Gently Falling for Fall....Ha! Not Bloody Likely, but it sure does make for a Beautiful Birthday Card! :-)

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Hey y'all! How're you doing today? It's a beautiful day here in the DMV! Am I the only one who heard Mister Rodgers just then singing "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, would you be my, could you be my, won't you be my neighbor?" No? Me neither then!

Did you get the title of today's blog? For those of you that know me, you know if it's below 72 it's too cold, so I'm not likely to be "Falling for Fall", be it "Gently" or any other way! LOL!

I had the morning off, got to sleep in an extra hour, had an interview for a part-time position at a Med-Spa (Botox has made me happy Very Happy, so why shouldn't I want to share some of that happiness with others? Do you know they are doing clinical trials for depression with Botox? I kid you not! Anyways, then I got to go have lunch with one of my Besties with DEA who I get to see way tooo little of, (Shout out here to Jessica if she's checking in on my little blog here), and got to spend a little time with some of my All-Time Favorite Heroes, some Very Special Agents with the U.S.'s Finest Law Enforcement Division, the D.E.A., Drug Enforcement Administration (not Agency we're very particular about that distinction, it's a sticking point actually). These men and women put their lives on the line everyday and this special group I met with today holds a very special place in my heart, and Jessica, well she's like the mother hen that keeps them all in line, God Bless her! After seeing some of my favorite guys, Jess and I got to have lunch together (score!) So....the morning was amazing and now here I am with time to blog and then do a little schoolwork before chillaxing and finishing up preparations for this weekends "Just Christmas Cards StampCamp", try saying that 3 times real fast. WOW! I really hope your day is going half as good!

Today's card is one that we did at last weekend's StampCamp. It was a Fall themed camp so I wanted to use my new Gently Falling set. I loved all the cards I've been seeing with it. Well, I finally had to break down and get it. One thing I like about it is, it's a Two-Step Stamp set but I've seen and done projects now with  each of the stamps sets individually and together so I feel like I have 3 sets for the price of 1. Hard to beat that! One of the girls that was coming to my camp said she had a friend with a birthday coming up, so I told her we could make a card for that, and here's what I came up with. I got the idea for this from France Martin. I just changed a few things to make it mine.

I have to say, I wasn't sure about the Spice Cake DSP when I first saw it, it just didn't scream "Fall" to me, but I am really loving it now. I used a base of Pool Party (who would have thought of this as a Fall color , but it makes such a pretty combination), and randomly stamped ( yeah, yeah, random) just the outline portion of the leave in Soft Suede. I then made a banner by using my Scalloped Border Punch on the edge of a strip of More Mustard and then layered another strip of Spice Cake DSP on top of that. I Tombowed them together. (You could SNAIL it if you wanted to) I cut the "V" in the bottom of the banner freehand although if you're good with using the edge of your square punch, you could use that too. I just knew that I, personally, could get a truer point freehanded. I then used some Soft Suede and lightly sponged the edges to give some depth. I Tombowed this to my cardfront just a little off-center.

I used the Petite Pairs Sentiments and chose the Happy Birthday one for this card. I like Love that set! So many options. Someone could make a Birthday card, a Thank-You card, even a Sympathy card or more from this one card and that sentiment set. So versatile, So fabulous, So easy on my pocket! (YEA!!!!!!) So I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla cardstock and used my Designer Label Punch to Punch it out. A little sponging around the edges, a few dimensionals to pop it up off the banner and we're almost done.

Next I stamped the same leaf image from the card base on Very Vanilla Cardstock and then using my Aqua-Painters and my Pool Party Classic Ink Pad water colored in the leaves. Quick and Easy but So Striking! I then stamped the little acorn and colored it in with Soft Suede. I know it looks like I used two different colors on it, but it's just a matter of how concentrated the ink was when I picked it up from the tray and laid it down on the paper. I tell you what, my first-time stampers this weekend did this technique and did a Fabulous job!

Tip- #1-When watercoloring on regular cardstock it's best to use Staz-on ink whenever possible, because it won't bleed and the color won't muddy.
#2 - When using regular cardstock use as little water as possible, to preserve the integrity of your paper and your image.

The cutting out of the leaves and the acorn was the hardest part of this whole card. (Well you know, me & bow-tying are not the best of friends but this was still, if not the hardest at least the most time consuming.) We adhered the leaves with dimensionals and used the little side pieces around the edge of the pack, to pop up the little acorn. It's hard to see, but there's a little bow made from linen thread adhered at the top of the acorn. I stuck it on with a little Mini Glue Dot.

Tip- When you're using Mini-Glue Dots for something really tiny like this little bow, take it off the paper and roll it into a little ball and then stick your item onto it and then adhere it to your project. If you just stick your little tiny bow to the dot, there's still going to be glue dot showing on both sides that can then stick to other things, like your envelope or other cards..... Ask me how I know.

For the inside of this card, I kept it pretty simple. I just stamped the second half of my birthday sentiment and another leaf from the set and I was done.

Did you notice anything missing today? That's right! Tink did not make an appearance for this card. Not even a stray glimmer, or shimmer. And, you know what? For this card, I'm ok with that. I'm so happy with how it turned out and my girls were too. I really hope this set ends up in the full catalog next year, it's just so beautiful.

Well, that's it for now...gotta go study and then stamping time :-) I hope you enjoyed today's card and I hope you are enjoying your day. If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

If you need supplies to make this card or other like it, you can shop in my online store 24/7, HERE.

Don't forget, Stampin' Up has extended their FREE Big Shot giveaway until Nov 11. You can get a FREE Big Shot or $100.00 in Free merchandise just for signing up. No strings attached. Contact me for more information.

Also don't forget this weekends Just Christmas Cards StampCamp. Saturday 10-2. Make 5 cards for $15.00. Choose one of those or one from last week's class to be your Christmas card for this year and place your order from me and I will cut all your cardstock for you. All you will have to do is assemble them. We can even get together and have an assembly party one evening. It doesn't get any easier than this.

If you get a chance and you see a Law enforcement officer, Fire Fighter, EMT, or Military Member, think about taking just a moment to tell them "Thanks". They are truly Every Day Heroes and they rarely get the thanks they deserve.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you'll come back later this week for the End of the Week Technique. I've got something cute that's quick and easy, from last weekend's camp to show you.
Till then....

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It