WWC293 Tristan's Challenge: All About Occasions

Well, I'm a couple of days late with my occasion.  Our Canadian Thanksgiving was on Monday, October 12th, after all.  But let's face it, we should be thinking of giving thanks every day, right?  So I'm really not out of sync.  (What happens to be out of sync at the moment is my weather.  We're barely into Fall and it is snowing steadily outside.)

I've used a lot of retired Stampin' Up! products for this card.  The wheelbarrow full of pumpkins is from the Pleasant Pheasants set as is the sentiment.  The leaves, on the other hand, are the dies from the Colorful Seasons bundle.  After stamping the image and sentiment, I used the tiny maple leaf die to cut out three leaves along the left hand border, each in a different  position. 

I decided to use a strip of retired Specialty Designer paper under those die cuts.  This piece from the Mosaic Mood papers was perfect, with the gorgeous, warm Fall colours.  I didn't, however, like the squares which were white and so, before adhering the strip under the die cuts, I coloured them using the light Old Olive Stampin' Blends.  I think the results really work well for those leaves, don't you?

I watercoloured the wheelbarrow and pumpkins using my Derwent watercolour pencils and Aqua Painter.  Then I used a larger, flat brush and my Oxides to add the ground and sky. 

They may all be retired images, but they certainly work well for my Thanksgiving card, don't they?

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, October 19th.   

I've also entered my card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #130 - Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #431 - Happy Fall Y'All

Make My Monday Challenge #133 - Orange as a Dominant Colour

WWC264 - Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

While I was still with Stampin' Up! at the beginning of this year, I fell in love and bought the Beautiful Moments stamp set.  The image of the mother and daughter walking along, holding hands, made me think of days gone by with my own sweet treasure and so a card was born.

I wanted to keep it simple and let the images do the "talking".  My base is the Heavy Whisper White.  I used a matte of Gorgeous Grape since that was the colour I had earmarked for the mother's dress.  I kept the stamping simple, with the mother and daughter centred and birds flying above.  Those image are all from the Beautiful Moments set.  I added some texture to the ground by using the "open dot" image from the Artisan Textures stamp set.  Finally, on a scrap of white, I stamped the adorable little cat from the Grace's Garden stamp set.

Using the inks from my ink pads, I coloured the little girl's dress with the Coastal Cabana, the mother's dress with the Gorgeous Grape, their skin with the Petal Pink, and their hair with a combination of So Saffron and Cajun Craze.  I used a wash of Pear Pizzaz and Grey Granite for the ground and then a light wash of the Balmy Blue for the sky.  The cat is a combination of Smoky Slate, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie.

Once I finished adhering all the layers together, I added the fussy-cut cat on foam dimensionals, slightly below the mother and daughter to give the illusion of it being a few feet behind them.

I hope you'll enjoy my card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Have fun with our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #116 - Anything Goes

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #363 - Sketch

Dragonfly Dreams March Challenge: Make it Feminine

Addicted to Stamps and More #382 - Make Your Mark

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

WWC253 - Karen's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Feminine Twist

Oh my!  It's a brand new year!  Time has flown by, hasn't it?  Last time I was here, I was getting ready for Christmas.  Welcome back to our challenge and to my blog. 

A new year brings changes.  One positive change in my life is that I've chosen to leave Stampin' Up!  It was time.  There is so much to explore in the world of art and crafting, and I couldn't do that fairly while tethered to a company.  Mind you, that doesn't mean you won't see some of SU!'s terrific products here.  I bought them and I'm using them.  Why not, right?

If you've seen the new Mini Catalogue from Stampin' Up! then you'll have seen the sweet Grace's Garden stamp set.  It comes as a bundle but I chose to buy only the stamp set.  I know myself and I would not have used the dies very much.  You can see from the details of my card that it is, for the most part, simply stamping and watercolouring.  I've masked the hollyhocks before stamping the gate, but I've kept the masks I fussy-cut for future use.  The little cat?  Yes, I've fussy cut it as well.  But I prefer the lack of white border and so I probably would have felt compelled to cut that away if I had the die--a waste of effort, really, but I love clean lines.

If you look carefully at the watercoloured sky, you will see that I've used some 3-D gloss gel to stencil in clouds.  They're subtle but they show up better in person, as does so much that we create.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've linked this card up to the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown TT448 - Something New (the stamp sets from the new catalog)

Dream Valley Challenges #216 -Something New (stamps and 3-D gloss gel)