Blogging Friends Blog Hop – Falling for the Season

Welcome back to our 2nd Blogging Friends Blog Hop!  I’m so glad that you’ve joined me here – our group was thrilled at how well-received last month’s blog hop was, and that’s all thanks to you!

In case this is your first hop with us, here’s some background information; we are a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators – many of us only know each other ‘virtually’, as we’re from across North America (so far I’m the only Canadian) – but we all share a love of what we do, and we want to share that with you!

Our blog hop runs in a circular fashion; each blog is connected to the one before & after it.  So all you need to do to make sure you don’t miss 1 creative project is to keep clicking in one direction – either ‘next’ or ‘back’.  Or, you can hop about at your leisure by going to the list of all the participating blogs at the bottom of this post.

For this month’s hop, we’re still celebrating Fall, or Autumn, whichever you choose to call it.  Of course, my friends to the south have still to celebrate Thanksgiving, so you’ll probably see a lot of projects for that event.  You may have come to my page  here from the talented Danica Ferrante – aren’t her projects fun?!

I’m going to be focusing on all things autumnal – so let’s get to it!  Here is my first project, a cute little bag made using the Gift Bag Punch Board, but with the twist of having a flap opening!

This is just the right size to give a little treat to your Thanksgiving dinner guests.  I started with a piece of Tangelo Twist cardstock measuring 11″ x 6″, and followed the directions for creating the box in the video I  shared in THIS POST.   It really is easy to do!  I then wrapped a piece of Happy Haunting Designer Series Paper around the bag, and created the tag by stamping the little pumpkin and saying from the September Paper Pumpkin kit onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, and using the Label Bracket Punch to punch it out.  On another piece of Very Vanilla cardstock I sponged Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie inks using Sponge Daubers, then stamped the leaf images from the Vintage Leaves stamp set in Tangelo Twist ink, then used the Big Shot and Leaftlets Framelits to die cut them.  I layered them together with Stampin’ Dimensionals, then attached them with more dimensionals to the front of the gift bag, attaching it high enough so that the top of the leaves will keep the flap of the gift bag closed.

My next project is a card that could be used for Thanksgiving, or any occasion that requires a ‘thank you’ card (or change the sentiment for a different occasion):

To create the background, I scribbled my Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist and So Saffron Stampin’ Write Markers onto my ‘E’ Clear Block, then spritzed it with water, and pressed it down onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  When you do this, you can actually see the cardstock absorbing the ink, so it’s easy to see when to lift your block.  I then stamped the image from the Serene Silhouettes stamp set in Elegant Eggplant ink.  The sentiment is from the Happy Scenes stamp set, inked in Elegant Eggplant onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock, and die cut using the Tags & Labels Thinlits Dies.  I layered the stamped image onto a layer of Tangelo Twist cardstock, then I wrapped a piece of the Gold Metallic Baker’s Twine around the left side, and attached the sentiment using Stampin’ Dimensionals.  The whole thing was then layered onto a card base of Mossy Meadow cardstock.

My final project is a card that was inspired by Dawn Griffith, another talented Stampin’ Up! demonstrator; it is just so gorgeous, I had to make one!

I changed very little from Dawn’s original card – that’s how great hers is!

This card is created by using the Big Shot and the Leaflets Framelits Dies – you die cut the large maple leaf out of the front panel that is stamped with the Hardwood stamp set, and insert a die cut maple leaf that was cut from Very Vanilla cardstock, and stamped with the image from the Happy Scenes stamp set.  It’s all a matter of using your Sponge Daubers to create the background on the die cut leaf; I used Crumb Cake for the ‘ground’ area, and Daffodil Delight, and Tangerine Tango for the sky.  I used my Stampin’ Write Markers in Pumpkin Pie and Real Red to colour the pumpkins and the leaves.

The Hardwood background is stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Crumb Cake Cardstock, and the edges of the panel plus the inside edges of the leaf cut out are also sponged with Early Espresso.  The sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso, and the Large Oval Punch used to punch it, and the Scallop Oval Punch for the Crumb Cake layer.  The Gold Cording Trim was wrapped twice around the panel, then the sentiment attached over it using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The image panel is layered onto a piece of Soft Suede cardstock, then layered onto the card base of Early Espresso cardstock.

Well that’s it for my projects!  I hope you enjoyed seeing them – if you have time, I’d love it if you would leave a comment!

Now, you can click the ‘Continue’  button below to see Jessica Mink’s fabulous projects.

Enjoy the rest of the Hop – thanks for spending some time with me today!

***Edited to update the link to Jessica’s blog – so sorry for the earlier problem!