Two cards to "Fall" for!

(I hope that title doesn't seem too vain for this post, I'm just TRYing to be clever with my title here, lol!) I love the Autumn here in Barstow when the weather finally starts to cool down and I feel the mood strike me to start stamping bunches of colorful autumn leaves (since we don't get as many "real" autumn leaves here in the desert, lol)! The Heart2Heart blog challenge this week is to stamp and create something with either "leaves" and/or "trees" and as usual lately, I haven't had much time for creating this week (other than the few hours I spent on a scrapbook layout I'm prepping for a gathering coming up next week). But... I do have tons of things I've created in the past that I have been wanting to share here on my blog for ages, so I couldn't resist taking advantage of this opportunity to share some fall-themed creations with you all, and here... they are!

The standard size card (above) is one I created back in 2007 for the "Humble Artists" swap I was a participant in. The Nature's Vein stamp set (D1232) that I used for the leaves was one of my favorites back then and must still be a favorite of many since it hasn't retired yet in all this time and is still available to order! I also used a lot of scissor distressing, sanding, and ink distressing on this card. The white streaks on the cocoa cardstock "half-oval" shape is white acrylic paint that I added with a fan-shaped paint brush (easy)! The other stamp set that I used to stamp the background is Goodness of Life C1286 which is now a retired stamp set I believe.
My 2nd card (just above) is also a standard size card that I designed a while back (in the fall of 2008 - a few of you may remember creating this card with me at my Open House!). It uses the Perfect Day papers and the Treasure Life stamp set (D1306) that is shown on page 53 of our current Idea Book. The leaves here were stamped with cocoa ink while the flowers were stamped and set with clear ink and embossing powder so I could do the "embossing resist" technique. To get the embossed image to resist the ink, I just used sponge daubers with cocoa and sorbet inks to sponge in some color around the flowers (and then used a tissue to wipe off the excess ink that resisted from sticking where the embossed image is). It's very simple do but allows for such a "wowie!" effect! So I hope I've inspired you even just a little today - Welcome Autumn!! - my favorite time of year!

More September SOTM swaps!

Here are the rest of the Stamp of the Month swaps I have received. I included the artists names on them when I scanned them and they are shown in the order I received them. The standard size criss-cross card is by Tiffany Johnson, the 9x9 layout is by Addie Ebersohl, the 6x6 layout is by Starr Nelson, and the 3.5x8" business size card is by me! I am so thrilled with all the beautiful artwork I got from our swap group this month - THANK YOU ladies for your excellent work!! I hope you enjoy these too! I can't wait to get the next round of swap items featuring the October SOTM (Annotations) that I am expecting to start seeing from our group very soon! Don't forget that you can click on each of these scans to see these items up close!

The first few September SOTM swaps are in!

I know I haven't kept up with posting here at all like I had intended, but I'm ready to start over again and try to do better at keeping this blog up to date (AGAIN!) lol!

So here's the latest, I'm hosting and participating in an artwork swap with a few of my local CTMH consultant team members and friends. There are 8 of us participating and each month we will create 8 similar items each using the upcoming Stamp of the Month and a new coordinating My Reflections paper pack to swap with each other. So for September we are using the Magic Moments papers and colors with the "Treasure Life" stamp set. The swaps are due this week, and these are the first three swaps that were dropped off to me today! I am so thrilled with the beauty and creativity of each one and couldn't wait to share them with you all here!! The beautiful details are much better looking in person and up close, as scanning them sometimes distorts the colors and true dimensions of them a bit. GREAT JOB on these ladies!!!

I've posted these in the order I received them - 5x7 card by Katrina Sikora, 6x6 card by Nikki Kington, and a Standard size card by Staci Neal - these scans just don't do justice to the beauty of all of these cards. Staci used pearlescent paint tinted with hollyhock reinker to paint her flower and the edge of the paper around her stamped flowers. In real life they appear brighter pink and are nice and shimmery! I look forward to seeing the rest of the swaps that will be arriving later this week and will be sure to share them here as I receive them also!