Feeling Autumn-y

The air has a slight nip to it this morning. It has the past few mornings as well. I'm awaiting the annual color change, and doing so rather impatiently. I decided since they weren't changing nearly fast enough to suit me, I could just create some fall foliage myself!

I pulled out my "With Gratitude" set and stared at it. I pulled out different colored card stocks and stared some more. I came up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. The set mocked me. It did! Here I had this gorgeous set and I could come up with nary a thing to do with it. Ack! Dejected, I walked out of the studio and vowed I would think of something, that no mere stamp set would beat me. So there!

I took a different approach last night. I found a sketch challenge at Stamping 411 that looked promising and decided to give it a go.

I tried a vertical card first. No dice. Once I got it oriented correctly, the card came together. :o) I showed it to Brien who said, "ACK! What did you do?? You had this wonderful masculine card and you added a bow. A BOW! Now it just looks all sorts of confused."

Really? Oh no!
But you see, the thing is, I was proud of that bow. It was the most perfect bow I had ever made (thank you, Jaydee for the tutorial!) and I was going to leave that bow, even if it didn't work.

But that didn't mean I couldn't create another card. I typically make two cards anyhow, so this was easy to do. :o)

I rock-and-rolled the leaves on the background to achieve that multi-color effect. I ran the Cajun Craze piece through the Cuttlebug with a Swiss Dots embossing folder to give it some texture. The maple leaf is first stamped in VersaMark and then in Cajun Craze, covered with clear embossing powder and hit with the heat gun. I gave the card some depth by mounting the maple leaf using dimensionals.

These cards use:
Stamp Sets: "With Gratitude", "Watercolor Trio"
Inks: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso--it should be noted I considered using Old Olive, but I thought it was too bright next to the more muted Regals colors
Papers: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Early Espresso 5/8" satin ribbon, dimensionals, Regals button, Swiss Dots embossing folder, scallop border punch

Ha! I won!! I made a card with the stamp set, and even have another cooking for Friday's post! Hee hee hee. ;o)

--Rach