Autumn

Now that Labor Day is behind us, can we hope for cooler weather?  Evidently not here in the south.  It's still in the 90's during the day, and we've had rain at least once a day for the last two weeks.  I guess you could say I'm pretty over the weather.

So, to help cool myself, I've started making some autumn cards.  A girl can dream, right? And I had a 3 day weekend, and it was too hot to go outside.

The first one uses a set from Gina K. Designs from the Autumn Wishes set.

  The colors of autumn are some of my favorites, so I loved watercoloring the trees. 

The next card uses one of my favorite fall stamps. Unfortunately, it was from a set by The Angel Company, and they are no longer in business.

I used glossy cardstock and alcohol inks to make some pretty fall colored paper, then stamped the leaf with archival black ink and cut it out.  A scrap of ribbon finished it off.  Very clean and simple.

I really love this card.  I used a leaf embossing folder, then watercolored the leaves.  The tag is punched from kraft cardstock, and stamped with a script stamp.  Several scraps of paper were used on the bottom of the tag, then a leaf was die cut (from the same paper I made for the leaf above), and adhered to the tag. I used dimensional foam to adhere the tag to the background. 

Hope you have enjoyed my little projects.

Inky hugs,

Autumn

Hello!

I see Facebook posts from people who live up north that it is finally starting to cool down and some of the leaves are starting to fall.  Well, here in Florida, I'm seeing some of the leaves fall off my trees, but it's still in the high 80's and low 90's temperature wise.  It should start to get a little cooler now, I hope.  I do love the cooler temperatures of fall, and only wish it would get here earlier.  I love to open the windows and let the cool air through the house, and I love sleeping with the windows open at night.

To get myself in the mood for autumn I have started stamping a few autumn cards.  Today I will share with you "fall is best of all".

I love the simplicity of this card.  One stamp and a little masking and you have a gorgeous card.  The leaf stamp and the saying is from The Angel Company, and are some of my favorite stamps. I loved their stamps and was sorry to see them go out of business.  

Anyway, I stamped the leaf multiple times on a piece of 4 x 5-1/4 white cardstock, using a mask so they stayed connected. I colored them using Spectrum Noir markers, then cut them out, leaving the connected parts together.  I could have stamped another to the left of the bottom leaf, but chose not to. Then I adhered them to the layering paper, which was then layered onto kraft cardstock.  Another option is to pop the leaves up with pop dots.  

This card would also look good using flowers as the border.

I hope you are enjoying the weather where you live.

Another autumn card

Did I tell you how much I like autumn and autumn leaves?

This was another experiment, using a stamp set from The Angel Company. This is my favorite fall set. I just love this leaf. I think you can click on the picture and get a larger version of the card.

I basically did it the same as I did the card in the previous post: I stamped the handwriting stamp on the glossy cardstock  with Versamark and let dry. This acted as a resist. I used blended alcohol ink and let the Versamark handwriting show through.  Then I stamped the leaves.  Not all of the resist showed up, so I spritzed with alcohol, which gave it the spotted look.  Then I "painted the leaves with various colors of alcohol inks (some were Ranger and some were Copic refills).  When they were dry I covered them with Ranger Glossy Accents, and while that was still wet, I sprinkled (very sparingly) some copper/gold/orange glitter.  When it was dry, I used a leftover piece of brown cardstock (I made it to look like woodgrain) and stamped the ":fall is best of all" sentiment.  I used a marker to make little "nails". Lots of texture in this card also.  And I like the fact that it's one layer but looks like more.

I was pleased with the way it came out.  

I hope you get to be crafty today.  :-)

I love Autumn

I love autumn.  There is just something about that time of year. The cooler mornings, the leaves changing colors.  I just love it.  Of course, in Florida, we don't have the crispness of the air like in, say, New England, but you can still smell the "newness" of the air. It's not so humid, it's not so hot. And you know it's just a matter of time before the weather gets cool enough to turn off the A/C and open the windows and let the cool breeze blow through the house. Mmmmmm....I love autumn.

And autumn leaves.  Here is a small stamp I got from The Angel Company several years ago.  I like the smallness, since you can use it so many ways.

(The scan is crooked, not the card.)  Anyway. the background for the leaf was made by stamping the handwriting stamp on glossy cardstock with Versamark. I dried it with my heat gun, then used alcohol inks to color the cardstock. I like the way the Versamark resisted the alcohol ink.  Then I stamped the little leaf, and "painted" it with alcohol ink and blending solution.  I layered that on a piece of brown cardstock that I had run through an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug, then used a dark brown ink to  highlight the raised parts.  Then I layered in on another piece of brown cardstock, and onto a piece of patterned paper.  I added the pearls to give it a little interest. Lots of textures going on here, but it was a fun card to make. And easy, really.

What is your favorite season of the year?

I hope you have a crafty day...

Stippled Envelopes

As promised, here are some stippled envelopes.

I used a lot of different colors on this envelope. I added pieces of sticky notes to the address areas to keep them white.  I used a light hand so that if I want to add some stamped images (collage style), they will still be visible.

I love the colors on this envelope.  I stippled the envelope first, then stamped the leaves.  The stippled background made them easier to blend when I used my markers to color them in.  Makes for a very festive fall envelope.  You can add bits of glitter to the leaves for some sparkle if you wish, but I kind of like them plain.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my stippling efforts.  Add some color to your day...