An Elegant Fall Tree

I'm enjoying our beautiful Fall weather.  Although I haven't been able to take a walk, due to my leg injury, I still notice and enjoy the trees as we drive by them.  Many have already lost all their leaves and some are still working on it.  Trees, even bare ones, have an artistic beauty to them that has always fascinated me.  Here's another tree card (with plenty of leaves) that I enjoyed using my new MISTI to create.  

Our Lovely As A Tree is our oldest (an perhaps best loved) stamp set!

I added a couple of Vintage Leaves over some gently coiled thread for a nice element to embellish the lower part of the oval frames.

I love how this turned out.  This would be a nice masculine card, but I think anyone would enjoy receiving it in the mail.

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Five Days of Emerald Envy, Day Two

Here's a favorite card of mine I made recently, as we continue our green theme.  This one actually had 3 shades of green.  I have a favorite song on my mind right now, too.  Green green.  It's green they say; on the far side of the hill.  Green green.  I'm goin' away to where the grass is greener still.  

I stamped the tree, sponged over the top of it, and then carefully stamped it again.

This looks like a good tree to sit under and enjoy some cool shade.  I'll be in my lawn chair though and not on the ground:)  I'd better take a good book to read.
Never mind.  I think I'll add a swing and enjoy pushing one of my grandchildren.

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Beloved Old Favorite Stamp Set

What is our very oldest (and beloved) stamp set?  It's Lovely As A Tree.  It's beautiful, versatile and has been super popular for a long, long time now.  I've pulled it out for today's card and I think this card was the top favorite at my October Christmas Retreat.

To create the background, I used Pear Pizzazz, Lost Lagoon and Mossy Meadow markers on an acrylic block (size D), spritzed it 3 or 4 times with water and stamped the background.  After it dried, the tree was stamped in Basic Black ink, along with the sentiment.

The tree was then dressed up for Christmas, using our 2-Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter --- gorgeous and simply elegant.  The card base is Mossy Meadow.  I added a layer of black behind the top layer of the card, to pull it all together.  If you haven't tried the Acrylic Block Technique yet, you just don't know all the fun you're missing.  Each time you stamp it, you get a unique surprise.  I have several previous posts using this technique, so you can do a 'search' to learn more about it.

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Acrylic Block Technique Cards, Part 4... and a Little Laugh... On Me

I have a really pretty card for you today and, perhaps, a little laugh... on me.  I went back to our Lovely as a Tree stamp set and used the solitary tree stamp.  This is a beautiful stamp and can be adapted for quite a few techniques. 

I really like how the blues and greens worked together on the Acrylic Block Technique for this one.

And now for the laugh...
 
As always, I stamped the inside of the card and the envelope to coordinate.  However, I was distracted a bit by my boys and the puppies and attached the inside of the card to the wrong side of the card.  I attached it to the top of the inside.  Not to worry.  I just stamped another piece and attached it where it belongs.  I think it works ok.  I certainly wouldn't want to throw away any of it.  I could have just cut off the front and reattached it to a new card base, but I just didn't think it was necessary.

My BFF did this with a card inside at my last card class and started to take it apart to reattach it.  I told her to just leave it (and not risk tearing it) and do what I ended up doing on this card.  See, BFF, it's ok to zone out once in a while.  I taught you well:)  Love ya, BFF!

I really like how this one turned out.  This is so much fun!  
Come back for more Acrylic Block Technique cards.  

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Acrylic Block Technique Cards, Part 2

For today's card, I got out the stamp set that has had the longest run of all our Stampin' Up! sets --- Lovely As A Tree.  It's easy to see why it's been loved by so many for so long.  It's a gorgeous set.  I especially love the pine tree stamp and that's what I used today.  I loved how this one turned out.  

I used blues and greens for my Acrylic Block Technique.  The card base and the ink on the trees on the inside of the card and the envelope are all Mossy Meadow.  The ink on the tree (and text) on the card front is our new Archival Black.  I love it!  It creates a nice, strong image, which is just what you want when you're using a black.

By adding a layer of black under the white card front, it makes it all come together and really brings out the beautiful tree image.  If you haven't tried this technique yet, what are you waiting for?  Get going and enjoy!

Come back for more Acrylic Block Technique cards.  

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Coloring Techniques, Part 8

How about a little 'thumping' today for our coloring technique?  This is done by lightly tapping the  sides of markers directly onto a stamp, to give it subtle variations of color.  I inked my evergreen first in Pear Pizzazz, so it would have a light color going from the start and then used various shades of green Stampin' Write Markers to create color variations, giving texture and life to this beautiful stamp.

Here's a card I created using this technique.  Did you know that Lovely As A Tree is our oldest and most beloved stamp set?  I can certainly see why.  It is a wonderful set of stamps.

I stamped a little on the inside of the card, as well as creating a coordinating envelope.

Come back for my next post and we'll be creating a background with markers in several colors.  

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Lovely as A Tree Card with Subtle Shimmer

Here's another card made with our oldest and most beloved stamp set, Lovely as A Tree.  We made this one at my holiday cards class at our Forsyth Library last Saturday.  I designed this one to be versatile enough to cover Christmas or most any winter occasion, just by changing the message inside.  This would be a good masculine birthday card, too.  It doesn't have to be necessarily just for winter, either.  We do have beautiful pine trees year round:)  I just think it has a wintery feel to it.

I stamped the tree onto Shimmery White CS, to give it a beautiful, subtle shimmer.  I cut the tree layer out with our Apothecary Accents framelits and attached it with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The ribbon is tucked behind it and wrapped around the embossed layer.

I really like adding tone on tone layers and used that technique again on this card.  To do this, I cut my top layer 1/4" smaller than the card base.  I chose a retired embossing folder to give added texture.  The final result is a beautiful card that is simple to create.

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Stamp-A-Stack for Christmas... Card 4

I'm so excited to be heading for the Forsyth Library today for a big holiday cards class.  This will be a fun day.  Before I take off, I want to share another card from my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack class.  This card has some very subtle and very gorgeous shimmer to it, as well as the silver glimmer.

The texture comes from an extra tone-on-tone layer of Always Artichoke, embossed with tiny polka dots.  The subtle shimmer comes from stamping the tree on Shimmery White CS and the silver glimmer is from our Glimmer Paper.  I think I've gone through about 5 or 6 packs of it this week.  Expect to see a lot of gorgeous silver glimmer in the near future:)  I also added two strips of our gorgeous silver ribbon.

Come back to see a closer look at the snowman card and then I'll be moving on to other projects to share with you.  Have a great day!

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A Little Shimmer / A Little Bling / A Little Christmas

Today, let's bring out the shimmer and bling.  I have 2 Christmas cards to share with you.  We'll be making these this Friday night at my Friday Night Cards class.  Both cards use our oldest and perhaps most loved stamp set ever --- Lovely As A Tree.

Here's how I achieved the shimmer and bling:
-Shimmery White CS --- both cards
-Brushed Silver CS --- both cards
-Silver Ribbon --- first card
-Frosted Finishes (snowflake) --- first card
-Dazzling Diamonds Glitter --- second card  (almost impossible to capture in a photo)

 ... and here again are all the cards we'll be making this Friday night.  Get a friend to sign up with you and you will both get to make the bonus card.

In my next post, I'll share more about the last 2 Christmas cards, so be sure to stop by again.  Have a great day.

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The Final Layout for our Year's Album

For today's post, we'll finish up the last pages for our album for the year that we did with my Scraps and Prayers group.  This was our December layout.  I used an unexpected stamp set for this one:  Papaya Collage.  I used it for the frames, as a mat for the photos.  The trees were an accent along the bottom of the pages.  The stamped piece (under the mosaic pieces) is from the Papaya Collage stamp set.  I cut the white pieces and attached them over some Cherry Cobbler seam binding to form a sort of border along the bottom of the pages.

My color story is Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler.  The pine trees are stamped along the bottom of the pages for some added texture in the background.

Come back for my next post and I'll review the pages for the entire album for the year.  This has been a great project.  At our class next week, we'll be adding pages for the front and back pages for our album.  These pages will be designed to stand alone as a layout, for an additional option, instead of front and back pages for the album.

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