thanks for colored autumn leaves adventure

We're planning to make our annual color tour trip this weekend, and for the first time it will be longer than two long-drive days - I'm pretty excited!  My Card Buffets are scheduled for the days right after we return, so I need to have all my options determined and hopefully also prepared, in the next two days.  I've been working on it all week, and just needed one more autumnal or Thanksgiving card. 

There's plenty of inspiration and several related challenges - Joanne's Colour Challenge at The Paper Players, Blowing in the Wind at Cards in Envy, Autumn Thank you at Cardz 4 Guyz, and the Albert Camus quote from Words 2 Craft By.  Of course, I wanted to use a new stamp set - new is always exciting - but nothing was working for me.  I was finally convinced by some awesome samples - Awesomely Artistic by Jan Clothier and Lovely As A Tree by Tara Angus - that an older set was the answer, but I just couldn't seem to get focused.  Finally I settled on my friend Buffy Cooper's Sheltering Tree card:

stamp set - Sheltering Tree; ink - Chocolate Chip (my Early Espresso is too dark!), Crushed Curry, Peekaboo Peach; card stock - Chocolate Chip, Peekaboo Peach, Very Vanilla

I love it - thanks, Buffy! - and I think my stampers will love it, too.

nacho average last-minute adventure

The Nacho Average Challenges have been back for a while, now, and it's about time I played along again.  I used the current (but closing in hours) sketch (sideways) to showcase a new stamp set:

stamp set - Seasonal Bells; ink - Emerald Envy, Real Red; card stock - Whisper White, Real Red, Mint Macaron; designer series paper - Presents & Pinecones; punch - Bell; 1/8" gold ribbon

To get to the photo of my card, I had to upload 39 more photos from this weekend's autumn adventure - our annual color tour - so I thought I'd share another favorite:

another autumn adventure

In addition to embracing imperfection this year, I'm also trying to learn to love autumn instead of viewing it with pre-winter dread.  It is a beautiful season, so I enjoyed seeing all the autumn challenge cards as I tried to catch up after a week of internet-limited vacation.  Here's a card I put together this evening using the colors from Just Us Girls #365 , which I think also works as a Celebration of Fall for Paper Craft Crew:

stamp set - Vintage Leaves; ink - Old Olive, Delightful Dijon, Cajun Craze; card stock - Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cajun Craze; Big Shot with Hello You thinlets 

Having mentioned that we recently returned from vacation, I may take this opportunity to confess that I discovered I had taken more than 175 photos in less than 7 days!  Here's one of my favorites:

autumn adventures

I promised the ladies Thanksgiving cards for Card Buffet later this month, but I don't really have any Thanksgiving sentiments other than Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Wait, really?  How did that happen?  So I searched through my current stamp sets, and decided the Hostess offering Time of Year would work with the right colors.  I found the right colors at Little Red Wagon:

stamp sets: Time Of Year (hostess), Fabulous Flora (hostess); ink - Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie; card stock - Old Olive, Very Vanilla; blender pen

This turned out to be my favorite card of the day, and it's just stamps, ink and paper.  As a bonus, I don't really hate my coloring with the blender pen.  Well, the leaves in the lower right are a little rough, but they were my first ones, and I've been learning to embrace imperfection this year.

While I was thinking about my Thanksgiving card dilemma, I decided to try Heidi's Watercooler Wednesday sketch.  I was inspired by this stunning card of Cindy's to use the Sheltering Tree stamp set, but I couldn't fit it into the circle element in a way I liked.  I eventually took an abrupt right turn and ended up here:

stamp sets - Hardwood, Sheltering Tree, Vintage Leaves; ink - Calypso Coral, Delightful Dijon, Tip Top Taupe; card stock - Calypso Coral, Delightful Dijon, Sahara Sand, Tip Top Taupe; Big Shot with Layering Ovals and Leaflets framelits; Stampin' Sponge 

Much better, but I wasn't giving up on Cindy's card, so I CASE'd it more directly:

stamp set - Sheltering Tree; ink - Calypso Coral, Delightful Dijon, Pear Pizzazz, Tip Top Taupe; card stock - Calypso Coral, Whisper White (thick and regular); Big Shot with Woodgrain textured embossing folder

continued creatively crafty adventures

Sunday, I was telling you that I completed nine (or maybe only eight) cards over the weekend, but I only posted two of them.  In hopes that you'd be interested, here are two more.

In addition to Christmas cards, there will Halloween choices at Card Buffet this week.  I mashed up some ideas I saw on Pinterest, and needed a color scheme, so I used the September photo inspiration from Creative With Stamps:

stamp set - Sheltering Tree; ink - Basic Black, Dapper Denim, Rich Razzleberry; card stock - Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Dapper Denim, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie; Big Shot with Brick Wall embossing folder and Hearth & Home framelits

When I placed my first order from the 2016-2017 catalog I got Vertical Greetings because sometimes the side of the card is the right placement for a sentiment, and it has six great choices.  In spite of owning almost all the embossing folders (because I love them all!), I didn't order the Petal Burst embossing folder, thinking I don't really do a lot of flowery stuff.  Imagine my chagrin when I realized that the "petals" are the same design as the foliage in the Vertical Greeting plants!  Well, okay, it's not a bundled item and I didn't miss out on a discount, so I guess it wasn't that bad, but still...  I ordered it later, but I hadn't gotten around to using it, so it wasn't put away.  I needed to clean off the counter before Card Buffet, and I also needed some new display cards - the only other thing I needed was a color scheme, and Fab Friday 96 is perfect:

stamp set - Vertical Greetings; ink - Delightful Dijon; Stampin' Write markers - Delightful Dijon, Emerald Envy; card stock - Very Vanilla, Delightful Dijon, Emerald Envy; Big Shot with Petal Burst embossing folder

And, finally, here's the "corrected" version of the card I made using CPC63, the sketch from Craft Project Central:

stamp set - Christmas Pines; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - Copper; card stock - Whisper White, Basic Black, Copper foil; Big Shot with Pine Bough embossing folder, Pretty Pines thinlits and Layering Circles framelits

I just couldn't stand it, missing that piece, and I couldn't wait for my order (which I'm still filling in), but I was able to borrow some of this gorgeous Copper foil paper from my friend and upline, Nisha, and she dropped it off today!

a nerve-wracking adventure

I had to drive to Lansing and back one day last week for a conference.  It was before it snowed, so it wasn't at all nerve-wracking, but since then I've seen some really nerve-wracking highway crash videos that do involve snow!  On the way home I saw a scene that made me think of this Lovely as a Tree stamp, and I was inspired to try to recreate it.  It really had to be done as one layer, so I'll try linking up at One Layer Simplicity, although it may not qualify there as it's not simple:

stamp sets - Six Sayings, Lovely as a Tree; ink - Soft Sky, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Island Indigo; card stock - Whisper White; punch - 1/1/4" circle (for masks); Stampin' Sponge, sponge dauber, painter's tape

The scene turned out pretty well, I thought, pretty much as I remembered it.  Then came the nerve-wracking part - adding the sentiment.  I really didn't want the sentiment on a banner or another layer of any type, but which color would be best?  After I held swatches of all my blues against the sponged background and made a decision, what if I stamped it badly?  Aagh - I almost gave up and left it off entirely - too nerve-wracking!  Without indicating gratitude, it wouldn't qualify at One Layer Simplicity, or Paper Craft Crew  for their "give thanks" theme, or Shopping Our Stash for their "thanks" theme.  I was hoping to play along at all three sites, and I'll need a thank you card for a Stampin' Up!® order that's scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I braved up and went for it - yay me!  I think I'm kinda in love with the Six Sayings stamp set, especially this Thankful sentiment.  

thankful adventures

I've been participating in a #100DaysOfGratitude challenge on Facebook; today was day 57 for me and I was thankful this morning for sunshine on snow:

Isn't that just awesome?  I'm thankful every day for my family and friends, and I plan to send cards to several of them this week to say so.  I needed one more this evening - I decided to put the Watercooler Wednesday color challenge to work with the Pals Paper Arts sketch:

stamp sets - Hardwood, Six Sayings Vintage Leaves (on envelope); ink - Blackberry Bliss, Versamark; card stock - Tip Top Taupe, Blackberry Bliss; designer series paper - In Color Stack (retired) Mossy Meadow, Tangelo Twist, Sweater Weather (retired); Big Shot with Leaflets framelits

I realized after I was done that I had the same idea as Lisa Ann Bernard, using the smallest leaf for the circle elements of the sketch. I didn't intend to CASE her card, but that little leaf seemed exactly right!

autumn leaf adventures

Seriously, I haven't posted in over two weeks?  I don't know how time gets away from me like that.  I've made several cards since then, but I only have four to share today.  First, I gave away one of my favorite recently made cards, so I decided to remake it.  I changed several things, starting with the colors, which are from Fab Friday.  Then I used the stamped & cut window technique from House of Cards:

stamp sets - A Dozen Thoughts, Serene Silhouettes, Hardwood; ink - Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze; card stock - Hello Honey, Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss; Big Shot with Leaflets and Project Life Cards & Labels framelits

It took me two tries to get the hardwood stamped & cut window layer the way I liked it, so I had two leaves leftover when I was done.  I combined them with the embossed & cut window I had leftover from another project, after I changed my mind about the window size:

stamp sets - Vintage Leaves, Trust God; ink - Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze; card stock - Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake; Big Shot with Leaflets and Project Life Cards & Labels framelits and Woodland textured impressions embossing folder

After all that autumnal fun, I just couldn't resist one more Christmas card, but I'll type that out in a separate post so you have a chance to check out the challenge links in this one, first.  After you check them out, you should totally play along!

adventures with Cajun Craze

When Stampin' Up!® refreshed their colors some years ago, one of the best changes was from Really Rust to Cajun Craze - it's such a rich color, I love it, but I seem to love it best in autumn.  It's one of two colors in a great combination at ColorMe! this week, but I couldn't get them to work together while I was working with the Freshly Made sketch, so instead I kept the rest of the palette neutral and pulled out some retired ribbon so I could play along at Use Your Stuff without interfering with the masculine feel the rest of the card has. The only current ribbon I have that worked at all was lace and just didn't look right - I know, I tried it and removed it:

stamp sets: Tin of Cards, Serene Silhouettes; ink - Versamark, Cajun Craze; Stampin' emboss powder - Clear; card stock - Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; specialty designer series paper - Typeset; ribbon - 7/16" Natural Trim (retired)

I thought it was going to be a Clean And Simple design, but the background is a little busy - it is an interesting toile-like look, isn't it?

I couldn't give up that easily on the ColorMe! combination, so I used this print from one of my random PC wallpaper screens as inspiration and tried again:

stamp set - Wetlands; ink - Hello Honey, Cajun Craze; Stampin' Write marker - Hello Honey; card stock - Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze, Hello Honey; stampin' sponge

This time I think I got a Clean And Simple look that will work for the masculine challenge at Less is More, but if I had really thought it through, I might have been able to keep it to one layer.

adventures with bits and pieces

Yesterday I was putting away the extra kits after Card Buffet and decided it was time to do something with the extra bits and pieces I had stacked on top of my box o' bits and pieces.  I started with the discarded layer from the Grateful card I posted Tuesday, (which ended up being one layer with a tag) and added another layer and a lot more leaves:

stamp sets - Vintage Leaves, Perfectly Penned (retired); ink - Pumpkin Pie, Hello Honey, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler; card stock - Hello Honey, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie; Big Shot with Leaflet framelits

This is a great card for my brother-in-law's birthday (other than being a few days late) as well as for the Little Red Wagon fall challenge.

I found a leftover fall wreath from last year that didn't get used because I stamped the berries in Early Espresso and didn't like the effect.  I covered them with Gold Dazzling Details last week but I still didn't really know what to do with it.  Then I noticed the leftover die-cut "you" and thought they might work together with Rita's Freshly Made sketch. I added a leftover die-cut border (it's really the off-cut) for the Seize the Birthday challenge; now this will be going to a dear friend next month:

stamp sets - Crazy About You, Wondrous Wreath; ink - Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, So Saffron; card stock - Very Vanilla, Champagne Glimmer (retired), Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Crumb Cake; Big Shot with Decorative Dots embossing folder,  Wonderful Wreath, Hello You and Banners framelits, and Tasteful Trim die (retired); Dazzling Details - Gold; Crystal Effects

The "you" seemed a little bland on all that glitter, especially since the gold Dazzling Details doesn't match the gold Champagne Glimmer Paper, so I covered it in Crystal Effects to make it shiny.

Earlier this month I used some leftover die-cut label shapes for this card, which was inspired by Bev's photo at the Watercooler Challenge:

stamp sets - Wetlands, World of Dreams; ink - Pink Pirouette, Perfect Plum; Stampin' Write Markers - Garden Green, Rich Razzleberry; card stock - Perfect Plum, Whisper White; Big Shot with Chalk Talk framelits

I was kind of pleased with the hand-colored flowers, but I totally spaced on posting the card, so I hope no one minds too much if I post it for Marsha's Anything Goes challenge, instead!

autumnal adventures

All right, I guess even I have to admit that it is autumn, now, unless you're lucky enough to live in the southern hemisphere.  Have you seen all the "fall theme" challenges this week?  I used the colors from Just Us Girls and the sketch from Sunday Stamps with the leaves theme from Addicted to CAS for this one - it also is easy to mail and fits "colors of fall" at Cards in Envy:

stamp sets - Vintage Leaves, Merry Everything; ink - Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler; card stock - Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake; punch - Ornate Tag Topper; 1/4" stitched grosgrain ribbon - Daffodil Delight (retired)

The next one is a CASE of the card design team member Amy Koenders made for for The Paper Players.  I used the colors from Fab Friday for the fall theme at Use Your Stuff:

stamp sets - Hardwood, A Dozen Thoughts, Serene Silhouettes; ink - Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry; card stock - Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede; Big Shot with Leaflets framelits

adventure of confluence

I don't enjoy making decisions.  I don't like deciding on favorites, which we've discussed before, but really I just don't like making decisions.  When I'm faced with many options, I always like several, and I'm often tempted to choose more than necessary.  At a dessert table, for example, I'm likely to want a taste of each!  It seems easier to decide on a card if my options are limited - I think that's why I enjoy combining challenges - use this layout, and these colors, and this theme, and try to work in a specific shape or technique.  I would have passed right by the Tic-tac-toe challenge at Stamp, Ink, Paper this week, but a confluence of events convinced me to play, and I chose the center column:

stamp sets - Vintage Leaves, Gorgeous Grunge, A Dozen Thoughts; ink - Sahara Sand, Hello Honey, Early Espresso; card stock - Hello Honey, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Tip Top Taupe;  Big Shot with Leaflet framelits and Woodgrain embossing folder; button & thread

When three of the challenge sites I follow posted tic-tac-toe challenges this week, it occurred to me that it could be a conspiracy.  Meanwhile, I saw a man who is a friend of my husband and who is undergoing chemo treatments.  I thought of him again when I was filing a Get Well card I had made and noticed that all of the Get Well cards in my box are flowery.  Also while putting things away, I noticed that leftover single threaded button, which reminded me of the current Watercooler sketch. Masculine and button played right into that tic-tac-toe board, all I needed was a die cut.  If I simplified the greeting it could be used as a Get Well card if needed, but would work for any other friendly hello, as well as qualifying at Pile It On, Tuesday Throwdown, and Simply Papercraft!  So, not a conspiracy, but a helpful confluence of events.

not summer adventures

I know, I said I'm not ready for fall, and I meant it, too - I ♥love♥love♥love♥ summer!  But, it didn't feel like summer today.  And Just Us Girls posted this inspiration photo:

So, I made more of those adorable little teacups Linda Parker designed:

stamp set - Perpetual Birthday Calendar; ink - Tip Top Taupe, Delightful Dijon, Tangelo Twist, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze; card stock - Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke; Big Shot with Circles Collection framelits and Seasonal Frame thinlits

I went back later and swapped out the chocolates for tea packets - that seemed more appropriate.

Then, going further in my calendar exploration of not summer, I took out a couple more new things from my Holiday Catalog pre-order and tried my hand at the Merry Monday challenge, where I have been sadly remiss in posting:

stamp set - Snow Place; ink - Real Red, Pear Pizzazz (I think my sponge dauber was contaminated, though), Always Artichoke, Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Suede; Stampin' Write marker - Real Red; card stock - Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White; Big Shot with Snow Friends framelits and Boughs & Berries embossing folder; sponge daubers 

Haha - not my best work, but he was fun to put together and he just makes me smile. :-)  I really like all the pieces in the stamp set with all the matching little framelits - it's grown-up paper doll play for me!

Another site where I haven't posted lately as much as I'd like is Pile It On - they just happen to be looking for Animals Dressed Up this week.  And fortunately, it's fun/humorous week at the Glory of Christmas Challenge, where Helen chose my card last week as one the Top Three! - Thank you so much!

anticipating autumn adventure

Actually, I'm not anticipating autumn.  It's not that I don't appreciate autumn, but I love summer, and I'm not ready to even think about it ending.  So I wasn't going to play along with the color challenge at Fab Friday when I pulled out the Crooked Stamper Sketch, but the Sprinkles of Life stamp set was just sitting there, and it has those little leaves and the fun Tree Builder punch, and, well, I guess sometimes fall happens:

stamp set - Sprinkles of Life; ink - Blackberry Bliss, Old Olive, Delightful Dijon, Tangelo Twist, Tip Top Taupe; Stampin' Write markers - Old Olive, Delightful Dijon, Tangelo Twist; card stock - Old Olive, Tip Top Taupe, Very Vanilla; punch - Tree Builder; other - Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponge

adventures with older new stamps

I have a *big* order arriving tomorrow, but I haven't yet used everything I ordered last month - does that happen to you?

One of the stamp sets I hadn't used before today is the fabulous Wondrous Wreath, and the matching framelits.  I designed a Christmas card for the Card Buffet using both, but Katie Legge's Hello There Spring inspired me to try a wreath in fall colors for Shopping Our Stash and Color Throwdown:

stamp sets - Hello, There, Wondrous Wreath; ink - Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist; Stampin' Write marker - Mossy Meadow; card stock - Mossy Meadow, Naturals White, Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss; punches - Boho Blossoms, Cupcake Builder;  Baker's Twine - Early Espresso, Stampin' Dimensionals

I really wanted this fun stamp set, too, but then I couldn't decide what to do with it.  When all else fails, I resort to CASEing (Copy And Share Everything) from the amazing card makers I see around the internet, and I loved Helen Read's card.  I changed the colors so I could play along at Color Me! and simplified it a little so it will work at my Card Buffet this month:

stamp set - Tap, Tap, Tap; ink - Cherry Cobbler, Hello Honey, Basic Gray; card stock - Hello Honey, Basic Gray; designer series paper - Moonlight; Washi tape - Epic Day; Big Shot with Alphabet Press embossing folder, Stampin' Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals

This is not one of my favorite cards, although Helen's is!  I've learned to offer cards that I don't love at Card Buffets, because a lot of times someone else loves them, but I'm going to recommend stamping the typewriter keys at the top and bottom before embossing, and possibly stamping off first.  I also think the Cherry Cobbler sponging at the top should be darker, but I'm not sure either of those things will really make me love it.  I'll just have to try something else!

adventure of procrastination

My Watercooler friend Terri thinks she's the Queen of Procrastination but I think I could give her a run for her money (where did that old saying come from? note to self - look this up some day), except we haven't gotten around to making a comparison...

I scheduled a Card Buffet (otherwise known as Stamp-a-Stack) for this week, and as of yesterday I had one card prepared, a carryover from last month.  So I spent some time perusing the challenge and inspiration blogs I love and made a pair of cards for a passel of challenges.  I'm not sure all of the challenges are still open, but I'll check that later.

The newest Watercooler Challenge is punch art.  I love punch art for Halloween, since it's a way to keep the hand-crafted aspect I loved the most about Halloween childhood memories. Also, I don't send many Halloween cards, and don't find the stamp sets that are specific get enough use in my world; punch art stretches out the uses I can get from a stamp that's part of a more generic set, like the multi-purpose And Many More.  Besides, we haven't done punch art for card buffet recently, so this will be one of the choices this month:

stamp set - And Many More; ink - Hello Honey, Basic Gray; markers - White Stampin' Chalk, Basic Gray Stampin' Write; card stock - Basic Gray, Blackberry Bliss, Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Whisper White; punches - Large Oval, Bird Builder, Owl Builder; accessories - White Baker's twine; tools - Stampin' sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals 

I used the colors from ColourQ - sort of - I substituted both the darker Basic Gray and the lighter Smoky Slate, bracketing the challenge color of Going Gray.  I also used the Freshly Made sketch - that star just said "full moon" to me this month!  I learned to make the cute vampire bat from Diana Gibbs (also found another version Pinned) and think he qualifies as an animal for Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenges.

As another seasonal offering (and therefore qualified at Words 2 Scrap By), I used my markers (Addicted to Stamps + More) to highlight the leaves (Just Us Girls) that are the focal point in this Tuesday Morning Sketch layout done with Stampin' Royalty colors:

stamp sets - Lovely as a Tree, Itty Bitty Banners; ink - Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Tangelo Twist; Stampin' Write markers - Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip; card stock - Old Olive, Tangelo Twist, Whisper White; designer series paper - Moonlight; tools - Dotted Ribbon border punch, Big Shot with Deco Labels and Bitty Banners framelits, Stampin' sponge, Stampin' Dimensionals

I still need two Christmas cards and one thinking of you or thank you card, plus the house needs cleaning - who has time for a full time job?  Guess I better get back to the studio - thanks for taking the time to stop by!

not a blog hop adventure

The Wacky Watercooler at Stampin' Connection will be hosting a blog hop this weekend - starting Thursday evening - and mine is one of the blogs that will be featuring year-end holiday projects.  (Wahoo!  I love blog hops!) 

I intended to be working on cards or projects for that post yesterday, but first I had a commission to fulfill.  My husband has a friend who will be achieving a personal goal while we're out of town and unable to attend the ceremony, so at least we will want to send a card.  I don't have stamp sets specific to his achievement, so I decided on a seasonal theme, and the colors at Fab Friday are perfect:

 stamp sets - Lovely as a Tree, Woodgrain, Occasional Quotes (hostess, retired); ink - Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso; Stampin' Write markers - Cajun Craze, Early Espresso; card stock - Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, textured Old Olive (retired); punches - 2/1/2" circle, hexagon; Big Shot with Circle Card Thinlits

 
 I intended to be working on cards or projects for the blog hop this evening, too, but I saw this pin and got distracted.  I think it works pretty well with the sketch at Christmas Card Challenges, too:

stamp sets - Scentsational Season (retired), Polar Party (retired); ink - Gumball Green, Primrose Petals; card stock - Very Vanilla, Gumball Green; designer series paper - Print Poetry (retired), Patio Party (retired); punch - Mitten Builder (retired); Big Shot with Holiday Collection framelits (retired); 3/8" stitched satin ribbon - Primrose Petals

 

My apologies for all the retired items - it was such a cute idea, and I had a few pre-punched mittens in my pieces & parts box, so I just built around those.  Oh! I believe it qualifies at Pixie's Snippets Playground, too! It may be just a little pattern heavy, but I like it. I did restrain myself from adding another pattern to the base.

Tomorrow, I must be working on blog hop projects, so you won't (well, you shouldn't - however, I do tend to be easily distracted) see anything new here, but please do stop by Thursday!

autumn adventure

Unlike last week's card, this one was one idea right from the minute autumn and this sketch

bumped into each other - I just needed a color combination.  I probably would have come up with shades of yellow, orange and red, on my own, but I would most likely have put them on Crumb Cake or Very Vanilla.  Not a bad combination, but unoriginal, maybe even boring...

Then I thought about the colors at ColourQ - although I don't have any Cool Caribbean, I thought Coastal Cabana could stand in, and represent the sky on one of those beautiful sunny days we had last week:

stamp set - Yippee-Skippee!; ink - Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red; card stock - Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Whisper White; Big Shot with Autumn Accents die; Stampin' sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals

It looked like the card was going to nearly make itself, but it was just a little too clean-and-simple when I laid it out, so the leaves needed to be sponged, and then they needed to be crumpled and get a little direct-to-paper inking.  After everything was mounted, the card edges needed just a bit of light sponging, as well, so I did put in some thought and effort, so I'll also link it at Addicted to CAS for their autumn/fall challenge and at Catherine & Cathy Create, where the ladies are looking for cards with elements in threes!

piled-on autumn adventures

I didn't notice a common theme in the Sunday funnies this week, but the common theme in card challenges was easily autumn and/or leaves, including at Pile It On!  I started with the sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday, with it's twist of Autumn in the Air, but I think the stamp I chose is too large to give me the clean and simple look I was trying for:

 stamp sets - Express Yourself (hostess), Gently Falling; ink - Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze; card stock - Sahara Sand; designer series paper - Sweater Weather; punch - Full Heart

I was trying for clean and simple because they're looking for fall colors & a leaf at CAS-ual Fridays, for autumn/fall at Addicted to Clean and Simple and for clean and simple at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I decided to try again, using fewer colors - from Nacho Average Challenges - and a sketch from Fab Friday whose elements were more similar in size to my chosen stamp:

 stamp sets - Gently Falling, Loving Thoughts; ink - Cajun Craze, Early Espresso; card stock - Pool Party; Simply Scored, Stampin' Dimensionals

That's more like what I had in mind!



    

sweater weather adventure

Although I did have to wear a sweater when I left the house this morning, that's not the sweater weather I meant, but Stampin' Up!®'s new designer series paper (available in the Holiday catalog), which I used to recreate an awesome card I saw on Amy O'Neill's blog:

stamp set - Hello Lovely; ink - Soft Sky; card stock - Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand; designer series paper - Sweater Weather

Mine is a little more masculine than Amy's - I love this paper for that!  I'm going to link up at Fab Friday once again (hope that's OK), where the color challenge is the same colors found in this paper: