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!

Stamptember Continues!

Simon Says Stamp is currently hosting "Stamptember" which is an event held by them annually in September to inspire, educate, create and unveil lots of new products and tutorials.  It's a month long celebration which has been just awesome so far and we still have 10 days left for unveiling other new products. Everyone likes to get in on the act and even Tim Holtz has designed new products exclusively for Simon Says Stamptember.  I can't tell you how much fun all of the tutorials have been.  

I wanted to work on a card today for a friend of mine.  I'm using a new Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Set called, "Lila's Heart".   This set was designed by Shari Carroll with Jennifer McGuire's daughter, Lila, in mind.  There's a coordinating die set as well called, "Hearts for Lila".  I love this set for girly stuff and I know I will use it a lot since I have four granddaughters.  At Simon Says Stamp, nearly every new release seems to have coordinating dies these days.  This is a somewhat new thing, particularly in the last several months.  I've noticed this trend with other companies lately as well; Altenew, WPLUS9, Lawn Fawn and many, many others.  I remember the days when you only got matching die cuts a few times a year with only a very few stamp sets and wishing that someone would get busy making matching die sets for every stamp set!   While I was busy dealing with other things in the last 5 years, that actually happened.  It's a trend I love and hope will continue for as long as I am paper crafting.

One of the things I most appreciate about Jennifer McGuire is that she makes the seemingly impossible become possible.  I've had Copic Markers for about 7 or 8 years, but really, I hadn't used them except to take a few classes way back whenever I got them.  Jennifer makes them seem so easy and for the first time in my paper crafting journey, I feel successful using them.  There's lots of Certified Copic Instructors out there who make you feel like if you don't do it exactly as they teach it, then it is wrong.  Not with Jennifer. She makes it so simple and easy to duplicate a similar look.  Mostly, she just encourages everyone to do whatever works for them.

On today's card, I used the "Lila's Heart" set and coordinating dies.  This is a simple, straight forward design and technique.  I stamped "Lila" on the smooth side of a piece of 140# Canson Watercolor Card Stock using Versafine in Onyx Black Ink and waited for it to dry before coloring with my Copic Ciao Markers. I'm still in the process of trying different types of watercolor paper, but I think this might be my winner!  I buy the large sized pad and cut each sheet down into the size panels I need, several sheets at a time.

I cut a half inch wide strip of Simon Says Stamp Lipstick Red 100# Card Stock and ran Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen over it.  After letting that dry, I used my Simon Says Stamp Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars to cut about 8 of the hearts. This made the perfect little accents.  I adhered "Lila" to my SU! Wild Wasabi, A2 top folding card using 3-D Foam Squares.   Then I stamped the greeting from the Lila's Heart set with part of the leftover watercolor card stock and snipped it so it has swallowtail ends for the banner.  I mounted this with 3-D Foam Squares as well.  I wanted it to feel like the hearts were overflowing and falling out of the banner so I attached them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  Once I had everything placed on my card panel I put glossy accents on the tops of the hearts for the "puffy" appearance.  I got a small acrylic cutting board with a handle so that I had a way to pick up and move the whole thing to an area for safety while drying.  I felt like I was forever getting "gunk" in my Glossy Accents so I hope this method works out for me!

I stamped a few "Lila's" to practice on, but I was pleased with how this first one turned out.

This was a super simple card, but it conveys everything I want to say to my friend in such a cute way!

About 99% of the time, I treat my paper to give it a sparkle or shimmer and this one was no exception.  You can use a variety of methods from Glimmer Mist to Perfect Pearls Spray to Shimmer Sprays.  You can make your own spray using a touch of Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder with some water and a few drops of reinker.  Simon Says Stamp has a great selection of these types of products, so just use whatever you like.  Some people may not like the shimmer and in fact, I would never use it on a man's card.  But I don't make too many of those, and my friends know that I am all about the bling, so I think I'm okay.   Use the products you love and feel comfortable with and you'll have a winner every time!  

Happy Saturday, everyone!