Autumn Blessings

The autumn equinox will occur at 4:44 pm today. With it being a cool 60 something out, you can feel fall in the air. It's funny just about this time of year regardless of the temperature, I just want to start wearing long pants, sweaters and cozy up in comfy chair with a cup of hot tea and a book. These are the blessings of autumn.

Just Us Girls is having a color challenge this week. This is the second week for design team applications. As I said last week, I am crossing my fingers.

I love this color combo and us it quite a bit at Christmas. I pushed myself to use this combo for a fall card. Thank goodness for distress inks, with their many shades of brown and red! 

The design inspiration for this card comes from Kathy Racoonsin's card over at CASE Study.

Several other challenges are featuring fall as the challenge this week:

CAS-UAL Fridays features fall colors and a leaf

An Inky Situation asks us for fall leaves

Lastly over at ABC challenges (All Beautiful Cards) they are asking fall theme cards too.

I usually can't figure out how to make one card fit several challenges, but all of my friends at the various challenges made it easy for me this week! Thanks everyone!

Awesome Birthday

While it is still warm and humid it is overcast and the trees are beginning to yellow. Fall keeps creeping into my art and cards. This card perfect for my brother Bill's September birthday was in response to a couple of challenges, especially for Shopping our Stash where the theme is "for the boys".

CASE Study is featuring the last week of inspiration from Jennifer Maguire. Here is the inspiration card: 

I took a few liberties with the sketch. I thought of adding an embellishment or two, but I like the simplicity of the sentiments being the total focus. 

Over at CAS-ual Fridays they are celebrating new design team members and the challenge is kraft and text. I thought it appropriate to use CAS-ual Fridays's RAD stamp set.

I am going out on a limb entering this card at Just Add Ink, where the challenge is to just add coloring. I did add coloring, using Distress and Momento markers. I used a technique I showed in my last post.

Every now and again Miss Pinkie insists on taking center stage. For some reason she really liked this card and wanted her picture taken with it. Must be the coloring on the card!

Have a fabulous Labor Day weekend and if you must labor I hope it is with an ink pad in one hand and stamp in the other!!

P.S. Chana over at 613 Avenue Create asked me to post this card. Chana, I am happy to do so, Hope everyone enjoys it also. The theme includes spotlight stamping, well... its kinda like a spotlight, I am spotlighting the words- hee hee hee..... :)

 

Summer into fall, 2nd post today

I have been rooting through my stamp drawers and pulling out stamps that haven't seen a good inking in so long. Starburst lace from Hero Arts is one of those I rescued from ink neglect. CASE Study is featuring Jennifer Maguire again this week as our inspiration. Here is this week's card inspiration-

Bright colors are my favorite. I am trying to keep summer in my heart and mind as long as possible, but it got so chilly last night, I had to snuggle into the covers. It reminds me that fall is not that far away.

Therefore I went out on a limb and created this similar card for the challenge at Inkspirational. 

They had this card as our inspiration and it fit right in with my idea for the challenge at Inkspirational.

A quick idea of what I did, I stamped starburst lace with white pigment ink and embossed with white powder. I took water based markers- distress, tombos, and momento markers and colored over the image and wiped off excess ink with a soft rag. A fun technique that worked great with this stamp.

I am hard pressed to decide which one I like best.

I hope that I haven't violated any challenge rules by putting 2 cards for 2 separate challenges but they were related, so I didn't want to break up the family. :)

School's out..... lets play!

YIPEE!!! I am all done my school projects and I have a week or two off before I am back to the grind. i have been catching up on various challenges. 

CASESTUDY had an interesting one. It featured a card by Jennifer Maguire as our inspiration. I remember seeing this card on her blog, soon after I had done a similar one for the Memory Box blog- Outside of the Box. 

I went very CAS and used a Penny Black wreath to make my interpretation. Using the challenge colors of green, aqua and orange from CASual Friday, I made a non-holiday card with a holiday stamp. Let's hear it for multitasking our stamps!

I liked the idea of this card and want to try it in other color combinations.

Well, enough of blogging, I have to get back to stamping!