About Me

My photo
I'm a retired primary school teacher, who started paper crafting in 2008, when I had a fancy to make my own Christmas cards. Since then, I have tried all sorts of techniques and styles - and I kind of like them all. I have been lucky enough to be on blog teams and large design teams and to do a bit of freelance demonstrating - and I love the challenge of working with different products. My crafting style is very varied - from junk journaling and art journaling, bookbinding and journal making, to quilting and patchwork - and of course I still make cards. This variety keeps me interested - and my crafty stash growing!! I'm always seeking inspiration for new projects.

Monday 15 October 2012

Challenge 77 - Autumn or Autumn Colours !!



This week's challenge is set by the lovely Josephine who says 'There are always so many Hallowe'en challenges around! So instead of creating a Hallowe'en card I would like to see something that depicts the Season of Autumn, or maybe Harvest Festival, Guy Fawkes, Diwali or some other festival that happens in the Autumn. If your theme is a lesser-known festival, please tell us about it in your post! But remember, this is not a Hallowe'en challenge!'

We are sponsored this week by Milk Coffee Digital Stamps.

Well, it's been a while since I've been here on Blogger - pretty much a whole month!! I would so love to have more crafting time, but planning and marking has pretty much taken over my life in my temporary teaching post!! Ofsted is looming - and an air of urgency has entered every aspect of school (and home) life!! 

So, it was nice to sit down on Sunday morning and craft. To be honest, it also meant I could get my husband's anniversary card made at the same time. We will have been married 8 years on Tuesday, and we had a beautifully sunny autumn day for our wedding - with all the leaves looking so vibrant. The colours of the card match the colour theme of our wedding - burgundys, yellows and oranges - so this challenge seemed a perfect way to create his card.




I started by creating a heart template on the computer, and printing it onto 300gsm card. I then cut it out, folded it and inked it using Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany, Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo DI's. I didn't want a blended look, so literally splodged the foam onto the card - both back and front.


I then gathered together all my foliage dies - they are all Spellbinders and from a variety of sets including Foliage 1, and Spiral Blossoms. I also rummaged through my scraps box to use up smaller pieces of card - rather than cutting into anything new. I embossed them all for texture, and inked some whilst still in the dies.

These were randomly stuck onto the card to create a 3D textured effect - just like piles of leaves on the floor!! 


The finishing touch was the little plaque (cut using Spellbinders scalloped long oval) which I printed on my computer, and inked with Aged Mahogany whilst still in the die. !!


I am pretty pleased with how this turned out.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Challenge Up Your Life - Autumn/ Halloween
Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog - Autumn

Hopefully be back soon.

Cxxx