Thanksgiving leaves

This card has more of my watercolored leaves with the Kuretake watercolors. I love how brilliant these Japanese watercolors are.  
When I started making cards, I never thought I would use the brown kraft paper look - so boring!
But there are times when it creates the perfect soft look - the graphic polka-dots set off the organic nature of the wreath of fall leaves.  

Well....  Another "simple" but bold card.

Cardstock:  PTI Kraft, Vintage Cream

Die:  PTI Rustic Wreath

Paoer: Doodle Bug "Kraft in Paper"

Thanksgiving

Wow!  I came across this sunflower paper - It has such rich, saturated color - and when I combined it with a strip of PTI's Canyon Clay cardstock, those rich colors came out even more.  All this card needed was the simple sentiment.
I confess that sometimes I think my cards aren't complex enough, with lots of layers and embellishments  --I remind myself that instead I have an eye for color and design.  And sometime the simplicity is what makes an image outstanding! 

This card will be hard to send away.

Cardstock and Sentiment: PTI

Paper:  Graphic 45 French Country Collection 

(I LOVE Graphic 45's papers and own several different collections)

Song Bird

Picasa and Blogger have updated themselves, I see...  it took some fumbling around to get this photo uploaded etc. but here it is.  I was at Checkered Cottage this week, flipping through some pads of patterened paper and for a split second saw this paper and immediately knew that it would match the motif of this "Songbird" die from PTI.  

My blog is called "Creating With Spirit" and I am constantly in wonder at how I am led to put random glimpses of things together to create these miniature works of art to give to someone who could use some kindness or appreciation.  This card went to a friend who is caring for her elderly mother.  I think it's particularly hard for a care-giver when the person they are taking care is uable to acknowledge the gift of love they are receiving.  In this case, my friend's mother has dementia and I thought some acknowledgement and appreciation might be really nice to receive.

Paper:  Basicgrey "Evergreen"

Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream, Scarlett Jewel

Dies: PTI "Songbird"

Various Copic pens to color the songbird

Autumn Leaves

Make It Monday 179

PTI's Make it Monday this week is about creating a stencil with a negative die-cut, embossing it and the using blended inks. The idea for using these falling stars came to me as I was hunting through my stuff.  

I can't beIieve that my mind went straight to Christmas!  I'm barely beginning to enjoy the presence of crisp fall weather here in St. Louis--  But I saw the sky as the early dawn, and the presence of the word "peace" would not be denied.  That is what Christmas is all about, isn't it?

One trick:  I happen to own a Versamark pen and it was really handy fot filling in the places that the Versamark pad didn't quite cover.  I also used painters tape to hold all those stars together as a "stencil".

Papers:  PTI Enchanted Evening, select White

Dies. PTI Christmas Trio, Dangled Stars

PIT inks:  Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain, Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Lemon Tart

We Believe in You!

Another card for my daughter who's in the throes of starting her own business. I experimented with using the new Distress Minis and sponged the color on to a panel of white card stock, layered with the die-cut stars.  I love that the stars and the font for the saying have a bit of whimsical energy in them.  They go perfectly together.  I wanted to keep this one around for a while, but it went off in the mail anyway.  I'll just make another one to keep on hand for someone else who might need a boost!

Make It Monday 178

Todays PTI challenge is to make a back to school blackboard - using a die cut to create  the "legs" of your easel.   I created a green shaded blackboard because that's what I remember they started using when I was in school.  I also remember how Miss O'Brien always decorated our Fourth Grade room with all kinds of cut outs - and I remember the distinct smell of the purple-y stuff they used to duplicate assignments and drawings.  So it seemed natural to string up some "leaves" the way she would have done!

Paper: Classic Kraft, Ocean Tides, Dark Chocolate - all PTI

Ink:  PTI Classic Kraft, Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate

Dies:  PTI Polkadot Parade #2. Journaling card