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 

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

Simply Thankful for Autumn--#tgifc285

 A little Autumn weather finally came our way last week with some clear, crisp mornings and beautiful afternoons.  It's a little warm now--but the leaves are falling! This hint of Autumn was the inspiration for my entry in the TGIF Challenges sketch challenge this week:

The first layer is a piece of Gilded Autumn specialty designer series paper (#153520) adhered to a 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" Very Vanilla Thick card stock base.  Next is a band layer created with Cajun Craze card stock embossed with the Tin Tile 3D embossing folder (#151801).  A piece of Mint Macaron basket weave ribbon (#153553, combo pack) was adhered to the top and bottom of this piece with 

Seal+ adhesive.  Next is a layer of leaves stamped in Cajun Craze and Mint Macaron inks on Vary Vanilla card stock.  The images are from the Forever Fern stamp set and were die cut using the coordinating Forever Flourishing dies (Bundle at 10% off, #154094).  These two leaf images are very similar to the images in the designer series paper.

The circle layer was die cut out of another pattern in the Gilded Autumn specialty designer series paper pack using a Stitched Shapes die (#152323). The greeting from the Country Home stamp set (#147678) was stamped in Cajun Craze on Very Vanilla card stock and die cut using a Stitched Rectangles die (#151820).

Check out all the inspired creations using this sketch over at the TGIF Challenges blog here.

Have a great day--and enjoy this beautiful weather!

--Sara Nell

  

Happy Harvest Blessings--#tgifc218

It's the monthly sketch challenges over at TGIF Challenges. It's a block sketch that I flip-flopped left to right for my card:

The designer series paper I used for the blocks is from the Gilded Autumn Specialty pack (#153520).  The maple leaf from the Gather Together stamp set (#150589) was stamped in VersaMark onto Cajun Craze card stock, heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109129), and die cut using the coordinating Gathered Leaves dies (#150662).

 

The greeting is from Country Home stamp set (#147678).  It was stamped in Early Espresso and heat embossed with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (#109130). The banner ends were punched with the new Banners Pick a Punch (#153610).

A layer of Cajun Craze card stock, a Mint Macaron card base and Mint Macaron 1/2" Basket Weave ribbon (#153553, ribbon combo pack) complete the card.

Head over to the TGIF Challenges Blog to see more great cards created with this sketch:

Have a great week!

--Sara Nell

Happy to My Day--#tgifc240

Today, I have a clean and simple card created for this week's TGIF Challenges inspiration challenge:  Autumn Leaves.

All of the leaves from our trees have dropped and I have a nice crunchy pile of leaves to enjoy as I walk Roxie around the yard (at least until Herb gets them chopped up).  When the leaf cover is high, Roxie takes several short hops over it to get around--so funny to watch.  Autumn leaves are definitely the happy in my day so when I saw this sentiment in the Country Home stamp set (#147678), I had to use it for my card!

I started with a card base of Very Vanilla thick card stock.  I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark and heat embossed it with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder (#141636).  Next I stamped some scrap pieces of Terracotta Tile card stock with the speckle image in the Gather Together stamp set (#150589), using the Delicata Celestial Copper ink refill (#150708) and a piece of Stampin' Sponge.  I die cut the small maple leaves out of the stamped card stock using a Gathered Leaves die (#150662).  Copper Trim (#144179) finished the card.

You'll find plenty of leafy inspiration over at the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Hope you are having an awesome week!--Sara Nell

Leaf Cluster--#tgifc232

It's October and leaves are falling.  Which means I spend time while walking Roxie collecting the pretty, colorful leaves that catch my eye.  I place them in my seagrass basket in the entrance hall for part of my Fall decor.  When they shrivel up and turn brown, I toss them and collect more. I love this season!  

But what does this have to do with my post? The TGIF Challenges color challenge this week is Pretty Peacock, Grapefruit Grove and Crumb Cake.  When I saw the colors I got excited because I had a leaf in my basket with those colors--one of my prettier ones:

Okay, not exactly those colors when I looked at it.  But it shared the brightness of the colors in the challenge and inspired my card for today. 

I learned several years ago that the best way to recreate the leaves I find is to use the baby wipe technique (and, yes, every Fall I stamp loads of leaves!).  The baby wipe technique of creating your own multicolored ink pad on a baby wipe creates a mottled effect on the leaves and no two are the same.  For this card I created a baby wipe pad with drops of Grapefruit Grove ink and fewer drops of Pretty Peacock ink.   I used my "ink pad" with the solid leaf image in the Colorful Seasons stamp set.  I used the veined leaf image from the same stamp set to stamp the leaf outline in Crumb Cake on each of the leaves. I die cut these leaves and the Crumb Cake openwork leaves with two dies in the Seasonal Layers die set. I coated the Crumb Cake leaves and the bottom of the greeting layers with Shimmery Crystal Effects.  The greeting is from the Country Home stamp set and was stamped in Pretty Peacock.

I have layers of Crumb Cake and Grapefruit Grove card stock and a Pretty Peacock pattern from the Woven Threads designer series paper pack.

Check out other projects made with this color combo on the TGIF Challenges Blog here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

--Sara Nell