Happy Friday and TGIF!!! Is it starting to feel a little like Fall? Kids are going back to school, and it’s starting to get a little cooler in the evenings and early mornings. Although, it’s still plenty hot during the day. That’s fine with me, because I’m not quite ready to let go of Summer yet and for the pool to cool down. I really love coming home from work and swimming laps!
We have a color challenge at TGIF Challenges today, and it’s perfect for Fall.
To see all the designers’ projects using these colors, go to the TGIF Challenges website and get ready to be inspired by these lovely, and talented ladies.
I have to confess that these colors were a real challenge for me! They are not colors I would typically choose. But after some thought, I love what I came up with.
I decided to use a wonderful new stamp set from the Holiday Catalog called Winter Woods. This set, and the coordinating In the Woods Framelits Dies, were designed by Stampin’ Up! to pair with other stamp sets in the Annual Catalog, such as Rooted in Nature (also used here.) I love it when different products work together like this! I also love the fact that I can use lots of the products from the Holiday Catalog for non-holiday themed projects! This card is for my husband, who’s birthday is coming up later this month.
One of the samples in the Holiday Catalog on page 27 really caught my eye. I loved the row of birch trees created on that particular card, and I really wanted to figure out how to re-create the white trees against a Crumb Cake background.
After playing around a bit, I got the best results by stamping with Early Espresso ink , and then coloring the trees with a white Watercolor Pencil. Then, I used a Blender Pen to slightly blend the right side of the trees to create shadows.
At first, I thought I’d try using my Stamparatus and the hinge technique to stamp the birch trees multiple times, but they weren’t spaced close enough together. So I ended up just stamping the trees by hand.
I also used Copper Shimmer Paint on this card! I thought it would coordinate beautifully with the three challenge colors! I used a Sponge Dauber to add paint to the bottom of my Celebrate die cut. I also used a Sponge Dauber to lightly swipe the paint over my Coastal Cabana layer that I had dry embossed with the Subtle Textured Impression Embossing Folder (TIEF.)
Finally, I used the Stamparatus to add a little touch of Copper Shimmer Paint to the Coastal Cabana leaves. To accomplish this, I stamped the leaves first with Coastal Cabana ink using the Stamparatus. Then, I used a Sponge Dauber to add a little bit of paint to the bottom portion of the stamp and stamped again. By using the Stamparatus, I was assured that I stamped in exactly the same place.
For the Aspen leaves, I used the In the Woods Framelits Dies to cut them out of watercolor paper, and then I used an Aqua Painter to watercolor them with Pumpkin Pie ink.
I added a few more little touches to this card. First, I cut a second Celebrate die cut out of watercolor paper and embossed it with the Subtle TIEF. Layering that under the Early Espresso die helped the dark-colored word stand out more. Second, I continued with the copper theme, and wrapped some 1/4″ Copper Wire Trim around the top.
I’m super happy with how this turned out, and I think my husband (who loves the mountains and backpacking) will really enjoy it.
Supplies used on my card:
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