Give Thanks Card

It's time for another beautiful Fall card.  As I walked the puppies in our back yard this morning, I couldn't help but notice and enjoy the beautiful colors of the Fall leaves.  I love all the color variations and the wonderful textures.  It got my creative juices flowing for making more Fall cards. 

I'm actually in the middle of prep for my Christmas Retreats, so I'll have to keep all my ideas in my head until I get back to them.  This is the time of year when I switch from Fall to Halloween to Christmas and back again.  It's kind of crazy and kind of fun!

I used what I'd normally think of as the reverse side of the embossed layer on this card.  I thought it just seemed right for it.

Tip:
Sometimes you only a tiny 'sprig' of ribbon, as with my burlap on this card.  I cut a tiny strip of thickness from our burlap ribbon, tied it into a knot and attached it with Liquid Tombow.

Do you need some inspiration?   Go take a walk in your neighborhood.  Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather, the colors, the textures, the wonder of it all.  That will surely get your creative juices going.  Now, go stamp... then take a nap... then stamp some more.  Enjoy and Give Thanks for our beautiful Fall!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

More Burlap Leaves

I spent a few wonderful hours Saturday evening with my sweet Olive Jane.  The text today is in her honor... Grateful For You.  I love that little girl! 

Click here to review my info on the burlap leaves.

This card has stamped leaves and burlap leaves. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Wooden Leaves Fall Card

Happy World Card Making Day.  What a great day to stamp.  Yesterday, Jennifer and I did something we haven't done in well over a year.  We stamped together!  It was so much fun.  She created several gorgeous Fall cards and I worked on my upcoming cards for my October 25 Christmas Retreat.  I must say that I got into the groove so much that I started stamping again after dinner and the next thing I knew, it was 2:00 in the morning!  I 'd already finished all the projects for the Retreat (as well as the projects for my November 22 Retreat) and I now have EVERYTHING finished for my October Retreat.  Woo hoo!  What a great feeling!  I'll share some sneak peeks soon.  I have to get it all photographed, watermarked and uploaded.

SPECIAL NEWS:
If you live in my area and place an order (before tax and shipping) of $35. or more from now through October 15, you will earn $10. off the October 25 Retreat!!!  I think you'll like what I have planned for you.  We'll be making 3 projects using our gorgeous All is Calm DSP.  Each project has a special surprise inside it!  We'll enjoy a light lunch together and then we'll make 12 cards for Christmas --- 3 each of 4 designs.  They'll be using our wonderful Festival of Tress stamp set and coordinating punch.  By using the same papers on the projects and the same stamp set on the cards, it will save us time and we should be able to complete everything by the end of the class.  
I am holding the enrollment for the Retreat to 6 max!
               Register early to save your spot!!!

So... let's get back to Fall for a while.  We had a real chill settle in to our area yesterday.  It is no longer sitting on the deck weather, so we might as well stay indoors and stamp.

It is so much fun to play with our little wooden elements.  Here's a card using them, along with some gold highlights.  

Look super closely and you can see that the large leaf in the background is stamped in gold ink.

I left the wooden outline leaf natural and sponged over the solid wooden leaf in Mossy Meadow.

Now go stamp something and enjoy World Card Making Day!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Creating Some Beautiful Fall Leaves

Remember this card from my previous post?  I promised to share with you how I made the leaves, so that's what we'll do today. 

This is how I did it:
1.  Start with a 4 1/4 X 11" piece of CS (Whisper White or Very Vanilla).
2.  Sponge various Fall colors randomly over the entire piece of CS.
3.  Heat set inks with heat tool.
4.  Stamp a few gold speckles and emboss with gold EP.
5.  Once it cools, place leaf framelits along strip and start cutting your leaves.
6.  With this size of CS, you'll be able to cut a lot of leaves. 
7.  Enjoy using the leaves on your projects.

Here are some shots of the process:

I liked this technique so much that I made a few more pieces of sponged CS.  Come back to see what else I made with it all.  I hope you'll get busy making some beautiful Fall cards now, too.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Another Fall Card with Some Special Touches

Here's another card I made using the design I shared here.  On this card, you'll notice some special leaves.  I made them myself, to add some special touches to my card.

I added a few gold speckles, for some added textures.

The inside is prettied up, too, with just a couple of special touches.

So now you're probably wondering how I made the leaves.  Come back for my next post and I'll tell you all about it.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Hello Fall Card

We have a fun new stamp set and I've been playing with it a lot as I have fun making up some new Fall card creations.  This one features stamping and embossing and a familiar design.

It only takes a 1" strip of DSP to make the inside really look pretty.  I always add a white or vanilla to the inside of cards with a dark card base, so you can see your message on it.

Can you see the gold embossing?

I embossed a coordinating envelope, as well.

Did the card layout design look familiar?  Come back for my next post and I'll tell more about this layout, as well as the one I used in my previous post.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Happy First Day of Autumn and Exciting News

It's the first day of Autumn, my absolute favorite time of the year.  Let's celebrate with a Fall card!  I also have some exciting news, so be sure you read the entire post!

One thing I love about living in Illinois is seeing the beauty of the seasons as they change.  OK, I could do without so much winter, but a little is fine.  Autumn is my absolute favorite season and my favorite seasonal cards to make... because of the rich colors.

I stamped with Cajun Craze and Encore Metallic Gold Inks.  The design in the DSP kind of reminds me of Indian Corn.
If you look very closely, you can see the gold shimmer on my card, for my finishing touch.

I added a little stamping on the inside and on the envelope.  In my future posts, I'll be sharing more Fall cards, using a variety of stamps and papers so be sure to come back and see them all.

And now, before I go, I'd like to share some other exciting news with you.  We are getting ready for some puppy love in our home.  We got to meet the entire family Saturday... the mom, the dad and all 5 babies.  The breeder is keeping 1 of the boys, so I took photos of the other 2 boys and the 2 girls.  How will we ever choose who gets to come home with us on October 6?  Here's a peek at these adorable Cocker Spaniels.

Here are the 2 girls:

Here are the 2 boys:

another shot of the 2 girls:

1 of the boys:

We've been wanting a Cocker Spaniel for several years now and, when it didn't work out to adopt sweet little Sammy, we went back to our original plan of finding Cocker Spaniel puppies.  I'll keep you updated on further puppy love soon.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.