Rustic Sunflower for Queen Jan

I'm seeing Fall everywhere I look.  The leaves are not really colorful here, but they're falling rapidly.  It's impossible to keep the walk swept up.  But it's kinda fun to crunch those leaves under our feet.

The Queen for the Day at SCS today is Jan (aka Precious Kitty).  I didn't have to go far to find an inspiration.  I chose this beautiful card to CASE.  Jan CASED her card so I guess it's a CASE of a CASE.  This is one of my favorite layouts.

All supplies are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Ink: Smoky Slate

Paper:  Naturals White, Summer Sun (retired), Chocolate Chip

Other:  Simply Scored, Burlap Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Daisies #2 Bigz Die (retired), Twine (non SU)

To do the faux wood siding, I scored a piece of Naturals White on my Simply Scored then dragged my Smoky Slate inkpad over it very gently.  The bow is 4 loops on my bow maker.  I cut the stitching off the edges of the burlap ribbon to give it a more rustic look. Now I wish I hadn't. I got more of a rustic look than I wanted.  

There are a lot of challenges to do Fall/Autumn cards. 

Addicted to CAS

Sunflowers always make me think of Fall.

Addicted To Stamps

See the sunflowers in the picture?

CASology

Aren't sunflower seeds harvested in the Fall?

I love the colors of Fall, the promise of cooler weather, the smell of wood smoke and fallen leaves, pumpkin bread and gingersnap cookies.  What do you like best about Fall?

Thanks for stopping by today.

Enjoy!

Bird in the Wreath?

I wanted to share the other card I made yesterday.  It's one that I really struggled with but finally came to a satisfactory conclusion.  Sometimes cards come so easy and other times they are a mighty struggle!

A couple of my blogging friends are on design teams and I've been wanting to play along with their challenges.  Unfortunately time is limited and I don't always often get to everything that I want to.

Colleen (of Dietrich Designs) is a Designer at The Play Date Cafe.  This was this weeks challenge there....

I think I should have used the Olive Green and maybe I would have liked it better, but somehow I got Always Artichoke in my mind and went with that.

My friend Emily (My Little Slice of Bliss) is a Designer on Stampin' B's Designs and she challenged us to use a banner on our card.

The wreath is the branch from the Extra Large 2-Step Bird Punch.  I found that punching the leaves with just a bit of the branch worked best.  I used a 2 1/2" punched circle with a 1 3/8" circle punched out of the middle as a base.   When I had enough branches punched, I ran the snail over the base and began to stick the branches down. I tried not to adhere all the leaves so I could tuck the next branch underneath.

Once the wreath was finished I needed a door and the Faux Wood Technique seemed like the best choice, especially since I needed gray in my card. I used Going Gray on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White to do this.  After I scored the piece, I just dragged the inkpad down the length of the card a couple of times.

For the banner, I stamped the Welcome on a scrap and cut the ends.  It needed some defination, so I inked the edges with Basic Gray.  I used 2 dimensionals, one on top of the other in the middle and snail on the ends to attach it.

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Punch Potpourri, Warm Words

Ink: Going Gray, Tangerine Tango, Basic Gray

Paper:  Basic Gray, Whisper White, Always Artichoke

Accessories:  Extra Large 2-Step Bird Punch, Basic Pearls

I haven't had a chance to stamp today.  I've got an idea floating around in my head too.  I hope to get to my table and play a bit this evening.

You can check on my sidebar for Colleen's & Emily's blogs.  Treat yourself to a visit.

Enjoy,

Bonnie

Star Punched Wreath

I love wreaths!  I wish Stampin' Up! would come up with a good wreath stamp.  Competitors have some really awesome ones.  Can I justify buying one?  Maybe I'll just make do and hope they come up with one next year. 

When the Clearance Blitz was going on, I bought the little star punch.  I'd been wanting it and was sorry that I missed getting it.  Then, when I saw that it was still available at a really good price, I snapped it up!

I started out making a Christmas tree out of the stars.  I saw a picture somewhere last year of one.  That's why I wanted the punch to begin with.  I have no idea where that picture is now!  Anyway, my tree morphed into a wreath.  Then I remembered the technique a while back on SCS to do Faux Woodgrain.  I used the technique on this card.  I thought the wreath would really stand out on this background.

All I did was take a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Whisper White and scored it at 1/2" and every 1" after that.  Then I took my Going Gray ink pad (You could probably use Sahara Sand but Basic Gray is too dark.) and dragged it the length of the scored piece.  Then I dragged it down again.  Easy enough?

The stars were punced out of some retired SU Christmas DSP.  I just kept punching and sticking until I had a good circle.  I made the bow out of another Clearance find, the red gingham ribbon and punched berries from a Real Red scrap with a 1/8" circle punch.

The little Merry Christmas from Teeny, Tiny Wishes finished it off.

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Teeny, Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Going Gray, Real Red
Paper:  Real Red, Whisper White
Accessories:  Small Star Punch, 1/8" Circle Punch, Red Gingham Ribbon

Oh, and on the inside, I found that the holly stamp from the Jolly Bingo Bits worked perfectly to frame the sentiment.  I think I'm going to find a lot of uses for those delightful little Christmas stamps.

I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend.  Thanks so much for coming by.  Do come back and I love your comments.

Enjoy,
Bonnie

Butterfly on the House

I didn't think I could do it. I thought, "Oh man, I should have bought that woodgrain background stamp". But, you know what? It was really easy.

I watched the tutorials for faux woodgrain that are listed here on SCS for the Ways to Use it Challenge today. And I thought about it.

A couple of hours later, I decided to give it a try, but I wanted a lighter background than the tutorials showed. It looks like white washed siding doesn't it?

All I did was take a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White and score it on my cutting board. I use a stylus and just pull it down the cutting line. That Score Pal thing-a-ma-jig looks really cool, but unfortunately I don't have one. Anyway, I put the first score line at 1/2" and then 1" apart across the sheet.

After it was scored, I used the Going Gray ink pad and dragged it down the card using the direct to paper technique. It didn't work very well. I thought I'd use it the wide way and it made a real smeary mess. But not to be deterred, I turned the card over and tried it again holding the pad the long way and pulling down twice. There is a bit of overlap in the center, but it makes it look a little more shabby chic.

I had this butterfly in the UFO box. I had stamped and painted it a couple of years ago from the Wonderful Wings set. It's dated 2001 but it is a classic. I cut the butterfly out and adhered him to the wall, stamped a sentiment in Basic Black and put it on a black card base.

I love it, a new, easy technique and another UFO finds a home. Whoo hoo!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Wonderful Wings, Sincere Salutations
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Watercolor
Ink: Black StazOn, Going Gray, Basic Black, Always Apricot, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust
Acc.: Stylus, Blender Pen

Go ahead and give it a try if you haven't already.

God bless.
Bonnie