Thankful Card

I am trying to squeeze this one last “thanks” card before the holiday.  After I made this card I realized that it sort of looked like a turkey – that wasn’t my intent – LOL – but hey, if the turkey fits. . .

This is what I used to make my card:

• Tim Holtz Mini Blueprints, SMS170, wheat (stamped 5 times)
• Small alphabet stamp set – Studio G (sorry, I don’t have the font)
• Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Brushed Corduroy, Mustard Seed & Gathered Twigs
• Small water brush
• Watercolor paper
• Dark yellow base card
• Brown shiny layer from DCWV The Luxury Stack
• Orange cardstock
• Brown cardstock
• Dark brown cardstock
• Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

Start by stamping and coloring the wheat stamp 5 times on the watercolor paper - this VERY important since the Distress markers won't watercolor on regular cardstock. I stamped mine & colored them before I cut them out so they’d be right next to each other and I could try to get the color somewhat the same.  Once they are colored, cut out only the wheat stalk.  Then hand stamp THANKFUL with a small alphabet set on a piece of white cardstock.  Trim and mat on dark brown cardstock (I know it is a tad crooked, but the stamps I used are the old rubber stamps, remember the ones you couldn't see through & basically hoped they'd stamp straight? Well, there ya go).  

Here are my "turkey feather" wheat stalks prior to attaching them

Arrange the wheat stalks behind the sentiment in a fan shape (I taped them in place with removable tape so I could be sure nothing but what I wanted showed – then as I removed the tape, I glued my wheat to my sentiment).  Mat on the brown cardstock, then the orange, then the shiny brown (there is actually a beautiful paisley type design on the shiny cardstock but there was no way I could get a picture as you can barely see it in person) and lastly, mount on the dark yellow base card.

 

A close up of the sentiment and if you look very closely

you can see some of the pattern on the shiny cardstock

up in the left hand corner

This was the first card I made with my new stamp sets and the Distress Markers.  Have you ever bought a stamp set and one image spoke to you & screamed to be used first? For some reason the wheat stamp screamed to me and this is the result.

 

And the final result

Hope you enjoyed and please consider leaving me a comment. Blessings to you & yours!

Don't forget to pop on over to Anything But a Card and check

 out the current mini-challenge!

I would like to enter my Thankful Card in the following challenges:

Card Mania - Autumn Colors

The Paper Girls - It's Time to Give Thanks

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Thanksgiving/Thanks
Make it Monday - Anything Goes
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Thank You

And, yes, I found these challenges at Challenges for Days - the blog that fulfills all your challenging needs (ok, maybe not ALL of them, but quite a few)!

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 ! ! !