Happy Birthday CAS Watercolour challenge!

Happy weekend .....

It's a very wet and windy one here ..... a good reason to stay cosy and warm indoors.

I'm playing along with another blog challenge today ......  the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge.
It's a special month this month .... the challenge is celebrating it's 2nd Birthday!!

Congratulations ladies ..... WOW! doesn't time fly when you're having fun!

This month's theme is all about colours .....  Orange, Green and Brown to be exact.

What a perfect combination for this time of year .....

The Autumnal shades turned my thoughts to leaves .... something we have plenty of at the moment.  all over the lawn!!!  If it stops raining long enough and the wind dies down a little they need to be cleared.  A job for next week's To Do list I think!

Anyway .... back to my card.  I started by stamping the leaves onto a piece of Bristol smooth cardstock.   I've used the gorgeous Leaf Canopy stamp set from Altenew.  You get the outline image of the leaves and a seperate stamp for the full leaves.  There's also some really nice sentiments on there too.
I stamped the full leaves using the required colours in Distress Oxide inks ...... I do love the Oxides, and I can't wait to get my hands on the final 12.

I then stamped the outline over the top and heat embossed in gold ......

I used the same colours of ink around the edges only this time I used the regular Distress .... I think it was Dried Marigold, Carved Pumpkin, Peeled Paint and then a touch of Gathered Twig,
I gave it a little splatter with water, and mopped up the excess ..... I never get tired of using this technique, love the effect

I also splattered some gold ink over the top and finished with a sentiment from one of the Penny Black T for Transparent sets ..... stamped in Gathered Twig Distress Oxide ink

There's a few drops of Nuvo Crystal Glaze here and there too.

Happy 2nd Birthday CAS Watercolour Challenge!

It's been a busy few days here ..... lunch out, then a fab crafty get together yesterday which was fun.  I didn't actually do anything but, I think I have decided on one of this year's Christmas card designs which is a start.  Carol made a birthday card though, which was lovely and I helped a little bit!   
I made a great start on the Christmas shopping the other day  though .... I managed to get just what I was looking for, plus a few little extra bits too ..... ooops!  I just have to remember where I've put it all when it comes time to wrap it!! I'm not used to being THIS organised in October.  I've even ordered the festive feast ..... well, some of it anyway. 
Oooh! and look what arrived the other day ...... a little something just for me!

Yes I finally gave in and decided to order a new die cutting machine.  I've been toying with the idea for a while now.  Don't get me wrong, I still love my Big Shot (both of them!!), I just wanted something that's a bit easier to use.  Plus,  I got a great deal on it, so that helped!
Although, then came the decision, do I go for the big Gemini, the Gemini Junior, or the new Gemini Go?  Well ...... in the end, I went for the big one, on hubby's advice. 
He said if I bought one of the smaller ones and loved it, I'd only wish I'd bought the big one, which he's probably right ....... I'll let you know if I've made the right choice!

Thanks for popping by ........ have a lovely weekend. I hope the weather isn't too bad where you are.
I'm off to put my feet up, and browse the latest Stampin Up! catalogue ..... this could be expensive!

Cheerio until next time .....