Giving Thanks with Painted Autumn

Before I share today’s project for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge, I want to say thank you to Kim Singdahlsen who selected my “Oh Joy” baby card from last week’s challenge as her choice for “Perfect Prince” (if you missed that card, you can see it here).  I receive so much inspiration from these online challenges, so it’s always special to be recognized by the design team members.  Thanks!

For this week’s challenge, I reached for one of the beautifully watercolored piece of Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper and built my simple card around this week’s sketch.  Here’s my simple 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ card:

And here’s the banner for Jennifer Timko’s sketch that inspired my card:

My card is also designed with this week’s Fusion Challenge in mind – I chose the “sunshine” inspiration for today’s project.  Here’s the banner for that challenge:

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

• Painted Autumn.  While this piece of Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper doesn’t look very Autumn-y to me, it certainly comes with great painted appeal.  I love this mix of Daffodil Delight and Peekaboo Peach – who (other than the super-awesome Stampin’ Up! designer who created this page) would have thought these two colors would be so gorgeous together?  There are so many great pages in this pack of papers from the Holiday Catalog – perfect for your Fall-themed or Thanksgiving cards.  Here’s a look at the patterns and colors in Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper:
• Layered Shape.  I love a challenge, so I was delightfully challenged by the open circle in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge – what to do, what to do?  For starters, I knew I’d be using my Starburst Punch – have you noticed this punch?  It was somewhat buried with all the new products in Stampin’ Up!’s 2017 Annual Catalog – and it’s a good one!  Here’s a look at the Starburst Punch:
  

  Starburst Punch, Stampin’ Up!

  And here’s a closer look at my fun shape that’s front-and-center on my card:  Here’s how I created this fun shape:

  • I punched a circle in Peekaboo Peach cardstock with a 1-3/4″ Circle Punch.
  • I lined up the Starburst Punch over that cutout and punched it.
  • I punched a circle in Daffodil Delight cardstock with a 2″ Circle Punch.
  • I glued the Peekaboo cutout on the Daffodil Delight cutout.
  • The sentiment is punched with the Classic Label Punch.  I snipped one end and created a banner tip by feeding the sentiment back into the Classic Label Punch.
  • I smiled.  How fun was that!?

• Fresh Color Combination.  This page of Painted Harvest Designer Series Paper inspired the Daffodil Delight and Peekaboo Peach colors on my card.  To tone down the pale orange and bright yellow a bit, I paired these colors with Old Olive.  Together, the three gave me a great balance of colors.  If you like this combination, too, please save this:

Stamp Sets:  Basket of Wishes  Papers:  Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper, Old Olive, Peekaboo Peach, Daffodil Delight, VeryVanilla  Inks:  Archival Basic Black  Accessories:  Starburst Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, 2″ Circle Punch, Classic Label Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper – 144613

Price: $11.00

Basket Of Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set – 142200

Price: $17.00

Starburst Punch – 143717

Price: $18.00

1-3/4″ (4.4 Cm) Circle Punch – 119850

Price: $18.00

2″ (5.1 Cm) Circle Punch – 133782

Price: $18.00

Classic Label Punch – 141491

Price: $18.00

Old Olive 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 100702

Price: $8.00

Peekaboo Peach 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 141417

Price: $8.00

Daffodil Delight 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock – 119683

Price: $8.00

Supply List

I hope you’ll pop over to the Freshly Made Sketches site and to the Fusion Challenge Site to see the cards by the design team members and to play along with this week’s challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

A Season of Style with Paper Pumpkin.  The Paper Pumpkin kits for October and November are coordinated – two straight months of perfectly coordinated Christmas cardmaking and gifting projects.  You don’t want to miss out on this!  If you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, congrats (you’re about to enjoy two months of coordinated projects)!  If you’d like to sign up (I know you do), please CLICK HERE.

TWO BIG PROMOTIONS TOMORROW.  Today is the last day of Stampin’ Up!’s year (we run from October 1-September 30).  As we kick off a new year tomorrow, Stampin’ Up! kicks off two great promotions at the same time.  Here’s a quick look at the promotions that start tomorrow:

• Designer Series Paper Sale – during October, Stampin’ Up! is offering “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” on select Designer Series Papers.  Who doesn’t love that?!
• World Card Making Day Sale – select items will be marked 15% off for the first 15 days of October – more tomorrow!