Gather Together for Fall

It has been a very busy summer. Now the air is a bit colder and the leaves are turning yellow. Yup, it's just about time for Fall. Such a beautiful season of vibrant colours, how could you not love it! (Well except for the fact that it signifies the fast approach of winter, that is!) So in honor of this gorgeous season, I made this card. 

For inspiration in making this card, I followed this week's challenge from the Global Design Project team which happens to be a sketch challenge.

For this card my focus was on the beautiful Gather Together bundle. Again I used my brayer and ink pads to create my fall-colored sheet that I used for my die-cut leaves. (Please see my previous blog post for more info on this technique:) ) Here I used Mossy Meadow, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze ink pads.

I used the coordinating Gathered Leaves Dies to die cut my leaves out of this sheet and some Gold Foil sheet as well. I also used my Starburst Punch on a piece of Kraft cardstock and then I sponged the edges of this with Soft Suede ink. My sentiment was from the same sheet that I created and stamped using Early Espresso ink pad. My mat piece is a 4" x 5 1/4" Mossy Meadow cardstock that I ran through my Big Shot with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. And lastly I also added a strip of the retired Wood Textures DSP into the mix.

So I just put everything together, fanning my leaves out and adhering some with dimensionals for additional layer. For embellishment I used the coordinating Come to Gather Ribbon pack and made a bow with the Cajun Craze linen thread, and then added some Iridescent Sequins for some shimmer. 

And that is my fall card for today. I hope you liked it and hope to see you next time. Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting!

Fun-filled Snowman Season

Ever since I got my pre-order for the Holiday Catalogue, I cannot seem to stop playing with my Snowman Season bundle! These snowmen are just so stinkin' adorable! So in a rare opportunity that I am actually able to do a blog post, I'll show you how I created these cards...

Aren't they just adorable??! I had tons of fun creating these cute cards. Here's how...

I started by making my background piece...it's simple. I just taped a piece of Whisper White cardstock onto a board and used my brayer to deposit ink onto my paper. I used Melon Mambo, Balmy Blue and Night of Navy ink pads.

Then I sprayed LOTS of water onto my paper to spread the ink around. It'll look something like this...doesn't look much right now but just you wait!

Next I dried it with my heat gun. This is why you need it taped onto a board...so that your paper doesn't warp during the drying process. Then I sprayed it with some white ink and this is what you'll end up with...

Now to make my card I stamped and punched out my snowman with coordinating Snowman Builder Punch. I also stamped the smallest snowman in a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then fussy cut it. Next, the hills...I cut out a wavy line 1/3 of the way down a piece of Whisper White cardstock (4" x 5 1/4"). I lined this up against another piece of cardstock to eyeball the height of the next hill...it should be high enough to fit my hat-and-scarf snowman. Then it's just cutting up another wavy line going the other way this time.

I then stamped the hat-and-scarf snowman onto the bigger piece of hill and then colored my snowmen in using my Blends. Next I lightly sponged the edges of my hills with Balmy Blue ink using a sponge dauber. 

To assemble I glued the back hill onto my background piece that's 4" x 5 1/4". Then I mounted the front hill onto the second hill using dimensionals. Next I glued down the smallest snowman at the back and then added my punched-out snowman at the front. Lastly I white heat-embossed my greeting at the top of my background piece.

I mounted this whole piece onto a mat layer of Basic Black cardstock before adhering the entire thing onto my Whisper White card base. For some shimmer I covered my hills in Wink of Stella and then added some snow with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds. 

And that is my card for today. Kinda hard to explain the steps, but hopefully you were able to follow my method to the madness :)  I was hoping to do a video on how I made these, but that will have to wait for now. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next time. Happy crafting!!!