Two Non-Christmas Cards

You all know how my main focus is Christmas cards but I've just made a bunch of them for SCS Falliday Fest challenges as I'm hosting one of the challenges coming up Oct 17 and also made samples for some of the other challenges.  So if you're a SCS member, be sure to head over and check out the challenges - four new ones posted each day from Oct 10 - 19.

So I decided to take a break and make two non-Christmas cards.  There are a bunch of great autumn-themed challenges out on blogland so I made this card for these ones: Try It On Tuesday "Autumn Magic", Stamping Sensations "Autumn Colours", My Time to Craft "Autumn Season Colors", The Four Seasons Challenge "Fall", and AAA Card Challenge "Autumn".  I'm also linking up to Addicted to CAS "Masculine".

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a label die, and popped up on fun foam on a kraft card base.  I went over the berries with Glossy Accents.

The Paper Players' challenge is "Love is in the Air" so I'm entering this card:

The heart was done in a hot foiling machine and was not totally successful - it's missing quite a lot of the gold foil.  But I quite like it anyway as it has kind of a distressed look.  I popped it up on fun foam on a square I embossed with the SU Subtle folder.  Added it to a white card base and die cut the word "love" from red glitter paper.

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Magenta leaves and berries, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - kraft cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix die, foam tape, watercolour paints, Glossy Accents

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, red glitter cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Glimmer gold foil, SU Subtle embossing folder, Great Expressions Decorative Heart die, Tim Holtz sentiment die

An Autumn Bunny and a Reindeer in Red and Brown

It's poured with rain all day today so I made two more cards.  First up is an autumn one to send to my sister who has been spotting wild bunnies in the ravine behind her house.  It's for The Paper Players "Signs of Autumn" - nothing like a bare tree with one final leaf clinging to it and patches of mushrooms popping up to signify autumn.  And also for The Four Seasons Challenge "Anything Goes Fall" and Simply CAS "Autumn".

I stamped the images, stupidly forgetting to use red to stamp the leaf so went over it with a red marker (that didn't cover up the black stamping very well). Then I sponged some blue and green around the images. I stamped my sentiment and smudged it, so restamped it on a scrap of cs and die cut it with a label die.  

Then a card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Brown and Red":

I stamped the collage image in brown - thank goodness for my MISTI as it took several stampings to get a good impression.  After restamping so many times, I lost the definition in the reindeer's eyes, so added a bit of black marker to the eyes and a bit of white gel pen above and below them.  I trimmed it with a narrow border beyond the image and layered it on a piece of red corrugated card stock.

I'd never used either the stamp or red corrugated card stock before so I'm linking it up to NBUS as well.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Lavinia images, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Speckled Egg, Bundled Sage, and Old Paper
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - red marker, Spellbinders label die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Magenta
Ink - Archival Potting Soil
Paper - off white cs, DCWV red corrugated cs
Size - A2
Accessories - black marker, white gel pen

Autumn Birthday

I'm on the Design Team of Diane and Darlene's Peace on Earth Challenge and I try to participate in some of their other challenges.  I needed a birthday card for a friend with an October birthday so it seemed a perfect opportunity to make something with an autumn theme and enter it in their Four Seasons Challenge - "anything fall goes".

I used autumn leaves, berries, and colours.  I followed a recent SCS tutorial on "Double Stamped Vellum".  I did the white embossed leaves on the front of the vellum, then the coloured leaves and berries on the back.

I layered the vellum on the back of an aperture cut out of my stitched die cut rectangle and then added foam tape to the back of it to give it some dimension on the card base.

Four Seasons Challenge (I used the red and orange tones from the bottom right image on the mood board).

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black leaves and berries, SU sentiment
Ink - SU Real Red, Distress Rusty Hinge, ColorBox white
Paper - white cs, vellum
Size - A2
Accessories - white embossing powder, foam tape, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, Spellbinders rectangle die

Autumn with Maple Leaves

Reminder time at CAS Watercolour!  How are you doing with autumn cards, specifically maple leaves?

I didn't think I had any maple leaf stamps and dies but just found the tiny maple leaf die I used on this card:

I used a leftover piece of smooshed Distress Oxide background (patting the inks on my craft sheet and spritzing with water, dabbing mixed media cs into it, and drying between layers).

Then stamped the definition of autumn on a scrap of cs and distressed the edges slightly.

I had a leftover piece of orange watercoloured cs that I'd been experimenting with ghost stamping (stamping with water with a fine-lined crackle background stamp on the solid orange watercolour wash).  I die cut the little maple leaves from that and tucked them around the definition.

And popped up the whole panel of fun foam for some dimension.

It's also a special month as it is CAS Watercolour's 3rd birthday...

 ...and to celebrate, we're offering two prizes:

$25 GC for SSS for Challenge Winner

$25 GC for SSS for one random draw of eligible entries

So it's a great month to enter!  You have until October 24th.


Because it used up so many bits and pieces, I'm taking it over to Pixie's Snippets Playground as well.

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving!

Supplies:

Stamps - Purple Onion seasonal definitions

Ink - various brown Oxide inks for background, Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves for definition

Paper - mixed media and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - unknown little maple leaf die, fun foam, TH distressing tool

Falling Maple Leaves

It's autumn and this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge host, Loll, came up with "maple leaf" as our challenge.

It's also a special month as it is CAS Watercolour's 3rd birthday...

 ...and to celebrate, we're offering two prizes:

$25 GC for SSS for Challenge Winner

$25 GC for SSS for one random draw of eligible entries

So it's a great month to enter!

Here's my maple leaf card:

Shame on me as a Canadian, but I realized I don't have any maple leaf stamps.  Fortunately the October issue of Craft Stamper came with a small maple leaf stamp and I was able to use it for this card.

I inked it up in Distress oxide Barn Door, spritzed lightly, and stamped.  I tapped some Barn Door, Fired Brick, and Candied Apple ink onto my craft sheet and spritzed with water.  Then wet the whole image and dropped in bits of the watered down inks.  I made three leaves this way.  When dry, I fussy cut them.  I die cut the branch, stamped my sentiment, die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle, attached the leaves, and popped the panel up on fun foam.

When I attached the centre leaf, I set it a bit below the branch as if it was dropping off the tree.

Head over to CAS Watercolour for more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and a truly fabulous card from our Guest Designer, Ros (Mikey's Mom blog).

Supplies:

Stamps - Craft Stamper's gift stamp

Ink - Distress Oxide Barn Door, Candied Apple, Fired Brick

Paper - white and brown cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix branch die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Autumn Foliage

I feel like I'm surrounded by autumn leaves right now - making a card using them seemed totally appropriate after spending yesterday raking up lots of them (and there are more to fall off the trees so it's not over yet!).

I love the old SU set, French Foliage!  I inked up the leaves with different colours of my mini Distress inks, then spritzed lightly before stamping.  I did the sentiment in dark brown and used Antique Linen for the splats.  I popped it up on fun foam for some dimension.  And off it goes to the Addicted to CAS Foliage challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Foliage, unknown sentiment

Ink - various mini Distress inks

Paper - cream cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - fun foam

A Final Farewell to Autumn Leaves

It seems appropriate to being doing one more autumn card as all the leaves are pretty much off the trees in my garden (which means I'll have to do a final garden clean-up soon!).

Addicted to CAS has Leaves as their current challenge.

My good friend, Loll Thompson, cut some stencils for me on her Silhouette so I used one on this card to depict the glorious colour of a forest in autumn.

I sprinkled red, orange, and yellow Brushos through the stencil and spritzed with water.  When dry, I trimmed the piece with a rectangle die and then die cut the centre with a stitched oval.

The oval is taped directly to the kraft cardbase and the outer rectangle is popped up on foam tape.

I used the same Brushos to colour a couple of scraps of cs and die cut a couple of tiny sprigs of leaves to attach to the bottom corner.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Paper - kraft cs, mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Brushos, home-made forest window stencil, Ali Express tiny leaves die, foam tape, Lil Inker stitched oval die

The Last of the Fall Leaves

Time to remind you that you only have until October 24 to enter your card in the CAS Watercolour challenge:

And don't forget, it's our first birthday celebration:

And we have prizes in honour of it:

$25 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp for Challenge Winner

&

$25 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp for one random draw of all entries

 (must follow rules to be eligible for prizes)

Here's my reminder card:

I started by sprinkling a piece of coated cs with yellow and orange brushos and spritzing with water.   I die cut a bare-branched tree out of brown cs and glued it to this background.

Then I used the same brushos and technique on a scrap of watercolour paper.  Out of it, I die cut some little sprigs of leaves and snipped the leaves from their branches.  I glued a few leaves to the tree and glued the rest falling to the ground.

I mounted the panel on fun foam and added a sentiment underneath.  I made the card for my friend who invited me for Thanksgiving dinner.

Please head over to CAS Watercolour to see the mid-month inspiration from our Design Team and the October Guest Designer, Marcia of Marcia's Stampin Pad.

Supplies:

Stamps - Memory Box sentiment

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper - white and brown cs, coated cs

Size - A2

Accessories - yellow and orange Brushos, Impression Obsession Bare Tree die, Ali Express tiny leaf sprig die, fun foam

Variation on Oak and Aspen

I had some extra oak and aspen leaves left from this card that I made as my Design Team card for CAS Watercolour.

So I made a slightly less CAS version of my earlier card.

The leaves were done at the same time as the earlier card - putting the stamps in my MISTI,  dabbing Distress stains onto the stamps, then spritzing with water before stamping onto watercolour paper.  I was really pleased with the way the colours blended.  For the aspen leaf, I used Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge, and for the oak leaf, Rusty Hinge and Tea Dye.   When dry, I fussy cut them.

I did a watercolour wash on a rectangle of watercolour paper, stamped the sentiment on it, glued the stems of the leaves down and rolled up some tape under the rest of the leaves to give them a bit of a free-floating look, and wrapped some twine around the top.   I popped the panel up on fun foam.

Please come and join us at CAS Watercolour.  It's our first birthday, and in celebration, we're giving out some prizes this month.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Foliage, unknown sentiment

Ink - SU Baked Brown Sugar

Paper - PTI Vintage Cream cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Distress Stains (Rusty Hinge, Tea Dye, Wild Honey), watercolour paints, twine, fun foam

Oak and Aspen

We're into autumn now.  After such a glorious summer in Vancouver, it's hard to say goodbye to all the sunshine we had, but there's something nice about the chill in the air and the desire to do indoor things instead of being out in the garden.

CAS Watercolour has the perfect challenge this month:

And it is an extra special month to enter as it is our 1st birthday!

In honour of it, there are prizes!!

$25 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp for Challenge Winner

&

$25 Gift Certificate to Simon Says Stamp for one random draw of all entries

 (must follow rules to be eligible for prizes)

Here's my card to hopefully inspire you:

I did the leaves in my MISTI by dabbing Distress stains onto the stamps, then spritzing with water before stamping onto watercolour paper.  I was really pleased with the way the colours blended.  For the aspen leaf, I used Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge, and for the oak leaf, Brushed Corduroy and Tea Dye.   When dry, I fussy cut them.

I stamped the splashes stamp from the same set (SU French Foliage) and a small sentiment onto the same watercolour paper, then die cut a centre panel with a stitched die that has the stitching on both sides of the cut line.  I die cut two more panels to match, saving the centre pieces for future projects, and gluing the outer pieces together to create dimension for my frame. 

I glued the stems and top edges onto my panel, and then put rolled pieces of double-sided tape under the lower parts of the leaves to add some dimension.

Head on over to CAS Watercolour for more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer, Marcia of Marcia's Stampin' Pad.  And then link up your card!  Please remember to keep your card CAS, use watercolour in some way, and follow the theme of Fall Leaves.  You have until October 24th to enter.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Foliage, unknown sentiment

Ink - SU Baked Brown Sugar

Paper - PTI Vintage Cream cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Distress Stains (Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Aged Mahogany, Tea Dye), twine, fun foam

Autumn Berries

I've done one more watercolour card for the new CAS Watercolour challenge and am squeaking in before the deadline tonight.

I love the way leaves turn colour and, on some plants, berries appear in the place of flowers in the autumn.  Here's my card:

 

It's a very traditional way to use watercolour - simply painting the image with watercolour pan paints!  As much as I love playing with all the new watercolour mediums (like Brushos and Bister) and all the new techniques, I do still love just colouring my image with paints.

Enjoy the last of autumn!

Supplies:

Stamps - Magenta leaves and berries, unknown sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - watercolour paper, PTI Vintage Cream

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix die, twine, foam tape, watercolour paints

A Variation on Autumn Watercolour

The other day I made a card for the new CAS Watercolour challenge.  I mentioned in that post that my first attempt had too much water and it flowed all around the leaf images.  I was going to toss that attempt but I really liked the leaves so decided to fussy cut the leaves to get rid of the excess colour all around them.  Here's the card I made with those leaves:

For the technique of colouring the leaves, see the earlier blog post here.

The background is a sprinkling of blue bister on coated cs, spritzed with water and allowed to air dry.  The leaves are popped up on it with foam tape.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white on a scrap of dark brown cs.

The whole panel is popped up on a piece of fun foam.

I'm entering this version in the CAS Watercolour challenge along with my earlier version.  You have until October 24th to come and join in with a clean and simple watercolour card with an autumnal theme.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Foliage leaves, unknown sentiment

Ink - ColorBox white

Paper - white and brown cs, coated cs, watercolour paper

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - blue Bister, white embossing powder, foam tape, fun foam