Rich Autumn Leaves

I don't know where the month of September has gone, but here I am posting my last Stamp Simply Guest DT card as a part of Sharon Johnson's Friday Stamp Simply challenges. I have had so much fun participating in the challenges with Sharon and all the terrific design team members. Sharon, thank you so much for this honor!

Sharon's challenge this Friday is Rich Autumn Leaves to create a project with leaves (or acorns, pinecones, trees with leaves, if you don't have actual leaf images) making your project rich in color and texture, adding sponging to create that richness and depth of color.



I bought this All Natural stamp set at a garage sale this summer (never used) and wanted to use this simple, yet classy leaf image for my project this week. Using Stazon Brown ink, I stamped the leaf onto kraft cardstock three times. I colored my leaves by sponging (using daubers) the leaves with Marigold Morning, Really Rust, and Ruby Red. I cut the images and adhered them to Very Vanilla cardstock sponged on the outer edges with Close to Cocoa.

I used a reverse Nestability die cut piece of River Rock, as a part of my Doubledog Dare Challenge, given to us by Anne (aka Itsapassion)to use reverse punching or die cut images in our design. After adhering the three chocolately rich brads, I attached the frame to my base cardstock with dimensionals for depth. If you'd like to play in the Doubledog Dare Challenge, please check out this Splitcoaststampers thread here and go to post #32. Be sure to use keyword DDC so we can see your projects.

You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoaststampers and/or your blog, anytime at all. Be sure to use keyword ssnotime106. You can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun! Please link back to Sharon's blog here.

I hope you can take a few extra minutes to check out the fabulous samples the entire Stamp Simply team made today:

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Deb
Tammy
Barbara
Jenny
Miss Sharon

Stamps: All Natural (Stampin' Up); Autumn Beauty (sentiment - Gina K Designs)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Kraft, Very Vanilla
Ink: Stazon Brown, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Marigold Morning, Really Rust
Accessories: Square Nestabilities, chocolate brads, sponge daubers, dimensionals

Stamp Simply #104 - Halloween is Almost Here

Can you believe fall will soon be upon us? We're already seeing the changing of the tree leaves here in Michigan. The summer went by so fast, my head is spinning!

This Friday, Sharon Johnson has challenged her Stamp Simply design team and moi, as her September guest designer, to make a Halloween card or project. I typically do not make Halloween cards, so I thought I'd make some treat bags instead.



These may look like a lot of work, but they aren't! I folded and inked up a baby wipe with a few drops of Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Elegant Eggplant reinkers and "swiped" the wipe across a piece of glossy cardstock. I cut my squares and stamped my silhouette images from Gina K's Spooky Silhouettes. I allowed the black ink to dry before I inserted the cardstock inside the cellophane bags, and then filled the bags with candy corn behind the cardstock. I thought I was being smart putting the cardstock inside the cellophane so I wouldn't have to worry about the cardstock falling off in a trick or treater's Halloween container, but didn't even think about having to photograph reflective cellophane! Yikes! I finally got them positioned just right and raised my camera on my tripod to shoot from an upper angle to avoid some of that glare. Anyway, to finish up my treat bags, I punched black cardstock with the Martha Stewart drippy goo punch (I'm sure that's not the right name for it) and attached corresponding colored cardstock to that and tied off with this cool spider web ribbon I bought last year and never used.

Why not pull out your Halloween supplies and play along with us? If you upload your creation to Splitcoaststampers, be sure to use keyword ssnotime104. Also, if you'd like to see the fabulous Halloween creations of Sharon's design team, here are the links:

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny
Miss Sharon

Have a spooktacular day!!

Stamp Simply #103

I am so excited to tell you that Sharon Johnson (aka notimetostamp on SCS) selected li'l ol me to be her Stamp Simply guest designer for the month of September! As most of you probably know, each Friday Sharon posts a Stamp Simply challenge on her blog. And, if you don't know about them, why not hop on over and check out her challenges. I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated presenting "my stuff" with this uber talented design team, but I am so thrilled to have been asked! Thanks, Sharon!

And, if you've followed my blog for a while, you know that Sharon and I have met in person on a few occasions...most recently at the end of July for a Michigan stamping event, which was so much fun! Sharon brought a lot of her goodies from her Stamp Simply store for us to purchase, and I bought some of her May Arts silk ribbon (this stuff is so exquisite!!!), the Bow Easy, and my first Just Rite stamps. She also hosted a small luncheon for a couple of us who had traveled a long way to the event----scrumpdillyicious!!!! Sharon is a wonderful cook and hostess, in addition to being one of the most talented stampers I've ever met.

But I digress and should get back to the task at hand. Sharon's Stamp Simply #103 challenge this week is to stamp your sentiment over your image!

I love the simple elegance of this stamp in Stampin' Up's God's Beauty set. I stamped it in Tuxedo Memento Black ink and watercolored it with SU reinkers. After that dried, I added a few touches to the leaves with my So Saffron marker and a little white gel highlighting. After I stamped the sentiment, I stamped the Floral background in River Rock, which I find to be a wonderful complement to Old Olive. I punched two opposing corners on the black matting with my square steps punch and the other two opposing corners, I added black brads. Last I added the scoring to the Old Olive base panel with my ScorPal.



Please be sure to stop by and see the spectacular creations of Sharon's super talented design team members for this challenge. I'm sure they'd love your visit and your comments!

Janine
Jennifer
Julie
AJ
Tammy
Deb
Barbara
Jenny

And, of course, the leader of the pack, Miss Sharon herself!

Thanks for stopping by today!