Autumn ..... my favourite season of the year

Happy Friday folks .......

It's the first Friday in the month so that can only mean one thing ....... there's a brand new edition of the Craft Stamper magazine out on the shelves and ..... it's the start of October's Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge.
There's been a slight change to the challenge titles ..... we're still keeping one month as Take a Stamp which was last month, but the alternate month is now going to be called Take a Theme and not Take a Technique.
So ....  the theme for this month is  ....... Autumn (or Fall)

We'd like to see designs using an Autumnal theme .... tress, leaves perhaps, or Autumn colours like reds, oranges, greens, earth tones .... you get the idea.
It's still an anything goes challenge so cards, journal pages, altered art .... whatever takes your fancy. Just remember ... there has to be some stamping on there somewhere.

As always we have a challenge sponsor, and this month it's the fabulous ....... That's Crafty!

There's an amazing prize up for grabs ....... 8 brand new stamp sets!!  Yes I did say 8 .... take a look at these .....

Fancy getting your hands on that little lot .... well why not Take the Theme and get stamping!

You could even see your project in the Craft Stamper magazine as our Design Winner, chosen by the DT.  You would also get to be a Guest Designer on a future challenge and have a Winner's Profile published on the Blog .... how cool is that!!

Need a bit of inspiration? ........ here you go ...... a nice simple design with a perfect Autumn feel

The background has been stamped using the Stampin Up!  Hardwood, stamped with the Java Bean ink pad from Ranger's Dye based inks .... love this stamp, and it's perfect for this time of year (great for men's cards too!).

I then added some Distress ink over the top in various shades of brown ......  before splattering a little water over the top.

The leaves were then cut from a piece of card inked again with Distress inks, only this time using all the Autumnal shades ..... Wild Honey, Fossilised Amber, Spiced Pumpkin, a touch of Forest Moss, Aged Mahogany and Gathered Twigs ...... gorgeous!

The large leaf was the Tim Holtz Layered Leaf die that comes with a matching embossing folder and the smaller ones were cut using his Thinlits dies ..... Fall Foliage
I added a bit more detail to the leaves using one of the stamps from the Stampers Anonymous Leaf Prints, and also a few dots of Glossy Accents here and there

The banner across the top, I found in my re-cycle box.  I bet you all have one of those .... a box where you keep all those bits and pieces that you take off old projects or embellishments that come on cards etc.  I think this was off a tag that I decided to re-cycle .... I just knew it would come in handy again!

The whole thing was finished off with a beautiful embossed saying along the bottom .....

How true!

We're starting to feel that Autumn chill in the air over here, just in the evenings. Maybe it'll be time to switch the heating on this weekend ........ or maybe I just get a sweater out, it's not exactly cold yet!
 
We've got a busy weekend ahead.  We're off to an Autumn Wine Tasting this evening (cheers!) ..... time to stock up the wine rack I think.
Then on Saturday it's time to stock up the old craft room ...... I'm hosting a Stampin Up! party again. My SU rep, Lyn will be here, showcasing all the new goodies and running make and takes.  It'll be a fun afternoon trying out the new Christmas range and of course it'll be a nice get together will all my crafty ladies.
Then in the evening hubby and I are off out to a double birthday bash ...... more good food and wine! Thanks goodness I'm not on a diet!

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy your Friday and have a fabulous weekend.

Cheerio until next time

Autumn challenge at Less is More

Happy Thursday to you .....

Thanks for stopping by. What a beautiful day we've got here ..... clear blue skies, the sun is shining, but boy is it chilly!! I think we're going to have to give in and put the heating on tonight.  Can't really complain though .... it is the middle of October after all!

There's an Autumn theme over at Less is More this week .... and it's One Layer Week, always a favourite.

I do love one layer cards .... not always the easiest to make I must say but, once you get the hang of them they can become addictive!

CAS as always for this challenge ...... I started out by inking the circle using various shades of Distress Inks through a mask ...... Wild Honey, Festive Berries and Forest Moss with just a touch of Aged Mahogany, splattered it with water (as I love to do with distress ink) and mopped up the excess leaving that lovely speckled background

I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment next (from Inkylicious) using Vintage Sepia Versafine ink ...... love these words

Using the same Distress colours as before I then stamped my beautiful autumn leaves ...... see how the Distress ink has pooled on the stamp (clear polymer stamp) giving this speckled look to the leaves ..... now I could have taken a paint brush and water and smoothed the ink out a little but I really like the sort of skeleton leaf effect .... what do you think?

I finished off with a few ink splats here and there (can't resist!) using the Aged Mahogany Distress 

And added a little something to the inside too .....

Well that's lunchtime over for me ..... time to get in the old craft room I think.   My postie's been so it's busy, busy, busy for me this afternoon.

Enjoy the rest of your day and cheerio until next time.

Linda

xx

PS  I couldn't have put this better myself ........

   

Cheers!

Less Is More

Morning everyone,

Are you well?  I'm struggling with a flippin' cold at the moment.  Well, it's not actually a full blown cold as such, I've just got this tickly cough that comes at night, just when I go to bed.  It  keeps me awake, and then leaves me with a stuffy nose and a sore throat for the day - delightful little bug!
At least I don't have to go anywhere this week, so I can stay nice and warm tucked away in the old craft room.

Todays card is for the latest challenge over at Less is More
It's Week 90, and we have a Theme 

AUTUMN

We can take our inspiration from the colours, the festivals, seasonal images etc., but, we still have to keep things Clean and Simple (CAS), and leave lots of white space.

This is my favourite season of the year, I love Autumn.  It's time to get those winter woolies out, dust off your boots and dig out your scarf and gloves.  No more salads either.  The slow cooker's out of the cupboard and it's roasts and stews on the menu- yummee!!   We also have Halloween just around the corner too, looking forward to that.
I love the Autumn colours too, all those golden browns, oranges and shades of red, alongside the evergreens, just stunning!

I think I've used all of the above Autumn colours on my LIM card.

I masked off an area using post-it notes and then blended Distress Inks for my background - Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany, Forest Moss and a little bit of Gathered Twigs.  Then, with the masks still in place, I used the same inks to stamp the leaf randomly over the background.  I love this little stamp from the Stampin Up! set 'Autumn Days'.  Unfortunately I think this set was one of those that got retired last month, which is a shame. 
The sentiment is one of my recent purchases from Inkylicious and I think it describes Autumn perfectly.

I decided to decorate the envelope too.  Haven't got anyone in mind to send this to yet, but when I do, it's all ready to go.

I think the other half is coming home for lunch today.  I'd better get a move on soon, I'm still in my PJ's! (not that it's lunchtime yet but, I can at least look like I've been busy!)
We had a minor disaster last night.  I went to make the dinner and I noticed that the freezer door wasn't closed properly.  The last person to use the freezer was Chris (our son).  He made himself a pizza in the early hours of Monday morning, after coming in from a night out.  You know what it's like, late night drinking means early morning munchies.  Well, he mustn't have closed the door properly - muppet!!
You can imagine my reaction.  It was like the North Pole in there.  There was ice everywhere, but some of the food inside had started to defrost. 
Dinner had to wait, all the food had to be transferred to my second freezer in the garage.  Thankfully there wasn't much that had to be thrown away, but I now have a fridge full of stuff that needs eating pretty quickly.
That's one of the reasons why Stephen is coming home for lunch - there's a load of smoked salmon in the fridge!!
I remember Chris doing this sort of thing once before.  He was only about 2 at the time, and he had a thing for switching off plugs.  It was a lot worse that time, we didn't notice for a couple of days, everything was ruined, and the freezer was FULL!  They don't get any better as they get older do they!?
Looking on the bright side, it's one of my 'Jobs To Do Before Christmas' done at least.  I always defrost the fridges and freezers before the big shop for the festive food.  I've just done it about 6 weeks early.

The Autumn theme continues tomorrow as it's 12 Tags of 2012 time (that's not easy to say!).  Yes, October's Tag is finished - whoo hoo!

Thanks for popping by today.  Enjoy your Tuesday.

Linda

x