  

The pumpkin was stamped in VersaMark on Basic White card stock and heat embossed in black.  It was colored with Pumpkin Pie combo and Old Olive Light Stampin' Blends, then the face was stamped and heat embossed as well.  The pumpkin was punched out using the Halloween Punch (#156482) and adhered with a Stampin' Dimensional. Three Pumpkin Pie Cute Stars adhesive-backed sequins complete the label piece.

The card base is Pumpkin Pie card stock.  This was layered with a bottled Basic Black design from the Cute Halloween designer series paper pack (#156479).  The center layer is Pumpkin Pie card stock layered with three strips of a Basic Gray and Basic White design from the paper pack.  A bow of black baker's twine (Baker's Twine Essentials Pack, #155475) completes the card.

Here is the tombstone treat box from which I cut the label used on my card.  Next time I will use a smaller label die to cut a window out--this one is almost too big!

For more wonderful projects using this sketch,head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog:

Have a great week! I'm headed to Charleston, SC, this week to attend the Chosen Women's Conference at Seacoast Church and to visit my daughter, son-in-law and grandson. So excited.

--Sara Nell

    

Fall Birthday--#tgifc332

This week's TGIF Challenges color challenge includes Cinnamon Cider, Cherry Cobbler and Mossy Meadow.  These three rich colors remind me of a crisp Fall day and the best part of a crisp Fall day is falling leaves!  Of course!  So, I pulled out my Gorgeous Leaves Bundle (#158609/includes the Gorgeous Leaves stamp set, #153365 and the Intricate Leaves dies, #153566, bundled at 10% off) and stamped falling leaves:

The maple leaves were stamped randomly over Very Vanilla card stock in Cinnamon Cider and Cherry Cobbler.  I love how these images surround the leaves in speckles!  I added more speckles with my Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write marker.  The large maple leaf was die cut out of Cherry Cobbler and adhered to a Mossy Meadow circle embossed with the Timber 3D embossing folder (#156406).

The greeting is from the Artistically Inked stamp set (#154542).  It was stamped in Mossy Meadow on a 1/2" strip of Very Vanilla card stock.  A card base of Very Vanilla, a layer of Mossy Meadow and a bow of Linen Thread (#104199) complete the card.

The TGIF Challenges team designer's created some beautiful cards for this week color challenge.  Check them out over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell

     

Creation Station September Hop--From Simple to Artfully Stepped Up

 

It's that time again--time for the monthly Creation Station Blog Hop.  Welcome!  We have really got some great inspiration for you today. We are creating simple cards, then artfully stepping them up.  Check out each Creation Station designer's blog by hopping using the "Next" link at the bottom of the blog post.  You'll be glad you did!!!

Just in case you didn't yet know this about me, I am totally inspired by the leaves of Fall--I walk my yard collecting fallen leaves to decorate my craft room and inspire me.  I love crunching leaves underfoot and "wading" in big piles of leaves --especially now that I have a grandson who wades right in with me even when the piles are over his head!  Leaves haven't started falling here yet, but I am totally inspired by the Gorgeous Leaves Bundle (#158609/includes Gorgeous Leaves stamp set, #153365 and Intricate Leaves dies, #153566, at 10% off).

For my projects today, I used Blackberry Bliss, Cherry Cobbler, and Cajun Craze as my leaf colors with Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede as my neutrals.  I added Gold to my stepped up card.

My simple card features three maple leaves, one of each color stamped on Very Vanilla card stock and die cut.  They are arranged over a piece of Crumb Cake card stock that was stamped three times in Soft Suede with the timber grain background image from the stamp set. The greeting is from the Very Versailles stamp set (#149275).  It was stamped on a 5/8" strip of Very Vanilla card stock with Blackberry Bliss.  The ends were punched with the Banners Pick-a-Punch (#153608) to form a label.  The card base is Blackberry Bliss.

For my stepped up card, I used the Blackberry Bliss card stock as a layer and added a Crumb Cake card base.  Instead of using the timber grain stamp image, I embossed the Crumb Cake top layer with the Timber 3D embossing folder (#156406) inside of which I applied Soft Suede ink side before running the piece through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine.  This brought out the grain just a bit more. 

Most of the maple leaves arranged on the Crumb Cake layer were created with the three leaf colors, using refill inks dropped on a baby wipe as the stamp pad.  The mottled colored leaves are what I always see in my yard.  Three of the leaves were stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (##155555, Metallics collection).

Instead of a punched label for the greeting, this greeting was fussy cut.  It is layered over a piece of Cherry Cobbler & Gold metallic ribbon (#156312).  Several Gilded Gems (#152478) complete this stepped up card.   

Now, let's head over to The Creative Teacup Blog and see what wonderful creations Yvonne has for us today!  

To Yvonne's blog . . . 

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

--Sara Nell

 

Free as a Bird--#tgifc331

There's a themed inspiration challenge this week at TGIF Challenges: "Walk on the Wild Side".  We are challenged to create with wild animals, animal prints, leaves, etc.  As I started working on this challenge, I discovered that all of my wild animals stamp sets are retired.  All but my birds.  I pulled my Free as a Bird stamp set (#149468) off the shelf to use.  I love this stamp set:

The Basic White Thick card base was layered with a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" piece of Hand-Penned designer series paper (#155499).  The bird image was stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Stampin' Blends.   Colors used on the image were taken from the paper:  Misty Moonlight, Pale Papaya, Mint Macaron, So Saffron, with Soft Suede added for the branch.   The Color Lifter was used on the birds' heads to lighten the color a bit.  The greeting was stamped in Misty Moonlight.

The bird image was adhered to a 4-1/2" x 3-1/4" piece of Basic White card stock.  This piece was covered with Misty Moonlight tinted matte finish Embossing Paste (#141979) applied with the fat spatula shaped Palette Knife (#142808, set of 3) in a random pattern. (My little walk on the wild side on this card!)

A piece of white faux linen from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack (#153620) with ends tied with Linen Thread (#104199) and three Pearl Basic Jewels (#144219) complete the card.

Be inspired by more Walks on the Wild side over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Have a wonderful week!  In the USA we have a three day weekend coming up--Enjoy!

--Sara Nell