The Card Concept: Harvest Adventures

There’s a new inspiration challenge at The Card Concept and the theme is Harvest Adventures. My Clean and Layered card was inspired by the classic look of the photo, the pumpkins and the gorgeous fall colors.

I'm quite literal when it comes to inspiration sketches but I didn't have a pickup truck (even though there are some fabulous options out there right now - both stamps and dies!)  I actually thought it would be a great excuse to do some shopping but I kept thinking of this wagon. It's not a pickup truck but I think it has exactly the same look and style as the photo. 

I stamped and colored it and then I re-stamped it with Versamark to copper emboss it.  Here's a better picture with the copper.

I was definitely inspired by the colors both in the wagon and in the brushed background. Using a stencil, I brushed on some gray at the base for the road, then some oranges, yellows and even a little green for the trees in the background.

I hope to see you playing along with us at The Card Concept.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Penny Black Wagonful + die, Autumn is Calling

Ink: Taylored Expressions Mushroom, Candy Corn, Lemon Meringue, Granny Smith

Other: Taylored Expressions Making Stencils Frayed Edge, Picket Leaves Autumn Leaves gems

Freshly Made Sketches: EEK

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Amy and here’s what I did with it!

 

You might notice that I used exactly the same products as I used for last week's card. I got the Ghost set by The Stamp Market along with their Hocus Pocus paper specifically for my two nieces. Last week's card used the little ghost and different papers. This week is the big shaker ghost! Two cards - just perfect for two nieces!

The shaker is inspired by The Stamp Market samples. I loved the look of cardstock confetti that they used - it seemed softer somehow. So I punched a number of circles and threw in a few sequins. Then I pulled a variety of patterned papers from their Hocus Pocus set.  Even the sentiment is cut from a piece of patterned paper full of sentiments.

I have just a couple more Halloween cards to make but they are for my 21- and 25-year old sons so definitely no cute ghosts nor pink papers.  I'm thinking zombies....  

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: The Stamp Market Ghost

Paper: The Stamp Market Hocus Pocus 6x8 paper

Freshly Made Sketches: Garden Ghost

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Narelle and here’s what I did with it!

I fell hard for the Halloween release at The Stamp Market especially the Ghost set. This little ghost actually has big brother who is a shaker! I also love the Hocus Pocus patterned paper in the release because it was in softer colors than the typical Halloween paper. With the little tag that had the fence-looking border, I decided to use the floral paper with it - thus the "garden ghost"!

I set out to use the circles as in the sketch but in the patterned paper pack was a sheet of pre-printed tags.  That's where the green tag with the fence-looking border came from.  I dolled it up a little by backing it with cardstock and adding a tag reinforcer.  There wasn't a pre-printed tag with the flowers but it seemed right with the garden "fence" so I used the green tag as a guide and cut a tag out of the flower paper.

I cut my little ghost out of glitter paper.  This is intended for one of my nieces and it definitely needed sparkle and sequins. Finally I added a swirly background because it may be a garden - but it's still Halloween!

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: The Stamp Market Ghost, Lil Inkers Quilted Stitched Spiral die

Paper: The Stamp Market Hocus Pocus 6x8 paper

Blah Bunny: I Don't Wanna Adult

 I knew when I picked up the Blah Bunny and the Blah Blah Blah sets from Honey Bee Stamps that at that some point they would be perfect for sons in college. The Blah Bunny might be a little cutesy for my guys but he is definitely feeling "blah".  The sentiment set has tons of options - they are great and I don't know of anything else quite like it.

This is on its way to my oldest son.  He should graduate from college in December.  He LOVES college but not for all the typical reasons.  He definitely loves the school itself and the area surrounding it - Colorado State University is in a stunning setting and within an easy walk/bike there are hiking trails, breweries and Old Town Fort Collins which is full of unique and amazing restaurants and bars.  But mostly he simply loves the act of learning. His perfect world would be to stay in college forever taking class after class - no matter the topic - and soaking in whatever he can learn. He'll graduate with kind of a combination of data analytics/physics/computers and really likes it.  But he also listens to 12-hour long history podcasts on single battles in a war.  He watches YouTube videos on cooking methods and then experiments.  He'd be the best stats guy in about any sport there is. He LOVES learning and good for him.

But it's making him quite a bit less interested in moving on with life and he is feeling "blah".  For a variety of reasons, his next steps should be assured not that he'd share with us but I hope he'll share more when we go up for brunch next weekend! Mostly I just want to know if he's moving in with us for a while since most of what he does can be remote and he'd need to save up for furniture, apartment deposits, etc.

In the meantime, I thought Blah Bunny and especially the sentiment set was about perfect for him!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Honey Bee Stamps Blah Bunny, Blah Blah Blah

Dies: Honey Bee Stamps Blah Bunny, Avery Elle Reverse Pinked die

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana and Granny Apple Green

CAS on Friday: Applesolutely Awesome

I needed a quick card to mail to my youngest son.  My husband recently told me that on their 15 hour drive to take him to college, my husband was fiddling with the car vent scent thing that my son loves and broke it.  So I marched my husband right down to Yankee CandleCompany and had him buy a supply of Macintosh Car Scent Vent Clips.  After all, he broke it - he should replace it! 

As a cardmaker, I can't just mail them - the package had to include a card! And with the apple scented car things, what a perfect time to tell my son he is "applesolutely awesome!"

Whenever I need to do a quick card, I absolutely need a challenge to get me started and preferably a sketch challenge.  And with perfect timing, the CAS on Friday sketch worked!! 

The apples and sentiment are Everyday Doodles and Everyday Punnies by Julie Ebersole at the Ellen Hutson store.  They have been real go-to's for me especially for these quick cards. They are so cute and charming, it doesn't take much to fill the card. The images are just what they say - doodles - with solid images to fill them in. There's quite a variety in the sets to fit many occasions and all really cute.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen Everyday Doodles and Everyday Punnies

Dies: Essential by Ellen Everyday Doodles

The Card Concept: So Much Love

 It's time for a new challenge at The Card Concept: Sunny Sunflowers!  It's a perfect challenge for me right now - my brother and SIL have an anniversary coming up. Their fall wedding happened at a stone chapel in the Colorado mountains and the decorations included everything fall - it was stunning.  "Sunny Sunflowers" is the perfect theme for this anniversary card.

My Clean and Layered card was clearly inspired by the sunflowers and the woodgrain background.  I used the colors too but I liked the richness of the reddish/orange in the center of the sunflowers so I added a variety of those colors.  I like the daintiness of the little sprigs so along with my leaves, I added a few sprigs. Then I added lots of glittery things - after all, it's for an 18th wedding anniversary!  There is glitter paper behind the centers of the sunflower and a number of glitter dots.

I used a a few of my favorite products.  I love all the flower dies from Honey Bee.  They have a number of bouquet sets - this is from the Fall Bouquet.  Then I used my all-time favorite background die - it's from L'il Inkers (sorry - they are gone).  Did you notice the little heart in the woodgrain to the left of "love"?

The little heart actually drove my layout.  I wanted the words next to it - and I wanted all of the flowers at the bottom.  There's quite a bit more of the background die above the heart but I realized if I made a 4 1/4" square card, everything would still fit and the heart would be more obvious.

I hope to see you playing along with us at The Card Concept!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Honey Bee Stamps Bitty Buzzwords

Dies: Honey Bee Stamps Bitty Buzzwords dies and Fall Bouquets, L'il Inkers Stitched Woodgrain

Freshly Made Sketches: Thankful

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Karren and here’s what I did with it!

 

I recently got a couple of oversize sentiments for slimlines - this "thankful" from Trinity Stamps being one of them. As I was looking at it, I was also thinking that the larger palette of a slimline would work well with one of my all-time favorite leaves - Honey Bee Stamps Lovely Layers Maple Leaf.  It has a separate background and detail die so can look wonderful with just a couple of die cuts.

I cut the background of the leaf out of the Vivid Craft Consortium Ink Drops pad and topped it with some champagne foil. The hint of soft blue in one leaf drove the background of the thankful; I like how the blue pops with all of the rich fall colors.

Fall cards are one of the few that I attempt to splatter. (I'm not a fan of the lack of control when splattering!)  It's a richly colored season but it's also a bit "messy" as the leaves are falling. Splatters just feel right to give it that feeling.  Then I realized I had a slimline die with wonky stitching. To me, that said breeze and blowing leaves.  I know - I'm overthinking this - but I like how it all came together!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Honey Bee Stamps Lovely Layers Maple Leaf, Trinity Stamps Scripty Thanks and Wonky Stitched Wilderness Slimline Series

Paper: Craft Consortium Ink Drops - Vivid, Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, Seaside Spray, Crumb Cake and Champagne Foil

Other: Fun Stampers Journey Black Licorice Silk, Stampin' Up Champagne gems