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Die Cut Challenge & Anything Goes: Take 2

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I’m back with a second post today before the link up closes at Addicted to CAS for their Die Cut challenge. I’m also linking these up at Simon Says’ Monday Challenge “Anything Goes.”

Right before Christmas one of our good friends graduated with his MBA. He had a perfect 4.0 grade average, and received a number of awards. He and his wife were visiting here over Christmas, so we were able to extend congratulations in person, but I didn’t have time to get a card made. It’s in the mail now.

GradCard

This Bubble Talk dies make a great card, good for young people and appropriate for guys. In this case, both categories fit.

Last night we said good-bye to one of the members of our Resource and Education Committee members. Also a young person, she is leaving to become an associate pastor at a church in Pennsylvania. We had a potluck dinner and gave her a card with a gift card inside.

Absolutely

Here’s a closer look at one of my favorite dies:

AbsolutelyDetail

Card Recipes:

Graduation Card:
Cardstock: ribbed black (unknown; been in my stash for years); Orange Zest, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Dies: Bubble Talk (PTI)
Stamps: Bubble Talk & Live, Love, Life (PTI)

Happy For You:
Cardstock: Select White, Orange Zest, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Die & Stamp: Absolutely (Simon Says)

Die Cut Challenge & Anything Goes

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We’ve been home just a few days, but I needed to get to the crafting table for several cards. All four of them used die cuts. I’ll be posting two tonight, and two tomorrow for the Die Cut Challenge at Addicted to CAS. They’ll also qualify for the Monday Challenge at Simon Says:  “Anything Goes.” 

The first card was a negative die cut. Tracy needed a thank you note to send to his brother-in-law.

Thanks

Several months ago I picked up a paper pad at Michaels, not really paying attention to anything but the printed designs. It turned out to be a pad of cards which made this a quick and easy one. I’ve seen some folks post cards at a 10 minute dash challenge, and this would have definitely qualified! Simple and masculine.

The next card was for a friend of mine who became a grandmother on Monday. To say she’s excited is to put it mildly!

LittleOne

This one used a premade card as well, the last of a pack I purchased at Impress years ago. The die cuts are Nestabilities Label 11 by Spellbinders.

Card Recipes:
Thanks:
Card: MAMBI Cards (Me and My Big Idea)
Cardstock: Classic Kraft (PTI)
Die: Thanks (Memory Box)
Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye

Little One:
Card: Impress Rubber Stamps
Cardstock: Sweet Blush (PTI)
Dies: Label 11 (Spellbinders)
Stamp: Baby Button Bits (PTI)
Button: PTI
Twine: Doodlebug

One Little Word and Fourteen for 2014

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My OLW last year was “DO,” and I have to admit it’s the first OLW I’ve chosen that didn’t really resonate with me. When I reviewed my intentions from 2013, I was rather disappointed with myself. I gave some thought to holding onto the word, and trying again, but a week or so ago the right word for this year appeared: Simplify.

Simplify

Image credit: Pinterest

I’m surprised it didn’t come to me right away. A few weeks ago I enrolled in an online course called “A Simple Year:  Twelve Months of Guided Simplicity” while there was a nice discount available. I’ve started and abandoned attempts to purge our home of unnecessary and non-useful things so many times I can’t count them. I really don’t want to leave my children with a house full of objects to dispose of when we can no longer take care of them. I’m also going to finish the book I started when Alexa recommended it ages ago, The Joy of Less.

I’d written out quite a few things I wanted to accomplish this year, but this weekend I read Kim Klassen’s blog post where she made a list of 14 things for 2014. So here is my list of Fourteen Intentions for 2014.

  1. Purge and organize closets and wardrobe
  2. Purge and organize cupboards and shelves
  3. Purge and organize digital file folders and scrapbook supplies
  4. Use every stamp I own, and get rid of those that don’t inspire me
  5. Modify diet to include more vegetarian recipes
  6. Complete Project Life monthly
  7. Read four books/month
  8. Complete outstanding classes
  9. Create and publish a Blurb book of our European trip
  10. Complete photography projects for 2014
  11. Streamline the budget; save more
  12. Exercise a minimum of 3X/week
  13. Monitor my time on the computer
  14. Complete five card challenges/month

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When I purchased the little notebook for my 2014 photography project, I also bought one for my OLW. I have lists of specific places and areas to purges, books I want to read, & ideas for streamlining my schedule so I make time for the daily practices I care about. I’ve also started a Pinterest board with quotes and ideas to inspire me in this year’s journey. I’ve always loved beginnings, and I’m excited to put these ideas in place in 2014.

 

52/50 Wrap-Up and Photographic Challenges for 2014

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I’ve really enjoyed my 52/50 Project and am so pleased that I didn’t miss a week of it. I love my 50mm lens, and it was a good excuse to be sure it got put on the camera at least once a week. So here are the last of the photos, some of which I’ve posted earlier for other subjects.

Week 48:

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Skylar was loving the ranch dip at Thanksgiving. I don’t think too much celery got eaten.

Week 49:

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I had my zoom lens on most of the time during my first trip to Chicago, so there wasn’t much to choose from. I love the photo, but it’s not technically very good.

Week 50:

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The perfect photo for the week!

Week 51: 

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We took Caleb to the Wonderland Express at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Once again I had my zoom lens on until lunch when I remembered I needed a 50mm photo. Caleb’s delight in this photo is watching the train that goes around the dining room of the cafe.

Week 52:

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Caleb was helping put away all the Christmas decorations. Sarah made sure Christmas was over before Caleb’s birthday celebration on December 30th.

With a new year ahead, I’ve given a lot of thought to what kind of photography project I wanted to take on for 2014. I’ve considered a lot of different things, but have finally settled on spending a year with David DuChemin. His e-book “The Visual Toolbox: 50 Lessons for Stronger Photographs” should give me more than enough challenges to last the year. Here’s a blurb from Craft and Vision where I purchased the e-book a few months ago.

 The Visual Toolbox is packed with lessons about the tools of the photographic language – the camera, the lens, and the more important stuff like visual language, composition, and learning to see. Most of those lessons are accompanied with real-life, honest-to-God assignments to get you out there learning how to make stronger photographs, not just learning to use a camera.

 On my reading list for a couple of years are two of DuChemin’s books, Within The Frame and Vision and Voice, so I hope to finish both of these as well.

 I purchased a small notebook to use for this year’s project on Amazon. I’ve already made a list of a variety of subjects and themes I might use as I practice my skills, and will use it to take notes on my reading, and reflect on my experiences.

PhotoNotebook_blog

Pg1PhotoNotebook

I’ll be participating in Cheryl McCain’s Frugal Still Life class as soon as we return from Florida, and in Helena’s meme Zoom Out, Zoom In. Here’s the first pair for Week 1:

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One of the many amazing displays at The Chicago Botanic Garden. I took the zoom out first, then the zoom in.

Having a photography project (0r two or three) seems to keep it fresh, and I’m looking foward to finding new images in 2014!

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop

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The challenge for December’s blog hop was perfectly timed:  Tied Up with String. The challenge was to use your papercrafting supplies to make a tag, decorate a package. I didn’t use string on many of the packages, because I’m a ribbon girl at Christmas.

PTI

I started out with Papertrey’s Notched Star banners and created two tags in a silver/gold combination. The first I paired with gold (almost kraft) paper. I have no idea where I got it, but I’d love to find some more. I added Sarah’s initials to this tag.

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I made a second tag and added it to a much more elegant package for my mother-in-law.

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Then a couple of packages for guys, using the feather die from Simon Says and sentiments from Rustic Wreath (Papertrey) and Avery Elle’s Winter Wreath. (And finally, a package tied up with string.)

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I used Winter Wreath again to create this package for Sarah, using a chipboard sticker for her initial.

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These tags were die cut with Papertrey’s Tag Sale #8. The die cut, “Be,” is from Simon Says, and the Merry is from Reverse Confetti, with a Holly Jolly die from Papertrey.

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Another package for a guy, the tag was created with Thickers and a sticker from Michaels. 

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And finally a little bag for my new daughter-in-law, created with the Double-ended Banner by Papertrey Ink with a sentiment from Rustic Wreath and some rhinestones from Michael’s. The snowflake die cut is by Memory Box.

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I had a great time wrapping this year. Almost every gift had a handmade tag. Before the holiday I purchased a large roll of kraft wrapping paper with a paper holder/cutter from Crate and Barrel. I love how festive kraft can look when you add real ribbons and bright tags to the package. I’m also linking these to the Scrapbook Circle Gift Wrap Challenge.

I expect to be away from the computer the better part of the next two weeks. We leave later today for Chicago and time to celebrate with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. When we return, we’ll be here just one day before heading off to drive Tracy’s mother’s van to Florida for her. We’ll be back mid-January, and I’ll be really ready to get caught up with my Christmas Journal (finally started, but hardly finished!) and to settle in with a few quiet weeks at home. I hope to keep up with some blog reading, but commenting may fall by the wayside while I’m away. 

Snowy Thanks

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We woke up to 3° this morning, and another inch or two of snow. Snow must be on the mind of the challenge creators this week.
 
WinterThanksDetail
 
I needed a thank you card, and when I finished it I do believe it qualifies for six separate challenges:
 
CTS_Sketch_57
 
 
I started with my favorite sketch challenge: CAS(E) this Sketch.
 
ATCAS - code word snowflakes
 
Cfc123
 
I love CAS-UAL Fridays challenge site, and here’s the snowy reference.
 
And then there are the two Simon Says Challenges. Wednesday’s is “Let It Snow,” and Monday’s is “Use a Stamp.”
 
I pulled out my shimmer card stock for this one: both blue and white, so the colors and snowflake also match the inspiration piece for the Case Study challenge.
 
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Finally, here’s the card.
 
WinterThanks
In the detail photo at the top of the post, you can see the beautiful textured silver paper I picked up yesterday at Michael’s. I wish I’d bought more than one sheet. I stamped the snowflakes from Wplus9’s Folk Art Flurries and embossed them with Winter Wonderand embossing powder. The die cut “Thanks” is from Simon Says.
 
Hope it’s a bit warmer where you are. I’m off to have a cup of soup, and get busy baking cookies!

Thanks, Again!

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I needed two more thank you cards today, and had quite a bit of fun pulling them together. It was nice to have some uninterrupted creative time. The first one is for the amazing woman who planned all the meals for the youth retreat, purchased all the ingredients, cooked the Saturday night casseroles (delish!), and supervised the rest of us in the kitchen for the weekend. I cased this card design from a card I pinned here quite some time ago.

YouAre

She is indeed, all of these things! Here’s a peek a the inside, which I kept small and tidy as there will be multiple signers!

YouAreInside

The next card is a thank you to Betsy’s parents who had us to brunch yesterday. Paul made amazing scrambled eggs with cream cheese (I think) and brocolli. 

3Thanks

I found the Spiral Notebook die laying on my desk and started with that. Once I found the striped paper, the rest came together quicking. I’m a huge fan of these word dies. I have several from Simon Says and a few from Papertrey Ink. They just make a card pop!

ThanksDetail

I’m linking both these cards to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Thanksgiving/Thanks.

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Card Recipes:
Card #1:
Cardstock: Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy (PTI)
Stamps: You (Simon Says), Movers & Shakers & Around and About Sentiments (PTI)
Dies: Get to the Point (PTI), You (Simon Says)

Card #2:
Cardstock: Select White, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Patterned Paper:  Snap! (Simple Stories)
Dies: Thanks (Simon Says), Spiral Notebook Page (PTI) 

CASology: Triangle & A Bit of Holiday Joy

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This week’s challenge at CASology was just perfect for creating Christmas trees, and I’m still in need of some Christmas cards. Once again I finished this right under the wire!

Week 70 - Triangle

Although I could have easily cut a couple of triangles, I knew there were at least a couple in my collection of dies. These came from matching dies for Papertrey’s “Hello, Sunshine,” and “Tranquil Triology” stamps.

Joy

I thought I had the right little star for the top of the tree among my gems, but nothing really worked. Then I remembered the gold mirror paper I’ve had for ages and used the Simon Says “Holiday Shapes” die to cut the star. That die gets a lot of use! The gold twine is as old as the mirror paper, and I wish I could remember where I bought it. Fortunately, the quantity on the spool is very generous and it’s unlikely I’ll run out anytime soon.

JoyDetail

I’d hoped to get the focus on the star; didn’t work, but there’s no time to retake the photo and get this up before the challenge closes.

The youth retreat was a huge success, and I’ll have a few photos later in the week. The adults were exhausted by the end of the weekend, but I’m sure the teenagers were doing fine today.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Select White (PTI), Bazzill Textured green from scrap drawer, mirror gold (unknown)
Card: Paper Source
Patterned Paper: “Christmas Cottage” (Teresa Collins)
Twill: Scarlet Jewel (PTI)
Stamp: “2008 Holiday Tags” (PTI)
Dies: Holiday Shapes (Simon Says), Tranquil Triology, Tag Sale #6 & Hello Sunshine (PTI)

One Card: Two Challenges

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One of my favorite challenge sites is Retro Sketches, and I’m just getting Challenge #88 posted under the wire. Once I saw the CASE Study challenge #165, though, I knew I wanted to create a card for one of our good male friends. The gray and black color combination of the CASE Study inspiration seemed perfect for a masculine card. Here are the challenge inspiration and sketch:

Challenges

In addition to the color combination, I like the polaroid frame in the CASE Study card. I substituted a sentiment banner for the bow since I was creating a masculine card.

HappyBD

The layering follows the Retro Sketch pretty well, too. All the patterned papers came from a 6X6 paper pad included in a Studio Calico Card Kit in February. The polaroid frame is one of the frames included in Papertrey’s Fabulous Frames die set. I hand cut the sentiment banner, but used the Count Down Die cut for the smaller banner, trimming off a bit to layer two patterned papers. “HAPPY” was die cut with the Headliner alphabet, and the Wonderful Words: Birthday die and stamp finished it off. All the dies are from Papertrey Ink.

Here’s a closer look:

HappyBDDetail

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: True Black & Smoky Shadow (PTI), Bazzill textured from scrap folder
Patterned Papers: Studio Calico
Dies: Fabulous Frames, Wonderful Words: Birthday, Headliner Alphabet, Count Down banner (PTI)
Stamp: Wonderful Words: Birthday 

Merry & Bright: CAS(e) This Sketch #52 & Simon Says

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It’s been a wild couple of weeks, almost no creative time at all, and even less to get a blog post pulled together. But I really liked the sketch this week at CAS(e) This Sketch so I carved out enough time this afternoon to get a card made.

CTS_Sketch_52

Fortunately, this time the card came together relatively quickly just the way I envisioned it. I pulled out a new stamp and die, “Rustic Wreath,” from Papertrey which I love.

Merry&Bright

Most of our Christmas cards this year are going to be photo cards that I ordered from Shutterfly. Nonetheless, I’ve decided I still need a few handmade Christmas cards. It’s the first year in nearly 20 years that I haven’t made all our cards, but we had a family photo taken this summer that I wanted to use on a card. The photo does not print particularly well on my printer, so I ended up at Shutterfly. It looks great on the screen, so I’m hoping I’ll like it when it arrives.

Here’s a closer look at the card:

MerryDetail

I think this card fits this week’s Simon Says “Keep It Clean and Simple” challenge as well.

Wednesdayblog-logo

Hope your week has been a bit less hectic. I’m looking forward to a pretty quiet weekend!

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Woodgrain (Simon Says), Bazzil
Dies: Rustic Wreath and Holly Jolly (Papertrey)
Stamp: Rustic Wreath (Papertrey)
Patterned Paper: Wonderland (Studio Calico) & a piece from the paper pack in the February Studio Calico card kit
Enamel dots: (Doodlebug Designs) 

Make It Monday

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Make-itMonday

Our recent trip was lovely and there will be photos to share, but for today I want to share a card I made for this week’s Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink. Although their stamps are my favorites, I don’t often find time to play along with this challenge. This inlaid die-cut technique is one I’ve wanted to try for awhile, so I decided to put it to work for a thank you card for our friends in Charlotte. We spent a lovely day and a half with them at the end of our trip.

MakeItMonday

“Bubble Talk” was a rather impulsive purchase, but it’s proving to be one of my favorite stamp sets with dies. I used it here as well as the “Wonderful Words: Thank You” die from Papertrey ink. After die cutting the main white panel with both dies, I cut the sentiment twice– once in Pure Poppy and once in Select White. Then I cut them apart, stamping the white “you” with one of the “Bitty Background Blocks II.” They pop into the main panel as if they were one. The bubble die was stamped twice, once in Pure Poppy and then the sentiment was added in black.  It was a fun technique to try, and a great one for mailing since the card is flat. I’m sure I’ll try it again.

Here’s a closer look at the inlaid die cut:

InlaidDie

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Select White, Hawaiian Shores
Stamps: Bubble Talk, Bitty Background Blocks II (PTI)
Dies: Bubble Talk, Wonderful Words: Thank You (PTI) 

 

Tuesday Trigger: Apache Tears

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When I first saw the inspiration piece for last week’s Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Neither of these two cards come even close to the original idea. 

Autumn Arrows

I loved the arrows, and knew I had several stamps that might work. I decided on one of the arrows from Papertrey Ink’s “Live Love Life,” and stamped and hand cut multiple arrows in colors represented in the inspiration piece. I could not, for the life of me, get them put together in any way that I liked. Finally I just gave up. Later in the day I laid one of the arrows on some black cardstock, used a few die cuts from my “left-over die cuts” caddy, and came up with this.

HBArrows2

ArrowsDetail

Then yesterday after completing a card for another blog post, I used some of the supplies left laying on my desk to create this card. The Washi tape and tag from American Craft both have a chevron arrow design so I think it works for the challenge as well. Personally, I like this one a lot better!

XO

XODetail

 

Card Recipes:

Card #1: Cardstock: True Black, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest (PTI)
                   Stamp: Live Love Life (PTI)
                  Dies: “You” (Simon Says), Headline Alphabet (PTI),  Typewriter Numbers (Memory Box)
                  Corner Punch 

Card #2: Cardstock: Select White, Pure Poppy
                  Patterned Paper: Hip Hip Hooray (American Craft)
                  Clothespin (American Craft)
                  Stamp: Balloon Bash (PTI)
                  Die: Fabulous Frames (PTI) 
                  Twine: unknown

Happy Fall: Two Challenges and Fall Foliage

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When I saw this week’s CAS(e) This Sketch I knew exactly what stamps I wanted to pull out. 

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I’ve always love the “Take Three” series by Papertrey Ink, and the fall images are great. I chose pumpkins for this card.

HappyFall

You can see by the shadows that the pumpkins were attached with some dimensional tape. This card also meets the challenge at Addicted to CAS:  Autumn/Fall.

ATCAS - code word autumn

We had a fabulous weekend in the Adirondacks this past weekend. We left at 6:00 am, stopped in Old Forge for a hearty brunch, and dropped off the intrepid backpackers around noon.

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Bob and Tracy have been working to hike most of the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks. Cathy and I have done a few as well with our kids when they were growing up, but we gave up serious backpacking quite a few years ago. After dropping the guys off, we head for Keene Valley for a bit of shopping (turned out neither of us bought a thing), and then checked into our hotel in Wilmington, NY. This was the view of Whiteface Mt. from our balcony.

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We drove into Lake Placid, did some window shopping and had a lovely dinner overlooking Mirror Lake. The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast at our favorite diner, did a bit of shopping, and then changed into our sneakers to walk around Mirror Lake. 

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It was a stunning day, in the mid-70’s and sunny. By the time we got around the lake (about 2 1/2 miles) we were pretty warm and headed back to our hotel. We sat on our balcony, had some veggies and dip, and enjoyed the wonderful fall day. We decided not to drive back into Lake Placid and went to a lovely restaurant just a mile or so from our hotel. We’d been there before. The food is great, and very reasonable. I’ll leave you with one last photo of the stream that runs by the parking lot of the restaurant.

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The leaves are beginning to turn here, but it will be a couple of weeks before it’s as beautiful here as it was in the Adirondacks. (The guys, by the way, had a great time, and added another peak to their list.)

Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop #2

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The afternoon flew by, but I did have time while watching The News Hour tonight to get another card made for the Papertrey September Blog Hop. “A Wreath for All Seasons” has long been a favorite, but I haven’t pulled it out in a while. This month’s challenge to include a wreath on your card was the perfect opportunity. Here’s another look at the inspiration photo:

PTISeptBlogHop

I still have several October birthday cards to make, so that’s the direction I took.

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I did the stamping on a piece of Rustic Cream Cardstock and then embossed it with my new Burlap Impression Plate.  The Brilliance Pearlescent Ink for the berries and part of the sentiment has a lovely sheen, so I chose some shimmer cardstock in rust and brown for the card itself. Here’s a closer look at the pretty shimmer.

FallBDDetail

I found some rhinestones the perfect color and added a strip of them below the sentiment. I think my friend will like this tribute to her fall birthday!

I’m also linking this up with this week’s CAS-ology Challenge which is Autumn.

Week 63 - Autumn

 

Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop

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Knowing I’d be arriving home from Chicago late last night, I got one project for today’s Papertrey Ink Blog Hop done before we left. The challenge was to create a project with a wreath, and it was the perfect opportunity to get a head start on the gift exchange tags I need for Tracy’s family. Here’s the beautiful inspiration piece:

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I got so busy this morning unpacking and organizing for a new project, that I nearly forgot to get this posted.

ChristmasTags

I pulled out an old favorite, “Rustic Branches,” which works perfectly on the Tag Sale #4 die. I tried a couple different techniques for embellishing the berries, but settled on adding a drop of Glossy Accents to each one.

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Each tag is tied with a piece of Pure Poppy Dotted Ribbon.

I’m hoping to find time before the links close to make another card. I’ve pulled out two more stamp sets with wreaths that I love. We’ll see how the afternoon goes!