Feeling the Autumn?

Feeling the Autumn finally!   Well... on the inside anyway...lol!  It's still in the 100's here in Southwest Arizona so... but I do remember what autumn felt like in NY... I do miss Autumn... but not enough to return to where it Winters...lol!

I'm playing along with a couple challenges today!  It's been so long since I've played along with the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink and #334 is about Glitter Inlays.  I decided to make my project Autumn themed because I LOVE the colors of Autumn AND because Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge is Fall/Autumn!

As Lexi did in her video over at PTI, I die cut my shape that I wanted to use for the glitter inlay which is that awesome Plaid Mix and Mat die that is so elusive and looks like it's available right now if you must have it!  Of course it sells out a lot... it's AWESOME!  Anyway... I adhered the die cut to an adhesive sheet so that the sticky showed through the front and then took some ultra fine glitter from the Art Glitter store here in Arizona and brushed it over the top so that the glitter would stick in the sticky parts.  Then I brushed all of my excess off... cool right?  Yeah... you could put glitter paper behind it if you hate using glitter.  But I for one don't mind glitter everywhere including in my hair!  And it's so inexpensive compared to glitter paper.  Love this technique!  If you need a visual ... the video up on the blog is excellent!

Then I pulled out my Cozy Christmas stamp set from PTI... Kathy Schweinfurth made me buy this one because she has made SO many beautiful projects using it.  It took me a while to ink it up because.. well... it's been summer!  But hot beverages from a thermos aren't just for Christmas!  So I stamped my pieces in some fall-ish colors and cut them out... (I didn't get the dies... yet...lol).  I also used for the first time some fantastic dies I bought the last time there was a sale and can I say.. I'm in LOVE!  These Grand Botanical dies are fantastic... I cut my leaves from some previously watercolored paper... I added an orangey brown to the center part of the leaf for contrast.  The tiny flowers, also from this set I cut from some coordinating design paper and the centers do cut out, but I just added some yellow Nuvo drops as centers.  AND those branches!!  They were perfect cut from kraft and I added just a few flowers that haven't fallen off yet.  So many more dies in this set.. large flowers and a larger leaf.  So glad I got it (this one is not in stock right now, but if you must have it, just click Notify Me).  That's how I got my Plaid Mix and Mat...lol!  I needed some small steam and I found the perfect little die in the Coffee and Tea set from Stamp Simply!

I love using sentiments that aren't necessarily coffee related on my coffee cards... believe it or not, not everyone I know is as crazy about coffee as I am.. but it's ok... I love them anyway and they are still my friends!  Maybe they prefer cocoa or tea... idk... or soup?  But between you and me... there's coffee in that there thermos!  This sentiment from the MFT Hug In A Mug set.

That's it for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping!  Be sure to come back on Monday for Three Amigos!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #328 - Shadow Backgrounds

Popping in quick today to share with you my make inspired by this week's Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  It's all about a "Shadow Background".

I used the Stemmed Statements stamp set for this one because I love it!  The idea is to stamp complementary images to the one you will use as your pop of color, but in a neutral color of some sort.. you want it to be just that... a background.  I stamped my images on CTMH White Daisy Cardstock using Heather Ink.  I started lower on the left side and slowly moved my images up as I went across the page.  You don't have to do this, however in Laurie Schmidlin's video she says she tends to prefer the diagonal layout and I must say I'm a bit partial to it myself.  I like the way it kind of gives my background it's own little crescendo.  I also decided to give my background some texture using the beautiful Rustic Burlap Impression Plate.  After I stamped, I embossed.

I ended up choosing a different flower for my pop of color... the geranium rather than the poppy.  I liked the amount of space it took up better.  But that's ok since there are all kinds of flowers in a proper garden.  And I added a clover also to create some symmetry with the background.

The size of this Lil' Inker Designs Celebrate Word Die was perfect for the space and I love the font.  I just added a couple glittery purple gems and done!  This was fun and something I'd do again for sure!

You have until 6am EST Monday the 16th to link up to this one!  You must use at least one PTI product.  You can find the rules and linkup here!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #324: Lots O' Dots

Popping in with a "quick" card I made for the Make It Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink which is Lots O' Dots this week!  I had to make a birthday card for a co-worker's husband.  He's turning 70 this year and he is always baking for us at work!  Yes... he bakes.. and he's quite awesome at it!

So, I knew I wanted to use my new Shape Shifters Circle 1 Die and I knew it had to be manly and figured I'd use my Kat Scrappiness Condensed Number dies for a 70 and that's about it.  And when I saw the pretty butterfly in the inspiration video for this challenge, which I just happen to have (also new) it made me sad I couldn't use it..lol!  And I didn't really have any man stamps that would lend themselves to polka dots... in fact, I really don't have much in the way of man stamps at all... what can I say?  I loves me some girly papercrafting stuff.  I scrapbooked boy pages for almost a decade before I discovered cardmaking.

So, I pulled out my Authentique "Rugged" man paper and just started cutting things!

Isn't that Shape Shifter die pretty cool?  I placed a solid blue piece behind it in a dark blue so that the design still showed up, but wasn't too distracting.  I also had a blue diecut behind it and offset my top piece just a bit and popped up the top piece.

I cut the numbers once from the design paper and then three more times from cardstock and stacked them.  I just love the way it adds so much dimension.  Then I took the flames from some candle dies and added them to the top to make them number candles.

Then I cut my sentiment using the Boho Rounds Sentiments but didn't die cut the entire sentiment... all I needed was the word Enjoy.  I added it to the card and added some liquid glass to it.  I decided my dots would just be scattered dots on the paper.  I am not happy with the performance of these gold Nuvo Drops.  They didn't keep their shape and some ended up more flat than I wanted.  Note to future card making self.  But for these purposes, it'll work.  I also added some to the top left corner to balance out the card a bit.

There.  Done.  I need two other man cards this week and thank goodness I already have them made because this one took a lot out of me....lol!  I really do need to get better at this.  Maybe I'll try another soon.

Thanks for stopping and please do come back soon!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #319: Graffiti Word Art

Excited to be playing along with the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge #319: Graffiti Word Art!   There's a great video up on the blog that you should check out!  I don't have any Papertrey Ink word dies so I used his Hugs die from Stamplorations.  I have however recently purchased this Rustic Burlap Impression Plate that I used for my backdrop... I felt it gave a slight feel of a rough wall texture. 

Instead of the stamped background, I had die cut the awesome Mix and Mat Plaid die and as I saw it sitting there I had the idea to blend some inks over it and cut a piece of it out to serve as my backdrop.  And I got the Stemmed Statements stamps and dies and I love that the dies also lend themselves to being cut out as a silhouette.  I decided that if I were a street artist that would paint a graffiti HUGS on a wall, I'd probably also paint a flower.  I cut the flower and this Hugs die from Stamplorations out of watercolored paper I'd initially meant to use for a galaxy background, but when that project changed directions, this watercolored paper was abandoned... turns out, it was really meant for this one!  So I'm also playing along with the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge with a twist of Watercolor this week!

Instead of stenciling on my word art, I decided to try stamping butterflies from the Stemmed Statements stamp set in versamark and heat embossing with clear embossing powder.  I wanted it to be subtle, but it's maybe a little too subtle... I stamped a few on the hugs, but they really didn't add anything so I used the liquid glass over the whole sentiment and left the couple I stamped on the flowers.

That's it for me!  You have a few days left to play along if you want!  You need to use at least one Papertrey Ink album and there is a random drawn prize up for grabs!