FALL is in the Air!!

I love Fall...don't you? The weather is cooler, the leaves are changing colors, Fall mums are blooming everywhere, pumpkin patches appear out of nowhere, and it is a season of thankfulness. In a world that is going crazy, I'm thankful that my part of the world is relatively safe and free, whereas people in other parts of the world are being jailed, persecuted, and even murdered because of what they believe. So I am thankful for my freedom.

Fall colors are so beautiful and I receive inspiration from them. Here is a sample of some of the Fall colors I'm inspired by.

And here are some of the cards I've recently made inspired by this beautiful season of the year!!

STRETCH YOUR STAMPS ON-LINE CLASSES

I took Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire's Stretch Your Stamps 2 on-line class...my first experience with an on-line card-making class. I experienced so many new techniques that I probably would not have otherwise tried. Some I was more successful with than others...some I enjoyed more than others...some I will probably use more than others...but what fun it was!! So here is my 'Show and Tell'!!

Days 1 & 2 we worked with background stamps. I loved these techniques...different ways to use your background stamps. Here are the cards I made as I followed their lead!

 Days 3&4 we used alpha and word stamps in different ways than normal. Here are my samples!

Days 5 &6 we worked with outline stamps. This is one that I felt the least successful with, but enjoyed it and will give this a try at another time when I am able to purchase stamps that will work better with these techniques.

Days 7 & 8 we worked with basic graphic stamps...just a single graphic stamp pulled from any stamp set. I tried several different stamps. I was really pleased with the way several turned out.

                    

The last two regular class days (9 & 10) were focused on floral and floral builder stamps. Since I didn't have the style stamps they used, I had to combine pieces from about 7 different stamp sets but I thought it turned out really well, considering!! I also didn't have the right kind of ink for a couple of them so again I improvised. I love floral stamps!!

We also had a couple of extra classes thrown in...a Color Me day and a Play Day. The Color Me day focused on different techniques to use the fun little stamps that scream "color me"!! One technique showed us how to used the reverse of the image so that's the one I have a sample of.

 

And last but not least we played with embossing powder to create the look of a metal plate. I loved doing this but it was very time-consuming for me...mainly because I kept messing up! I think some of my embossing powders were either old or the wrong brand!! Here is the card I ended up with.

That's it!! I highly recommend these classes so click this link for more information!

DIE + DIGITAL IMAGE = CARD!!

I love making cards! And I love my tools!! I just got this Tim Holtz Honeycomb die and it is so versatile! So I took some time to play with it. I also used the Tim Holtz Spring Greenery die, a cute digital image by Miss Rach, some 6x6 paper from a random pad, several distress inks, petal pink liquid pearl and a computer generated sentiment. This is the card I came up with. I don't usually color with Distress Inks, but I wanted to give it a try. I have to say, I'm still a Copic girl!! But I love trying new techniques!! Thanks for looking!

My Kind of Snack!!

Slice bananas and spread a little peanut butter in between, freeze for an hour, then dip in chocolate. Refrigerate for another 10-15 minutes and boom you have an awesome snack.

Hot Chocolate Jar

 Another way I found to use my Washi Tape!! I needed a 'cute' hot chocolate jar so I began to ponder what I might use. After browsing my closets and storage area, I decided on a wide-mouthed jar. But it definitely needed to be decorated. I thought about putting a strip of patterned paper around the jar then a light bulb came on!! Washi Tape! Perfect. So I picked several rolls that would coordinate with my kitchen, found a piece of fabric for the lid, and got busy. I used 4 rolls of tape...3 with different prints and a smaller fourth one to separate the others. I printed 'Hot Chocolate   1 T per cup', punched it with a scallop punch, glued it onto the lid and called it 'done'!! I love the way it turned out!