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Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Grateful (Thanksgiving)

 Hello. Hope you are all well. I've a few friends now down with the Covid and it's just wild how some people get it and some don't, no rhyme or reason at least in my little world. I took a long weekend to sleep because I needed it I suppose, and to do some necessary craft organizing I'd been putting off. I made a few cards too, so I will have these to share if I can just focus enough to write the blog posts.

Sharing a Thanksgiving card today. So many Thanksgiving challenges right now and I've got quite a collection of card elements in my Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving box so time to use some up.

PAPER: Springhill and SU card stock, photo paper, DCWV theme paper stack, 
IMAGES/STAMPS: Gecko Galz collage image from Oct. 2017 newsletter subscriber sheet, W Plus 9, Impression Obsession, Papertrey
INKS: Versafine Clair, printer, Promarkers, Memento, VersaMagic
DIES: Sizzix Pumpkin Vine border, Spellbinders Birds on a Wire and A2 Distressed Edges
OTHER/STASH: circle punch, dark brown card stock tag, red rhinestone, Darice Fall Leaf Background embossing folder

   
I used Split Coast Stampers Sketch #68 from 2006. I resized it to A2 in PSE. Instead of the ribbon elements, I used a pumpkin vine die cut. I will add here at this point I began designing the card with my two Tic-Tac-Toe challenges in mind (they are listed below)

   
Thought I'd also show you a bit how my mind works: on the left is my dry mock-up, before I begin coloring. I don't look at the actual mock-up, I always look at the PHOTO of it because you can see what's wrong and what's right much better that way. Here I noticed two things: the orange vertical card needed something on it to tone it down and it needed texture, so I dry-embossed the orange card and ink-swiped it with a muted green ink; and I also did not like the way the vines went up and just ended, so I thought to add the birds across in a dark silhouette to obfuscate that somewhat. (I have no idea why the embossed part doesn't show up orange once I did that - may be the preset filter I run my photos through.)

On the inside, I used a die to cut out a computer-printed sentiment using a Proust quote and my additional words. I ink-distressed the edges.

On the back I just grabbed some leftover paper scraps and combined them. The center strip is a Graphics45 scrap, the bottom is DCWV and the top is ??? I hand-stamped my siggie and used a circle punch on it, then direct-inked it and ink-distressed the edge.

The front sentiment was hand-stamped directly on the collage sheet image. I love that font!

And I have to show a close-up of this lovely, lovely image. She is gorgeous, isn't she? I ink-distressed the edge all around with chalk ink after cutting her down to fit the tag, but I left her flowers to lay off the edge. That Sizzix pumpkin vine die is extremely old -- it's a border for 12x12 scrapbooking, but hey, it works great here so why not use it? You can also see the embossing where the large leaf curves along with the vine on top of it. That was just lucky serendipity, as was being able to curl the top of the tag vine around the bird wire.

Final view: I do very much like how this turned out. Maybe the dry mock-up confirms that about my natural tendencies. If you know me, you know I love to layer stuff on when I can. Not all the time, but I can't go long without it. So maybe this "style" whatever it is, is right up my alley, lol. And it's going to someone who will love that about it. You know, we worry so much about our style and products and the latest cardmaking fads. I think we often place way too much importance on those and not nearly enough on what the recipients of our cards care about...and what they could care less about. Just my two cents, but the latter is a lot less pressure on us! I thank you for dropping by and letting me share today. Hope your week's going well. XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
2.  Gecko Galz Facebook November Challenge : ATG for the Holidays  -- Thanksgiving holiday
3.   Time Out Challenge #174: Festivals -- celebrating Thanksgiving  
4.   #TTTC090 Featured Designer Ashwini --  I chose bottom left to top right diagonal: Critter (birds) / Holiday (Thanksgiving) / Gemstone (red rhinstone on tag top)
6.   Double Trouble #71: All the Trimmings Partnering with Paper Funday -- Thing 1 Trouble Maker: If I can count my brown tag as a frame for my image, then I have done every square, so take your pick, I tic-tac-toe 100%. Thing 3 Twisted Sister: Sentiment-al I have Grateful on front. Thing 2 Double Dare: I have shared with PF, see below.
7.   Paper Funday #23: AG + Opt. Give Thanks / Thankful / Grateful -- Option played with Grateful sentiment and also fulfills Double Trouble Thing 2 (see Challenge 6)
8.   Colour Crazy Craft Challenge Week 44: AG with Colouring -- I coloured the pumpkin vine with Promarkers.
10. Die Cut Divas November: Thanks / Thanksgiving -- Die cuts used: pumpkin vine, birds, inside mat
11. The Crafters Cafe #255: Embossing -- dry embossed panel underneath pumpkin vine

22 comments:

ahlers5 said...

This turned out gorgeous! She is stunning and I love the red flowers overhanging the frame. All the details are so well thought out. You had me using the dictionary for "obfuscate." I had never heard that word before, but I thought I knew what it meant. I looked it up and it meant exactly what I thought it meant. I remember when my daughter had to write her thesis for her doctorate. She asked me to read it over. Ha! I felt like I was reading a foreign language. It had a lot of medical terms which I did not begin to understand. I just said sounds great. My husband understood a lot more than I did. My other daughter can teach AP Calculus. Yeah, I'm not even going there. I stopped with Trig. Kids, they can make you feel old.

cass said...

Gorgeous, beautifully crafted card. Thanks for entering your wonderful creation in our Embossing Challenge at The Crafter's Cafe this fortnight.

Sherri Thacker said...

What a lovely Fall you created with all these elements! Thanks for joining us at The Crafter's Cafe.

Monica C. said...

Oh this is a gorgeous card so full of elements to look at. Love the deep, bold colors you have used and how you substituted the ribbon for the vine die cut. Great idea too on taking a layout picture. I craft so by the seat of my pants.
Hugs Monica

Stephanie Lanzalotto said...

lovely artsy cards. Thanks for sharing at Time Out.

Suzanne Reynolds said...

You were quite wild to use all the boxes at our TicTacToe, creative and lovely fall card. Thanks for sharing with us at Double Trouble and The Paper FunDay challenges.

Melanie Hungerford said...

Such a great use of all our tic-tac-toe squares! Lovely card, thank you for sharing with us at Double Trouble!
Melanie

aussie aNNie said...

Fabulous creation and love your take on our challenge, great colours… Many thanks for entering into our challenge,
Thank you, Thanksgiving, Gratitude , and hope to see you again soon. Good luck in the final draw.
[aNNie design team member for Scrapping 4 Fun Challenges
https://thejourneyisthestarthere.blogspot.com/{My Blog}

Scrapping4funChallenges said...

Gorgeous set of cards! Love the colors and the pretty images!
Thank you for your entry at Scrapping4funChallenges.
Rachelle DT
https://scrapping4funchallenges.blogspot.com

Alyson Mayo said...

I love that vine and the image. You always include so many little details in your artwork and I am glad you explain what you used and what you did! Thanks for sharing with us at Double Trouble :)

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

OH! This is absolutely GORGEOUS Aimeslee, I love the image and the fabulous layering. The insert certainly doesn't let you down either, the whole card is a piece of art.

I agree about the latest fads etc. I just tend to do my own thing (most of the time LOL).
Faith x

LeAnne said...

What lovely Thanksgiving cards...I like the complexity of the first one and the simplicity of the second! Thanks for playing Tic Tac Toe with us this week!

LeAnne said...

Ooops, I just re-read your post and realized the second card was actually the INSIDE!!! It's pretty enough to be an outside!

Lucille K said...

Your card is fabulous, love all the wonderful Autumn colors, details and design. Thank you for sharing with us at Die Cut Divas :)

Cindy C. said...

So beautifully done!! Thanks for linking up to our November challenge gallery at Die Cut Divas.

Beth Norman-Roberts said...

The moment I saw this (on my phone) I fell in love with this card for all it's splendor colours. I enjoy reading your thought process. You hit the nail on the head about putting so much importance on our style and what's hip and modern I blame the market because they keep putting out new things to change things up so we buy. Sheesh. Have a great weekend Love.

Chana Malkah said...

Gorgeous! I love all the texture and depth you have created in this project! Nice work!
Hugz,
Chana Malkah

Lugkasteel Scrapbooking à la Hettie Krüger said...

I love the embossing technique on this card. Interesting combination of color and different elements. Thank you for sharing it with us at The Crafter’s Café Challenge Blog! Sending hugs back.

Helen said...

Beautiful card - thanks for sharing it with us at the Colour Crazy Challenge.

Helen x

foleysfriend said...

Oh my goodness - so much to look at and admire. I love all the special touches you've added to your card. It's stunning! Loving all the layers. Thanks for joining us at Die Cut Divas.

sue n.

Arlene said...

What a beauty! So glad you could join us at Die Cut Divas for our November challenge.

Rae Ann said...

The colors are so vibrant! The frame really makes the image pop.

Thank you for joining us at Crafty Gals Corner for our Thankful challenge.