It's (Almost) Fall Y'all!

Can you all believe that tomorrow is September 1st?  It's not officially Fall but once we hit September, I know it's going to start cooling down. It seems like this year has really flown by! This time of year always makes me long for one of my favorite places in my home state of Missouri. It is incredibly beautiful there and I especially love it in the fall.  I'm talking about Alley Spring & Mill in Eminence, Missouri. At one time, Alley Spring and Mill was the social center for several communities in Shannon County, Missouri and that lasted into the Prohibition Era in the United States. The Jacks Fork River runs through Alley Spring and the spring itself pumps through 81 million gallons per day on average.  The water is so clear there that it's hard to tell just how deep it is.  It's actually difficult to hear people speaking if you are standing next to where the water goes through the mill because the volume of water is so large and it's quite loud.

Alley Mill has also been the location of some interesting photographs in our family as well. Suffice it to say that we are convinced we saw a ghost here at least once and we actually had photographic evidence of that at one time. When my youngest brother was still in junior high or high school, we traveled to the mill from our dad's place down the road near the Current River. Both of these rivers are part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and were the first National Park in America to protect a river system. The discharge for the Current River is 2,815 cubic feet per second -- more than 21,056 gallons per second which equates to 1,263,372 gallons per minute and over 75 billion gallons per hour.  It's a powerful force and helps you understand why a float trip down the Current River gave you "I survived the Current River" bragging rights!  My hubby and I did that on our honeymoon going from Akers to Round Spring. Alley Spring is home to an annual event called "Haunting in the Hills" and the area school children are invited to decorate a pumpkin and display it on the grounds.  Anyway, all of this is just to say that this time of year reminds me of Alley Spring and Pumpkin Weather which was the inspiration for my card today.

When I created my background for this card, I was only playing a bit with my inks and my Finetec Gold Watercolor Paint leftovers.  Let me explain....

The first time I used my Finetec Mica Watercolors, I noticed that I was washing so much paint down the drain when I cleaned my brush so, I started saving my rinse water.  I have it in a container that easily lets me leave the lid open a bit to make the water evaporate and then I can reactivate it with a bit of water when I want to use it.  This is what I was doing last night when I got the idea for this card.

I used inks in Bright Buttercup, Berry Sorbet and Orange Zest with my reactivated rinse water to create my background just kind oif dabbing it on with a #8 Silver Black Velvet Round Brush. When I was happy with the way it dried, I doused it with a layer (or two) of Iridescent Gold Shimmer Spritz.  I love gold - it is the perfect neutral to dress anything up!  As far as I can tell, Tattered Angels is no longer in existence but that is the brand I am using.  I think you could use some Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz to accomplish the same look.  You'd just have to try it to see.  I still have several bottles of the Gold and about a half bottle of Copper, Pearl, and few other colors as well.  I also tried out some water with a bit of Gold Perfect Pearls in it and feel it was pretty equivalent to the Shimmer Spritz so if you like the look, try that.  It is pretty hard to use too much water with watercolor, so just let it dry before you toss it.  You have to set it aside and walk away then come back to it because it is never the hot mess you think it was when you left it.  *Ü*

While that was drying, I stamped several pumpkins from Spooky Smiles using Versamark and heat embossed them with Rose Gold Embossing Powder from The Ton.  I also stamped the bat (my favorite of this set although I don't like real bats) from this set using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder.  The Simon brand clear powder is a Fine Detail powder and does a fantastic job. I watercolored the pumpkins using a combination of Ripe Persimmon Distress Marker and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker in Orange. I tried using Orange Zest Ink but it was too yellow once I added the water to it.  I cut a banner from watercolor paper using the Number The Stars Banner Die and stamped my greeting on it using the same Rose Gold Embossing Powder.  I die cut the leaves from the Stylized Autumn Dies and then stamped them in Ripe Avocado Ink with the Stylized Autumn Stamp Set for the area to the left of the pumpkins.  It really needed some filler in that area and the leaves were the perfect size and style.  The Spooky Smiles Stamp Set and Coordinating Dies also includes two different curly stems for the pumpkin, a little kitty and even a witches hat and a ghost.  I also used the same "reactivated" rinse water to watercolor the Pumpkins.

Once I had everything stamped, painted and spritzed, I started assembling my card onto a top folding card base made from Papertrey Ink Kraft Cardstock.  I die cut my background panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die and adhered that to my card base. Then I adhered my greeting and deocrative elements with a combination of Ranger Multi Medium Matte, Bling Glue Dots and Thin 3D Foam Squares.  That finishes off my card.

I'll be entering this card over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog where "Anything Goes".  Be sure to stop by and check out all of the Stamptember goodness starting at Midnight tonight, September 1, 2016.  I can't wait to see all the goodness that is STAMPtember and I hope to have a few more entries for the Simon Wednesday Challenge in the coming week!