Thoughtful Branches Autumn Thank You

Friday, I needed a thank you card in a hurry so I reached for my Beautiful Branches Thinlits and a "dots" stamp from the Swirly Birds stamp set.

To begin, I die cut the tree from Soft Suede card stock and a matte from Whisper White. I placed the tree in the middle of the matte and drew a very light pencil line around the tree branches.

I removed the tree and then used the "dots" stamp to stamp several times within and slightly outside the pencil line using a variety of fall ink colors–Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Cajun Craze, Delightful Dijon, and Garden Green.

Once the ink was dry, I erased the pencil lines. I then cut small pieces of Adhesive Strips to place on the back of the tree. The tree was then adhered to the matte so that the colorful "leaves" showed through the branches.

A 5.5 x 5.5" card base was cut from Cherry Cobbler and the front embossed using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder.

The white matte was adhered to a Soft Suede one and then to a Delightful Dijon one and finally to the card front. The last touch was to add the now retired wooden Thanks element to the tree to complete the card.

I love the design of this card, with the "leaves" peeking through the branches of the tree. I could remake this card, over and over again, using different color schemes each time and never get tired of it!

Gardening With Market Fresh: Part Two

Today I continue my series on "gardening" by using the Market Fresh stamp set. If you missed it, you can view Gardening With Market Fresh: Part One.

While, Part One of my series used grapes as the focal image, my second card uses strawberries.

I started by using my MISTI to stamp my image with Jet Black Stazon ink on Watercolor paper. I then used my Blender pen and reinkers to color the image. I chose to use the now retired Raspberry Ripple rather than Real Red for the berries and for the shadows, I used Cherry Cobbler. The leaves used Old Olive and Mossy Meadow and the banner used Daffodil Delight with Crushed Curry for the shadows.

I used the Circles Collection Framelits to cut both the stamped image and a Cherry Cobbler matte. The stamped image was adhered to the matte using Fuse Fast adhesive.

I chose a black striped paper from the Farmers Market DSP pack and adhered it to a Cherry Cobbler matte of the same size to give it stability. A length of Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon was adhered across the middle of the matte. The matte was adhered to a Cherry Cobbler card base using Dimensionals.

On the back of the matte for the berries, I placed several glue dots and then adhered and shaped a length of Crushed Curry 1/8" Ribbon. The matte was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

As with the first card, I used my Wink of Stella marker to make the berries look fresh and juicy! Check back tomorrow for the third part of my "gardening" series.

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A Happy Thing

Woohoo! I've got three days off in a row so I want to make the most of them. I was home most of the day today, working in my craft room as well as multi-tasking laundry, dishwasher loading/unloading, making dinner, and other chores.

I started the day by preparing my materials for my stamping group that meets tomorrow night. With that out of the way, I was free to play. It's always a happy thing when I get to play in my craft room so what better stamp set to work with today than A Happy Thing!

I just love the little bird from this set and he is certainly making the rounds on Pinterest! I had stamped him on Whisper White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink days ago, in preparation for coloring him with Blendabilities.

Prior to that, I had created a watercolor background, planning to use it with the Bokeh Technique. It was created by first taping down the edges of the watercolor paper with washi tape and then spritzing it liberally with water.

I snap a photo to remind me what colors I used to create the watercolor.

I started by using three Ink Refills–Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, and the now retired Gumball Green. In separate containers I had added about three drops of each color to ten drops of water. I used my Aqua Painter to drop ink onto the paper in random areas.

As I worked, I sometimes blotted, sometimes sprayed more water onto the paper, and sometimes re-inked a spot on the paper to make it darker. I was liking what I was creating but it needed more depth. I decided to add Mossy Meadow into the mix and that was the answer!

I left it to dry while I was away at work and then removed the washi tape.

In the end, I decided not to add bokeh to this watercolor because I liked the organic quality to it and thought it would work well for a leafy background for the little bird.

When I started to color the little bird with my lightest Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities marker, I found that it had dried out! I was not a happy camper but I got ahold of Demo Support at Stampin' Up! and they have a new set on the way out to me.

Because I had ruined the stamped bird with the dried out marker, I changed tactics and decided to stamp the bird on acetate using Stazon Black ink. After the ink was dry, I colored with my markers on the back of the bird. With the bird completed, I turned back to the watercolor background.

I trimmed down the paper to 4 x 5" and inked the edges using Always Artichoke. I used Fuse Fast to adhere it to a Soft Suede matte.

I stamped the sentiment from the Simply Wonderful stamp set using Stazon Black ink. This stamp set can be obtained for free during Sale-a-Bration if you place an order of $60 or more.

I used one of the Square Framelits to cut out the bird and attached it with glue dots to the watercolor paper. To cover the glue dots, I used Candy Dots from the Regals Collection.

I added a piece of the now retired Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon and wound a double strand of Gold Baker's Twine around it, finishing with a knot in the front.

Finally, I added this matte to a Mossy Meadow card base. To give the bird a bit of character, I added a Rhinestone eye.

What do you think? Leave me a comment below!
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