Autumn Tactics

So you're back this way again... Winter's one breath away...

If you know Chicane, those words might sound familiar, and if you haven't already guessed from the title of this post, that's where my inspiration for this card came from.  Autumn (providing it doesn't rain constantly) is my favourite season.  I just love the colours, the trees fading to shades of brown, orange and crimson but above all I love the smell!  I don't know what it is about the scent of autumn that appeals to me so much, but I love the scent of walking through a forest and there is that smell of damp earth and leaves on the ground.  Plus knowing that winter is only just round the corner too...

The stamp I chose for this project is Sweet Pea ching-chou kuik's Masked Fairy in Green, but obviously I haven't coloured it in green!  I used pumpkin,burnt orange, cinnamon and ruby promarkers to colour the dress and the wings and hair and used touches of pear green for the leaves and used dusky pink and blush to colour the skin.  Used one of my new nesties I bought at The Stampman shop the other day and edged it with burnt orange.  Got hold of some new starburst stains and moonglows there too and have used these to make the papers.  I posted the other day about making some paper using the scrunch technique and finding a devill staring back at me when I unfolded it, well I have used half of that piece to make the background of this, so it's now only half a devil lol  Used a sizzix paddlepunch leaf design to bash some holes in it to show off the stained paper underneath and used the punchouts to edge the bottom of the image and added a flower and some pumpkin orange coloured satin ribbon made into a bow trims it off, shredded the edges to add a more distressed look (obviously a scrunched background doesn't look distress enough lol) then, simply because I wanted a bit of bling, I added a butterfly charm :)


I would like to enter this for the following challenges:


The Stampman - Autumn
Cowgirls Sunday Challenge - Create your own background
The Craft Pad - Distressed or torn edges
Let's Ink It Up - Use halloween colours
Crafty Cardmakers - Use a freebie (the ribbon was free)
The Pink Elephant - Brown and Orange

Devil of a time with The Stampman

I spent a lovely day up in Skipton today at The Stampman.  Had a fantastic day.  Came home to play with some of my stash and used some of my starburst stains to do some paper using the scrunch technique and was showing my darling OH how it is done.  Opened up the scrunched piece of paper to show him the effect and was like OMG!  I could see a devil in it.  Please look and tell me I'm not going mad!

Should I be scared?

Foldy Fairy of Forgiveness?

Last year, my partner and I were in lumber with his sister as we forgot her birthday.  Oops!  My only defence was I didn't actually know when her birthday was to forget it, but my partner did, and I don't think she has spoken to him since.  It's not as though I wouldn't have welcomed the excuse to make another card now is it?  Well, this year, I am taking no chances and have made her card a month early and left it at her mother's.  Ha!

I have been fascinated with foldy cards for quite some time, done a few easel cards, variations with easel cards and also done a few cutty foldy cards.  This is another cutty foldy card!  It looks quite complicated to do, well it is and it isn't.  Just takes a bit of preparation and careful measuring and then it is quite simple.  Simple but effective and makes people go WOW!  Well that is the reaction I have got from the people I have shown this card to anyway.

It started life as a plain and simple piece of A4 card which I measured in increments of 1 inch from either end, leaving the centre section a different size.  Then it is a matter of deciding where the peaks and troughs should go, creasing or cutting where appropriate and decorating.  Of course, I now have a template I use so I know where to cut and fold, but I had to work it all out for myself initially lol

The image I used is Serenity from The Stamping Boutique, it's a digi stamp and I love the way you can resize them which you obviously can't with a rubber stamp.  Coloured with bluebell and amethyst promarkers as my sister-in-law's favourite colour is lilac which is the colour theme I continued throughout the card - even the main card is lilac!  Once I had put the card together, I decided to colour another copy of the dress and face part of the image and make it 3D as with all the folds it was looking a little flat.  I had forgotten that I had resized the image slightly when I printed the first one, and the second one was a bit smaller, which I didn't actually notice until I had coloured it and cut to size and applied the sticky pads.  Turns out it was a happy accident as it still lined up nicely at the top and gave some layers to the bottom of the dress.  Yay!  The papers were courtesy of Vix who kindly printed off some sheets from a CD she has.  Couldn't resist making some of the butterflies on the paper 3D too :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers - Spotlight on Fancy Folds
Karber Monthly Challenge - Fantasy using a digi
Craftalicious Challenges - Anything Goes
OSAAT - Digi stamp
Create4fun - Use digi stamp

Summer is gone

Well it is over, it's now October, we've had lousy weather all summer, so why is the sun shining and we have blue skies?  We could have done with nice weather during the summer holidays when the kids were off!  Instead, stuck at home most of the time with a hyperactive LOUD toddler, a teething baby plus 2 older kids who were bored.  Ah well, should enjoy the sun whilst I can!  My eldest has gone on a residential trip this week with school so she should be having fun and not be getting too wet, well for today at least.

The inspiration for my card this time, came in the form of a picture message I got on my blackberry, a cute snuffly hedgehog hiding in the undergrowth.  I haven't seen a live hedgehog for years, sadly the only ones I ever see might have done well to study the green cross code.  But there he(she?) was and I thought autumn is definitely here now.

The image I have used is a Tiddly Inks digi stamp of a hedgehog and butterflies.  What better image to choose for autumn colours?  Mr Hedgehog is coloured using cinnamon and sable promarkers and the butterflies coloured using burnt orange and pumpkin.  I have hardly seen any butterflies this year, but for some reason they love the plant which climbs up a neighbours wall and I have seen common anglewings and red admirals which inspired the colours for this card.  Ripped edges touched up with tan promarker added to the rustic feel.  I added some pumpkin coloured ribbon and some paper flowers with buttons stitched onto them to finish the topper off.  The backing paper is a colorbok paper from a set my friend bought me in the states, and the base of the easel uses a sheet of crackle effect paper I bought in papermill earlier this year. The 'stopper' is another piece of the first DP cut and punched on the corners with a punch which I think looks just like the lower wings of the butterfly at the front of the card....  The butterfly in front of the hedgehog, is cut from the same DP as the backing to the image and it really does fly as I mounted it behind the easel on a strip of acetate, so when there is a bit of airflow near it, it flutters :)

For many years, I have loved looking up quotes to fit my mood or an occasion and the quote I have used on this card is Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower by Albert Camus.  Sums it up perfectly!

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Easel
Tiddly Inks Challenge - Crackle Accent
Aly's Sunday Challenge - 2 DPS and 2 buttons
Craftalicious - Harvest Festival/Autumn
Sentimental Sundays - Autumn or fall
The ABC Challenge - E is for Easel