Fancy Friday Blog Hop Challenge

Today I found a really fun challenge on Connie Collin's Constantly Stamping blog.  It's called the Fancy Friday blog hop. 

This challenge, presented by the Fancy Friday Blog Hop is to create a project using the beautiful color palette found on this chair from faceliftfurniture.com.  

The way this challenge works is really simple, you just have to use any or all of the colors in this palette plus neutrals to create a stamped project and post a comment on any of the Fancy Friday blog hop blogs, with a link to the project.  Now that is pretty simple.  Oh and did I mention that by playing along I'll be entered for a chance to win the Seasonally Scattered stamp set?   

Here's My Project:

 

The colours in the chair palette simply screamed "Fall" and "Thanks Giving" to me, so I knew I wanted to make a card with that kind of theme. As yet, I don't have any of the new fall stamps so I decided to dust off my Wonderfall* stamp set and coordinating  Autumn Accents Bigz Die Cuts .   I was stuck for a sentiment stamp until my friend Sheri loaned me her "Let Your Hair Down" hostess stamp set and once I saw it, I knew what I was going to do. 

The Autumn Accents Bigz Die contains 4 leaf images.  Although the Wonderfall stamp set is retired, you can still purchase the MDS Digital "Wonderfall" package for only $8.85.  Click here to see the Wonderfall Album on My Digital Studio.

The Let Your Hair Down hostess stamp set is available for free if you place an on-line order in my store for $200+ or hold a workshop in your home or mine with sales over $200.  Check out my event calendar for the month of September there are lots of opportunities for workshop nights.

I used all the colours in the colour palette plus Whisper White card stock for my neutral colour.  When you're making a card like this the "stamp-a-ma-jig" is your best friend in your stamping tool box, as it helps to keep your stamped sentiment perfectly spaced and aligned.  

Remember to clean your stamps before changing the colour for each stamped line.  TIP:  Since this is such an easy card to make I would suggest you stamp off several of the sentiment layers, a line at a time, and set them aside for other cards. I'd do the same with the leaves and stamp several of the images in various colours and then set them aside.  That way you are not having to clean and wipe off your stamps as much.

I simply love this bouquet of leaves tied up with some linen thread.  All of the layers are adhered together with glue dots, except for the acorn which was mounted with dimensionals. 

This is a view of the inside of the card.  The sentiment from the retired Friend to Friend stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss ink.  The large leaf in Island Indigo was stamped directly to the card liner but the two acorns
were stamped separately and then adhered with dimensionals.  
 
Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Wonderfall (R), Friend to Friend (R)
Ink:  Island Indigo, Tangelo Twist, Blackberry Bliss, Real Red, Early Espresso 
Card Stock and Measurements: 

• Card front measuring 4 1/4" x 11 was cut from Early Espresso and then embossed with the Hounds tooth Embossing Folder (R).  
• The next layer on the card front is a piece of Real Red measuring 4" x 4 3/4"
• The final layer of Whisper White measures 3 3/4" x 4 1/2"  
• The inside layer of Whisper White measures 5 x 3 3/4" 

Scraps of Whisper White were used for the leaf images.

Accessories:  Stampa-ma-jig, Autumn Accents Bigz  Die, Big Shot Machine, Hounds tooth Embossing Folder, Linen Thread, dimensionals, glue dots. 

Okay folks that's it for today's stamping!  Glad you dropped by for a visit, and I hope you liked this card and will follow the links in the blog hop.

Happy Stampin'
Penny Tokens 

Pals Color Challenge #175

Fall has arrived and the Pals Paper Challenge design team has selected 3 of the most glorious fall colours for inspiration this week.  I just couldn't resist playing along, and I hope you'll be inspired to do so too!

Today is the beginning of our Thanks Giving Day celebrations in Canada so my choice of cards was easy.  And, since I was already busy putting together a Pinwheel card tutorial I thought perfect, I'll combine this challenge with that - even easier!  

Here's the pinwheel I made:

The card base for the pin wheel is Always Artichoke cut into two 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" squares.  See tutorial for assembly instructions. 

I needed some DSP to correspond but didn't have any so I decided to make my own.  I chose an 8 1/2 x 11"  sheet of So Saffron DSP to make a One Sheet Wonder background.  To begin I stamped the leaves from the Wonderfall stamp set randomly in So Saffron, Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze across the card stock.  I then inked up the tire track, small and large splotches and speckles stamps from Gorgeous Grunge in the same inks with a touch of Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler thrown into the mix.  To finish my One Sheet Wonder I stamped the Off the Grid stamp in Versa Mark ink and embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder.  Voila my very own designer paper.  

This is the One Sheet Wonder with just the Wonderfall Stamp set images stamped on it.

Here is the finished One Sheet Wonder that has images from Gorgeous Grunge and Off the Grid stamped on it along with Wonderfall. 

For this card I cut a 6 x 1" strip of the One Sheet Wonder and worked it into the Pinwheel design.  I needed 4 of the dsp and 4 coordinating squares which I chose to cut out of Champagne Glitter paper.  I think it looks pretty good.  To finish the pinwheel I sponged the around the outside edges with Old Artichoke to give it an aged look and that worked too.  

The sentiment "Happy Thanks Giving" is from the Tags 4 You stamp set in the Holiday Catalogue.  I layered it onto a couple of Cajun Craze bracket labels that I cut in half and glued to the back of the sentiment label.  This piece was adhered with dimensionals to the pinwheel and a couple of basic rhinestones were added for bling. 

The card base is a piece of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" Always Artichoke card stock that was scored and folded at the center.  Next came a 5 1/4 x 4" piece of the One Sheet Wonder dsp, topped with a 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" strip of So Saffron card stock that was dry embossed with the Honeycomb Embossing Folder.  I thought that added a bit to the outdoor theme.  And finally two 1/4" x 5 1/2" strips of Champagne Glimmer paper were added to this strip before it was adhered to the card front, for some added dazzle.

Although the inside of the card looks almost white in this picture, trust me it is from So Saffron card stock that's been dressed up with some additional stamping from the Gorgeous Grunge and Wonderfall Stamp sets.  The sentiment "Thinking of You" is from the retired All Year Cheer Stamp Set #II, which I simply cannot part with.