As Summer Fades….and We Enter Fall

Happy 2nd day of FALL y’all! I love Autumn!!

I don’t know about where you live, but here the flowers and butterflies were beautiful this year!

I wanted to share this card with you for several reasons…

1. I love how it turned out
2. It saved me money! No, really, it did!
3. Mel asked if I’d like to do something with Arranged and she’d put it on HER blog….how could I say no!

How did it save me money you ask? Well, let me tell you! Back in August, Amber and I went to Stampaway in Cincinnati…imagine a convention center, 2 floors filled with all your stamping needs, and over-zealous paper crafters!! Yeah…CRAZY!!

Anyhoo, I was in a favorite vendor’s booth, drooling over some beautiful images and had even settled on one…holding it tightly in my hand lest another stamper snatch it from me! Then the light bulb went off…SNAP! I could re-create this stamp with several sets I had at home!!! MONEY SAVED! On to the next booth! lol

Here is how I did it. I started by stamping the butterfly from Gina K’s Take Flight where I wanted it to be on the front panel. (did you think it was a separate layer? fooled you!) Then I watercolored it using Adirondack reinkers and a waterbrush. When I was satisfied with the colors, I took my stamp positioner and overstamped the butterfly! This really makes it POP and defines those lines that just don’t look as “bright” when you watercolor. Then, I took my Versamarker pen and went over the butterfly. I then covered it with clear EP and heat set it. This deepens the colors but it also makes it resist any future inking and color!

Next I stamped Melanie’s Arranged with Love from Gina K and started watercoloring again. (oh, your ink will “stamp” on the resist but you can carefully wipe it off with a tissue…I say carefully because the ink will stay wet on the embossing and smudge off the edges if you’re not careful…ask me how I know!)

I used Copic black to make a thicker line around the edges then distressed them. The Swiss Dots layer is popped up on foam mounting tape (the kind in the hardware dept). And the final touch, the little sentiment from the set.
ginak stamps, pure luxury and prism cardstock, mementos tuxedo black and adirondack reinkers, spellbinders, cuttlebug

Hope you learned just a little bit and I certainly thank you for stopping by!

Dawn