Thinking of Thanksgiving

Hi and happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.  The new PINspirational Challenge has been posted and our fearless leader happens to be Canadian, so we're celebrating Thanksgiving. (Hey, I'm fine with Thanksgiving more than once a year.)

For my card, I used a stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers. It is stamped on kraft paper and colored with pencils. (This is a technique I've only used a few times, and it needs some work.)  The center of the sunflower is covered with flocking to give it a nice fuzzy touch.

To the side, there's a scalloped piece of patterned paper and a thin ribbon and bow.

I hope you'll be PINspired to join our new challenge. Just create a project inspired by the PIN and link up at the challenge blog.

My card is for these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- fall/autumn
Word Art Wednesday #408 -- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper

Autumn leaves

         The PINspirational Challenge is up, and it's all about autumn leaves.
        I hope you'll find some inspiration in the photo and join us by creating a project (it doesn't have to be a card) and posting it on the challenge blog.
         (Here in the South, fall feels very far off.  Temperatures should be at very pleasant levels now, but instead, we have a heatwave with temperatures expected to be into the 90s well into October. Yuck).
           For my card, I used a Memory Box die of falling leaves, which I cut in a piece of brown paper that has a print that looks like a nice fall blazer. Behind that paper, I used some striped paper to create some colorful leaves.  (The picture actually looks like the leaves were die-cut and put on top, but it's the opposite.)  The sentiment is an old one from SU.

Deep breath, deep breath

       Life has been totally ca-razy. That's may not be considered a good reason to be two days late posting, but it's the truth.
       So, it's way past time to share the PINspirational Challenge with you.  As you can see, it has a back to school theme.
       I was inspired by the blackboard, so I did white embossing on black to mimic the blackboard look.
I settled on an inspirational quote from Club Stamp. The watch is also a Club Stamp image which was black-embossed on white card stock, fussy cut, and adhered with dimensionals.
       I wanted some texture for the background panels, On the right is a crimped piece of white cardstock. On the left side is a woodgrain pattern to reflect the wooden fro in the inspiration piece.
       I hope you'll be inspired by the image -- there are so many good ways to go with this one... you could do plaid, or apples, or books...  Whatever inspires you, please link up to our challenge blog.

My card is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes
Crafty Sentiments -- back to school
The Paper Shelter #395  -- back to school
Word Art Wednesday #402 -- anything goes

Joy fold card

I haven't made a joy fold card for ages (read: years), but I had a lot of fun making this card after Mrs. A. posted the most recent Butterfly Challenge.  As you may know, she is featuring a different fold with each challenge, and this time it was a joy fold.

This is a very simple card to make, and hopefully, I'll remember that in the future. (She has a tutorial on her blog if you've never made one of these).

For my card, I used a stamp set from Clearly Besotted.  The sunflower is inked in two chalk ink colors -- chestnut roan and Cadmium.  I used a small, dry-embossed, punched butterfly as a little holder to keep the central part of the card from flapping open.

For the background, I used some very old patterned paper from Stampin UP.  One of the challenge colors for the Butterfly Challenge was "jasmine," a pale yellow, so I felt this paper met that requirement.

This card is for these challenges:
Butterfly Challenge #126: theme: Joy Fold,  Color: jasmine
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper
Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1933 -- anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #400 -- anything goes

Camping fun

I'm a day late posting my DT project for PINspirational Challenges, but it's a fun one. Look at this awesome inspiration photo -- don't you want to be on that mountain?

Instead of making a card, I made tags. I used some old Sizzix dies I got at a consignment sale. (They are the little square ones with a foam layer -- I think they are called Sizzlets.) This is such a great camping set with all the elements for a great scene, except the campfire is the wrong scale. Look at it -- it would loom over that tent if I put them side by side.  So, I made two different tags.

The tags themselves are cut with the Stamplorations stitched tag die. I just gathered bits of snippets in a variety of colors and cut the different pieces, then arranged them to make a nice scene.

And now a funny story about camping. We enjoy camping and headed out for a long weekend of camping fun around the Fourth of July. Except, it was SO hot, SO humid and SO uncomfortable we were miserable. It was too hot to hike even early in the morning. We came home a day early, something we've never done before.

As we were driving home I was trying to think up a good way to tell my DH I didn't want to camp again until it's cooler. Then he surprised me by saying "I've reached the conclusion that I'm not a summer camper. Let's not plan any more camping until it cools down." So ... great minds think alike.

Hope my project or the photo inspire you to create your  own project. If so, be sure to link up at the PINspiratiional Challenge blog.

I'm entering these challenges:
The Paper Shelter #393 -- punches and dies
Die Cut Divas -- hot
Pixie's Snippet Playground #358 -- use snippets
Crafty Sentiments -- anything goes
Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1932 -- anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #400 -- anything goes

Just beachy

Another PINspirational Challenge has been posted, and life's a beach! I hope you'll be inspired by the inspiration photo and join in the fun by linking up at the challenge blog.

I decided to feature this summer-themed paper along with a smaller image from a beach set from Purple Onion. Usually, I use the large image with this set, which is a beach chair and umbrella scene. But to show more of the paper, I chose this smaller image of a beach bag, hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen lotion. The image is colored with pencils.  The sentiment is from the same Purple Onion set.

This card is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- bright and cheerful
Scribbles Designs Challenge -- A Slice of Summer
Word Art Wednesday #397 -- anything goes
Crafty Sentiments -- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper

Tagging in

Back with another Christmas project, a tag this time.

I cut the tag (using the stitched tag die from Stamplorations) from watercolor paper, then black-embossed the cityscape and Santa -- from a Whimsy Stamps set. To create the background, I applied some Distress Inks (a darkish blue and a lavender -- I don't have names handy) on a sheet of freezer paper, spritzed some water, and dragged the tag through the ink a few times. After the ink dried, I used a Wink of Stella pen to add some sparkly stars to the sky. I also used a white gel pen on some of the windows that got inked up in the process.

This tag is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- not a card
Catch the Bug Christmas in July day 3 -- Anything but a card with "Santa is Coming to Town" theme
Word Art Wednesday #397 -- anything goes
Winter Wonderland -- Winter Buildings
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #447 -- die-cut