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Cards in Envy - When Nature Calls

May 042015

Hello, and happy Monday! It’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next couple of weeks, we have a challenge theme of “When Nature Calls”. Your card should feature something found in nature. Remember to make it A2 size (4.25″ x 5.5″) and thin enough to fit in an envelope.

I pulled out a lot of retired supplies for my card – the stamps, the multicolored ink pad, and the red and mustard cardstocks. I made the focal panel by liberally spritzing water onto a piece of natural cardstock, inking up the leaf stamps with the multicolored ink pad, and stamping onto the wet cardstock, which caused the dye ink to run and blur. After the cardstock dried, I stamped the leaves again, providing the detailed veining in them. The layout of my card is OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #253. I’m also going to enter this card into the current Retro Rubber “Anything Goes” challenge.

Now it’s your turn! Show us your own card depicting something found in nature by linking it to the Cards in Envy challenge post by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, May 17. We’d love to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by today.

All supplies for this card are from Stampin’ Up unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Autumn, Always On My Mind
Cardstock: Ruby Red, More Mustard, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Pumpkin Patch Spectrum pad
Other: standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Cards in Envy - Pretty in Pink

16 Responses »

Apr 202015

Hello! It’s the third Monday of the month, which means it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. This time we have a color challenge for you – “Pretty in Pink”.

I wanted to use the current sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! for the layout of my card. The vase of flowers in the inspiration photo at Addicted to Stamps and More nudged me in the direction of using pink flowers on my card, and the creamy white table and chairs inspired me to choose ivory for my card base. I looked through my stamp sets to figure out which one to use, and found this one that I hadn’t used for a long time. I thought it might work well with some of my stash of Prima flowers, so I went through them and found these that were just the right size, with the bonus of the darker ones matching the dark pink cardstock perfectly. The rediscovered stamp set and flowers tie into the current Shopping Our Stash challenge. The current challenge at Retro Rubber is to use brads, so I looked through my horde of brads and found these little green ones that would work as the centers of the flowers. So I was able to combine all the challenges together and came up with this:

RRBC12

Now that I’ve completed my card for this challenge, I have the Psychedelic Furs song “Pretty in Pink” running through my head, and I’m tempted to see if I can find the Molly Ringwald movie on Netflix. Ah, the 1980s. Good times! 🙂

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. Then create your own pink card following our challenge guidelines and share it with us on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, May 3. You can make your card for any occasion or theme you like, so long as the dominant color is pink, it’s A2 sized, and that there are no lumpy, bumpy embellishments that would prevent the card from being mailed at the first class postage rate. We’d love to have you play along with us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Edited on April 24, 2015: Thank you to the Addicted to Stamps and More team for naming me as an Honourable Addict for their challenge! What a sweet surprise!

Edited on April 26, 2015: Thank you also to the Retro Rubber Mod Squad for selecting my card as one of their Fab Five! What a happy way for my week to start!

Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully Asian, Three Little Words (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs); Pink Passion, Pink Pirouette (SU)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Pink Passion (SU)
Other: marker (Copic); flowers (Prima); brads (Recollections)

Cards in Envy - Child's Play

10 Responses »

Apr 062015

Hi there! It’s Cards in Envy challenge introduction day! For the next two weeks we have a theme challenge of “Child’s Play”. Show us your A2 sized cards that are suitable to be given to a child. Remember to keep your cards flat enough to fit in an envelope and be mailed at the first class postage rate.

Since I don’t have any young children in my life, my card is going to be sent to Operation Write Home. I wanted to keep it gender neutral, so I chose a gray and bright yellow color scheme with pops of some other colors. The cute jumping smiley face is appropriate for either a boy or a girl. Although the smiley face stamp and the sentiment stamp might seem like they were made for each other, they are from different companies. I bought them several years apart from two different stores. The layout I used for this card is the sketch from the current Retro Rubber challenge. Well, actually it’s the mirror image of the sketch. I did it that way so the smiley face would seem to be looking toward the middle of the card rather than off the edge of it.

RRCB11

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has done for this challenge, and then go make a card to brighten a child’s day! We’d love to see your creativity! Share your card using the linky tool at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, April 19. Thanks for stopping by today!

Edited on April 12, 2015: Thank you to the Retro Rubber Design Team for naming my card as one of their Fab Five for their sketch challenge! I’m delighted and honored!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jump – Smileys (Uptown Design Company); sentiment stamp (Studio G)
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Watercolor Wonder designer series paper (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Stitched Scalloped Borders die (Lawn Fawn); candy dots (SU)

Cards in Envy - Spring is in the Air

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Mar 162015

Hello! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. Our theme for the next few weeks is “Spring is in the Air”. Let anything related to the season of Spring inspire your creativity when you make a card for this challenge – flowers, colors, animals, whatever seems like Spring to you! Remember that for our challenges, all cards must be A2 sized and cannot have lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick.

One of my favorite things about Spring is that flowers start blooming. Even though we’ve had a lot of cold, snowy weather over the last month, the daffodils in my flower border are starting to put out foliage. In anticipation of them showing their sunshiny-yellow blossoms, I’ve used a daffodil stamp for my card and colored it in representation of the daffodils that grew in my family’s yard when I was growing up. The layout is OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #B-17 – a bonus sketch from a 2012 blog hop. I’ve turned the sketch on its side and stamped the sentiment directly onto the main panel of the card rather than making a small panel especially for it. The vertical strip of designer paper is some pretty old stuff, and the green cardstock is a retired Stampin’ Up color, so I’m continuing on my personal goal of actually using up some of my older stamping supplies.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made! How will the changing season inspire you? We’d love to see your creativity! Share your card using the linky tool at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, April 5.

Supplies:
Stamps: Three Daffodils (Hero Arts); Always in My Thoughts (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Petals & Paisleys designer series paper (SU); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copics)

Cards in Envy - Anything Goes with a Bow!

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Mar 022015

Hello again! It’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we have a pretty easy theme for you to follow: Anything Goes with a Bow. That’s right – all you need to do for this challenge is to make an A2 sized card (4.25″ x 5.5″) with no embellishments more than 1/4″ thick so that it could be mailed at the standard postage rate – but it must include a bow of some sort. You may use a bow made of ribbon, twine, or paper so long as it’s less than 1/4″ thick. You could also choose to use an image of a bow.

I’ve combined our bow challenge with the current Freshly Made Sketches layout, which conveniently included a bow element. I’ve taken the liberty of scooting the bow to the left of the main image panel. I’ve paper pieced my scene using cardstock and Basic Grey papers. I used a die to cut the basic cloud shape and then trimmed it down with my scissors so it would better fit in the space.

This card was included in the package I sent to Operation Write Home last week. I hope one of our heroes will enjoy sending it home to his or her child.

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. Then create a card with a bow following our challenge guidelines and share it with us using the linky tool on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 15. We’d love to have you play along with us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughtful Rhubarb (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Bashful Blue, Early Espresso (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Blush and Oxford 6″ x 6″ paper pads (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black
Other: cloud die (SNSS); stitched landscape die (Mama Elephant); Lemon twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

Cards in Envy - Puppy Love

3 Responses »

Feb 162015

Hi there! It’s Cards in Envy challenge introduction day! For the next two weeks we have a theme challenge of Puppy Love. Show us your A2 sized cards featuring at least one dog. Remember to keep your cards flat enough to fit in an envelope and be mailed at the first class postage rate.

I don’t have a lot of dog stamps or digital images, so choosing which one to use wasn’t too difficult. I decided to make a little scene with him. Instead of stamping him on white cardstock and coloring him, I opted to stamp him on some off-white designer paper that has some subtle color variation in it. I did add in some color to his nose, collar, and tag. Fussy cutting him wasn’t too difficult. I added a scrap of designer paper behind his head as a shim, since his rear was raised up from the blue panel by the grassy strip behind him. That helped give him a little more separation from the blue sky. This week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches provided the layout for my card. For the smallest rectangular element of the sketch, I decided to use a quote balloon stamp that resembles a cloud.

The puppy also ties into the February ODBD challenge at the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog.

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. What kind of puppy card will you create? Share your work with us on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 1. We’d love to have you play along with us!

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters in the ‘Burbs, Chit Chat (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Ambrosia and Oxford 6″ x 6″ paper pads (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Whisper White craft (SU)
Other: Grassy Border die (Lawn Fawn); white embossing powder (Stampendous); markers (Copic)

Cards in Envy - Hearts All a Flutter

2 Responses »

Feb 022015

Hello there! It’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy – where we make cards that fit in envelopes! Cards for our challenges should be A2 sized (4.25″ x 5.5″) and have no lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick, so that the cards can be mailed at the standard first-class postage rate. For the next two weeks, we’re focusing on the theme of “Hearts All a Flutter”. We’d like to see your cards that have two or more hearts on them.

I think our previous “Going Gray” challenge was giving me subliminal messages when I was working on my card for this challenge. The card follows the current CAS(E) this Sketch! layout. The bunny tag is raised up from the card base with dimensional adhesive. I tried to keep the card gender-neutral and age-neutral so it would be a versatile one for Operation Write Home.

We hope you’ll have fun with this challenge and share your heartfelt card with us at Cards in Envy! Link your card to our challenge post by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, February 15. Happy crafting!

Supplies:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine, Belinda’s Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Smoky Slate (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray (SU)
Other: markers (Copic); dimensionals, tag corner punch (SU); cherry twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

4 Responses »

Jan 192015

Well hello! It’s time for another fun challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we’re “Going Gray” with a winter-inspired color scheme. Cards made for this challenge should use gray as the dominant color, as well as be A2 sized with no lumpy, bumpy embellishments.

After a lot of thought, I decided I’d use one of my animal stamps and have a gray animal on my card for this challenge. I originally thought about using a rabbit – but then that made me think of gray hares, which was too much like gray hairs, which I’d rather not think about! LOL! I finally settled on this mouse image. The stamp set that it’s from also has several star images. I was browsing online looking for a good card sketch to use for the layout of my card, and felt that the most recent OWH sketch might work. To me, the square element resembled a window, and I could position the mouse so it would be sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the stars. I die cut a couple of stars to use in place of the round embellishments on the sketch, but opted to use just one to make the scene more realistic. I covered the star with Stickles to give it some sparkle, but then painted over it with white shimmer paint to make sure the glitter wouldn’t flake off. The paint covered the glitter more opaquely than I realized it would, but the texture of the glitter still shows. I chose a grayish blue for my sky color and flicked some shimmer paint onto it for distant stars. Fussy cutting around the mouse’s tail and whiskers was a little nerve wracking, but in the end, I think it was worth the effort. Because the mouse stamp has him facing to the right, I flipped the sketch mirror-image so the mouse could be looking at the shiny star. It’s been a while since I’ve made a “missing you” themed card for OWH so that was the driving force behind the sentiment I chose. The card turned out quite clean and simple in style, and I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with it. 🙂

OWH Sketch 246

Thanks for stopping by today! What kind of card will the color gray inspire you to create? Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made. Then share your own work with us by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, February 1. We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity!

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook, Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Buckaroo Blue (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Frost White shimmer paint (SU); Storybook dies (AE); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)

Cards in Envy - Make it a Banner Year!

2 Responses »

Jan 052015

Hello there! It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. We’re kicking off 2015 with a challenge called “Make it a Banner Year!” We’d like to see you use at least one banner on the card you create for this challenge. Remember that for our challenges, all cards must be A2 sized (4.25″ x 5.5″) and cannot have lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick.

OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #226 was perfect for this challenge! I’ve turned the sketch 90° on its side. It seems like at the beginning of each year, I think to myself, “OK, this year I’m finally going to use up some of my older supplies”… and then I get distracted by new materials and never quite seem to completely use up the older things. This year I’m starting off on that trend with some older designer paper, which I used for the background panel of my card. The turquoise banner is also from the same 6″ x 6” pad. I pulled two colors from the floral paper for my solid color cardstocks, and white for my sentiment panel. The sentiment panel covered up a fair amount of the turquoise in the floral paper, so I added some enamel dots to help bring out that color. The “Happy” and “to you” words in the sentiment are actually in an outline font; I’ve colored them in to make them a little bolder.

What type of banners will you use on your card? Visit the Cards in Envy site to check out what the rest of the design team has made. Then link your own card there by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, January 18. We’d love to have you join in the fun! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Poppy Parade, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Gypsy 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Poppy Parade (SU)
Other: Pumpkin Pie marker, enamel dots (SU)

Cards in Envy - Christmas Carols

1 Response »

Dec 152014

Hello! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. Our theme for the next few weeks is “Christmas Carols”. Let a familiar Christmas carol or a winter/Christmas song inspire your creativity, and make a card using that song as your theme. Remember that for our challenges, all cards must be A2 sized and cannot have lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick.

I wanted to go with something a little more wintry than strictly Christmasy, because I’m planning to send another shipment of cards to Operation Write Home before the end of the month and they will accept winter cards through December 31. So I thought of the song “Winter Wonderland” and created a snowy scene – which, I suppose, could also work for “White Christmas”. After I stamped the trees and bird for my scene, I masked off the ground and sponged ink for the sky. Then I flicked shimmer paint over the scene to create the look of falling snowflakes and added more of the paint along the ground lines. I actually started on the card without a particular layout in mind. It looked rather plain and boring with just the scene, so I searched through the OWH Stars & Stamps sketches until I found sketch #195, a fairly simple one with a nice large focal panel. I changed it up a bit by deciding to make the focal panel oval. I turned the sketch 90° on its side and mirror-reversed it so that the small round element would be at the bottom right corner of the card. I decided to use that element for the sentiment. So I looked through my sentiment stamps, and one of the smallest ones I had that fit the space nicely read “Let it snow”. Well, that worked well for the scene, too – although then it made more sense to say that I’d used the song “Let it Snow” for my inspiration. So I guess you could say that all three songs worked together to help me create this card! 🙂

One last note (pun intended? maybe 😉 ) regarding this card. I had all three songs making a little medley bouncing in my head as I was assembling the card… and then from out of nowhere, the music in my brain started playing the chorus from “Let it Go”, changing the words to “Let it snow”. Ha ha ha! I hope that little story makes you laugh, too.

So – which Christmas or wintry song will get your creative juices flowing? Share your work with us at the Cards in Envy site by 6:00 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, January 4, 2015. (Because of the holiday season, there’s an extra week to participate!) Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made and give them some blog love, too! Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Scenic Season (Stampin’ Up); Holiday Script (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Real Red, Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Garden Green, Marina Mist, Soft Sky, Real Red (SU)
Other: Frost White shimmer paint (SU); petite oval and standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); Snowflake Background embossing folder (Darice); sponge

Cards in Envy - Santa is Coming to Town!

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Dec 012014

Hello! Can you believe it’s December already? It will be Christmas soon, and Cards in Envy is getting in the spirit. Our challenge theme for the next two weeks is “Santa is Coming to Town”. Create an A2 sized card (4.25″ x 5.5″) that depicts Santa Claus in some way. Remember to keep your card flat enough to fit in an envelope to mail at the first class postage rate.

For my design team sample, I wanted to make a card using the cute Santa stamp I used on an earlier card. So I looked for the stamp set… and searched for the stamp set… and looked through just about every possible place in my craft room I could think of looking in. And I still haven’t found the set. Major bummer! So I had to resort to a much different stamp. This one does have a Santa… a very, very subtle one. Can you find him? 🙂 I added some white shimmer paint to parts of the image to make it look like sunlight glistening on snow. The layout for this card is OWH Stars and Stamps sketch #236.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made! What kind of Santa will you use on your card – whimsical, vintage, or something in between? We’d love to see your creativity! Share your card using the linky tool at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, December 14. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Lane (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Winter Wonderland paper pack (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); markers (Copic); Frost White shimmer paint (SU)

Cards in Envy - Thankful for You

2 Responses »

Nov 172014

Hello again! It’s time for another challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we have a super easy theme for you to follow: Thankful for You. That’s right – all you need to do for this challenge is to make an A2 sized thank you card (4.25″ x 5.5″) with no lumpy, bumpy embellishments so that it could be mailed at the standard postage rate. See – I told you it was easy! 🙂

For my card, I’ve used the current layout from CAS(E) this Sketch!. For the triangles, I cut a square of designer paper and coordinating mats from colored cardstock. Then I cut the squares across the diagonal to get the triangles. This allowed me the supplies to make two “twin” cards at once. Yay! After I adhered the triangles to the card bases, I trimmed off the excess from the vertical edges of the cards. The cards are super simple in style, but I think they will be all right for Operation Write Home since the colors aren’t specific to any particular season.

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. Then create a thank you card following our challenge guidelines and share it with us on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, November 30. We’d love to have you play along with us! Thanks for stopping by today.

All supplies for today’s card are from Stampin’ Up.
Stamp: Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Tangerine Tango, Island Indigo, Sycamore Street designer paper
Ink: Tangerine Tango

Cards in Envy - Pumpkin Patch

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Nov 032014

Hi there! It’s Cards in Envy challenge introduction day! For the next two weeks we have a theme challenge of Pumpkin Patch. Show us your A2 sized cards featuring at least one pumpkin. Remember to keep your cards flat enough to fit in an envelope and be mailed at the first class postage rate.

Since Halloween has passed, I didn’t want to use a jack-o-lantern image. I chose this cute Rhubarb the teddy bear digital image for my card and colored it with Copic markers. I’ve combined a couple other challenges along with the Pumpkin Patch challenge. The layout is this past week’s sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com, and the teddy bear lets the card qualify for the Warm Fuzzies Hope You Can Cling To challenge.

If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. What kind of pumpkin card will you create? Share your work with us on the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, November 16. We’d love to have you play along with us!

Supplies:
Digital Image: Rhubarb’s Autumn Day (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: More Mustard, Dusty Durango, Autumn Vine designer paper (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: printer ink
Other: markers (Copic); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); small scalloped border die (Papertrey Ink)

Cards in Envy - Any Witch Way You Can

4 Responses »

Oct 202014

Hello, and welcome to another Monday! Since it’s the third Monday of the month, it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next couple of weeks we’re getting into a Halloween mood by focusing on a theme of “Any Witch Way You Can”. Cards for this challenge should show a witch, or something that easily depicts a witch (such as a witch’s hat or shoes) – and be an A2 card (4.25″ x 5.5″) and flat enough to fit in an envelope for mailing. Your card can be scary, cute, or anything in between.

I took the cute route with my card. I really don’t have any witch stamps, but I do have a Lawn Fawn Halloween-themed set. The cat wearing a witch hat was my solution for this challenge. I felt that making her appear to be riding the broom helped her look even more like a witch. I colored the cat as close to black as I could without losing the details of her face and still providing contrast with the hat. I pieced the background together using a few designer papers. The stars are cut from the blue paper to show the yellow underneath. I’ve used one of my go-to sketches from the OWH Stars & Stamps blog for the layout, but scooted the image panel toward the center of the card since I decided not to put a sentiment on it.

This card just “might” be a sneak peek of an upcoming Hope You Can Cling To challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com, too! I’m not at liberty yet to reveal just what the details of that challenge could be. You’ll just have to keep checking in at SCS to see. It also fits in with the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today! Now go check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made. I’m sure they’d love it if you visit their blogs and leave a comment. Then share your own witchy card with us at the CIE site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, November 2. We’d love to have you play along with us!

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters in Costume (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Marigold Morning (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); designer papers from Oh Baby! Boy collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Landscape Trio and Starburst Cover dies (Mama Elephant)

Cards in Envy - Autumn Leaves

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Oct 062014

Good morning! It’s the first Monday of October, so that means it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. This fortnight we’re encouraging our challenge participants to get in a seasonal mood and make cards showcasing autumn leaves. Cards for this challenge should be A2 sized and be less than 1/4″ thick, since the “in Envy” part of our challenge name means that the cards should be able to be mailed in an envelope at the regular first-class postage rate.

When I look closely at leaves, especially in the fall, I don’t see just one solid color. They tend to be multiple colors – sometimes various shades of red or yellow or orange, and sometimes one dominant color speckled with other colors. Similar to snowflakes, there seems to be no two exactly alike. So I’ve created some speckled leaves for my card for this challenge. The leaf images I used are from a digital stamp set, and I printed several off in slightly different sizes onto white cardstock. I gave them a base color of yellow by watercoloring them. After they were dry, I dipped my paintbrush into a couple different colors of ink and flicked the brush to splatter the ink randomly on the leaves. I scored a couple of horizontal lines on the card base to “frame” the leaves, but the scored lines don’t show very well in the photo.

What kind of leaves will you use on your card? If you need additional inspiration, please go check out the Cards in Envy site and see what the rest of the design team has made. Then create a card following our challenge guidelines and share it with us using the linky tool on the Cards in Envy site. The challenge will close at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, October 19. We’d love to have you play along with us!

Supplies:
Digital Image: Autumn Leaves (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Stamp: Year Round Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Dusty Durango (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: printer ink; Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie ink refills (SU)

Older Entries Newer Entries

Cards in Envy - When Nature Calls

Cards in Envy - Pretty in Pink

Cards in Envy - Child's Play

Cards in Envy - Spring is in the Air

Cards in Envy - Anything Goes with a Bow!

Cards in Envy - Puppy Love

Cards in Envy - Hearts All a Flutter

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

Cards in Envy - Make it a Banner Year!

Cards in Envy - Christmas Carols

Cards in Envy - Santa is Coming to Town!

Cards in Envy - Thankful for You

Cards in Envy - Pumpkin Patch

Cards in Envy - Any Witch Way You Can

Cards in Envy - Autumn Leaves

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