Autumn or Spring Seasonal Colors at Craft-Room Challenges!

For this fortnight the challenge at Craft-Room Challenges is to use the seasonal colors of Autumn or Spring.  Zoe has provided us with some beautiful inspirational color pallets to use: 

Spring Colors

Autumn Colors

Autumn Card on the left, Spring on the right

In response to this challenge I made 2 cards because I could not decide what colors to use.   First I am going to show you my spring watercolor card.

This is what I used to Make my Spring Watercolor Card:
White Card Base
Penny Black wood mounted rubber stamp, "Rhyme", #2959K
Distress Markers in Dusty Concord,  Faded Jeans and Seedless Preserves
Distress Ink in Milled Lavender
Watercolor paper
Spritzer filled with Water
Remnant Rub, Life Quotes, "hello friend"
Blue & Purple Cardstock
Stipple Brush

No pictures of the process today because it is SO easy.  First you want to pick out a rubber stamp that isn't intricate - the more "block style" the design is the better this will work.  Scribble your markers directly onto the stamp (have your watercolor paper ready and have enough to make at least 2 prints) then lightly spritz the colored stamp with water.  Flip the stamp over quickly (try not to muddy the colors) and stamp and stamp again.  The beauty of this technique is you get a different result each time you use it and it's fun!  I took one of the images I made and trimmed it down, trimmer the blue & purple cardstock to layer the image and then used a Tim Holtz Remnant Rub that says "hello friend" down on the lower corner.  After the card was assembled I felt the white watercolor paper was a bit stark, so I stippled it with Milled Lavender - I think it warmed the card up a bit.

For my Autumn Colors card this is what I used:
Tim Holtz Dried Flower Stamp from Flights of Fancy Set, 
Cream (vanilla) Cardstock
Ranger Adirondack Ink in Caramel, Currant, Terra Cotta & Pesto
Clear fine (detail) Embossing Powder
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Small Alphabet (sorry I don't who made it)
Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy 

Embossing Close up

I used a piece of cream cardstock, stamped the Dried Flower in Caramel first and embossed it with the clear powder, the ink is wet so you don't need embossing fluid. Completed the same steps using the Currant, Terra Cotta & Pesto inks.  I stamped thankful, not really worrying about if they were straight. as long as I could tell all the letters were in the same word it worked for me, on a scrap of cream using the Jet Black ink.  I edged the saying with Brushed Corduroy to make it pop a bit.  Glued the Dried Flower quartet onto a moss green card I had then glued the sentiment onto the corner. 

I have to share a short story with you.  I moved a few years back and ended up living in a one room apartment once I got to Colorado.  There was absolutely NO room for any craft stuff.  So my stuff sat in storage for almost 9 months.  Lots of it dried out, but the Adirondack pads stayed juicy.  I did not have to reink a single one!  I find that amazing! Keep in mind, these ink pads are about 13 years old - I got them when I first began stamping - so it wasn't as if they'd never been opened. 


I am trying to get a little clean and simple - I hope you think these cards fit the criteria!  Hope you enjoyed checking out my latest post and you still have 2 weeks to enter the Craft-Room Challenge!  Thank you ~ Christi

I would like to enter my Autumn Colors card in the following challenges:
Again, here is my Autumn Colors Card - the challenges I am entering with my Spring Watercolor Card will follow:

Little Red Wagon - #256, Anything Fall Themed
Red Rubber Inspirationals -  #139, Stay Focused on Stamping, Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps & More - #114, CAS
Wednesday's Creative Inspirations - #282, Autumn Colors
The House That Stamps Built -  Repeat Impressions DCC924 ~ Fall

Now I would like to enter my Spring Watercolor card in the following challenges:

Treasured Times Rubber Stamp Challenge - #25, Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - #76, Anything Goes
 Addicted to Stamps & More - #114, CAS

~ Thank you for stopping by!! ~

Fall Is In The Air Card

This card was a bit more work than usual but I feel the outcome was worth the it - I hope you agree! I formulated this card while looking through the many, many rub-ons I have.  I didn't use them for a long time for fear that I would do them "wrong", and I was certain they wouldn't work the way they were supposed to.  Surprise, surprise! Once I got over my fear I discovered how easy they are to use and almost impossible to mess up (mostly because you can check them before you are done to make sure they have rubbed-on correctly).  Perfect for a crafter like me.

Materials I Used  (of course feel free to use what you have in your stash):

• 3 Decorative papers from Indian Summer Line from Basic Grey; Aspen, Maize & Plum Wine
• 1 ¾ Square Punch
• Homemade Background paper, using a white card stock base painted with Distress Paint (attached the squares to it), made with Distress Paint; Aged Mahogany, Crushed Olive, Scattered Straw, Gathered Twigs
• Distress Marker Frayed Burlap
• Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs
• Scrap piece of off white cardstock for rub-on
• Basic Grey Rub-on “Fall is in the Air” in wine color
• Gold Paper for layer
• Dark Orange card stock for layer
• Square card in rusty brown
• Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Iridescent Gold

 The first thing I did when I made this card was punch out 4 squares with the square punch I had – for 3 of the squares I used the Basic Grey papers and each one was the same pattern but in different colors so I punched out the same part of the pattern from each color, then I punched one square out of some scrap vanilla card stock I had.  I applied the rub-on (for some reason the package has no identifying information on it, sorry about that!) to that square and sponged some Gathered Twigs ink around the corners, then edged it in Frayed Burlap using a Distress Marker.  Then I made the background that the squares are attached to, I used a scrap piece of white card stock and colored it with various Distress Paints (see list of colors above); it was really pretty, but I wanted to use other layers as well, so you can’t see the paper very well.  I adhered the 4 squares to that piece of paper once it dried.  I just eyeballed the spacing because I can’t be bothered using a ruler; I have tried to use a ruler in the past to perfectly and evenly space things, but it made me certifiably crazy, so now I just wing it.

I cut out another layer from some gold paper I had and then another layer out of a dark orange card stock. Typically, when I am making layers I just use my Fiskars Personal cutter and find an area on the clear guide and then cut all the sides of the paper with the same point of reference.  I just purchased a set of rulers made especially for making layers but haven’t had the time to play with them yet.  I’ll keep you posted.  I glued all the layers together and then glued them onto a Mahogany-Rusty-Brown (I can’t figure out what color the card looks like most, so you got all three) square card from my stash. 

Finally, I spritzed the whole thing lightly with the iridescent gold mist. The pictures of this card don’t do it justice as it is a very pretty card.  The gold layer and the Glimmer Mist are nice and subtle but I think they give the card that extra “zing”. NOTE: For some reason every picture I took made the rub-on look black, it isn't black, it is a wine color (like those leather jackets from the early 80's - LOL)

Close up of the rub-on

The finished card - shows off the subtle shine I think

 Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges: 
4CraftyChicks - Anything Goes
DL A.R.T. - Anything goes
Penny's Challenges - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes

~*~*~ Where did I find these AWESOME challenges??? They were listed in Challenges for Days ! ! !