Hello Friends!

It’s OFFICIALLY FALL!!!!  While I’m not a pumpkin spice addict, I do look forward to some pumpkin spice here and there, burning candles, cooler temperatures, and RAIN!!!

I cleaned out my pantry a few days ago and noticed that I have… ah-hmmm multiple cans of pumpkin puree.  I’m never in charge of pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving, that would be my sister.  I’m in charge of chocolate peanut butter, coconut cream, apple, blueberry – the other pies.

However, pumpkin just goes with Fall and Thanksgiving, and apparently I feel the need to stock up on canned pumpkin every fall when it’s on sale…judging from my overstocked pantry!  Sooooo… my kitchen will be smelling of pumpkin spice soon as I try to use up my multiple cans of pumpkin!

Speaking of SALES… don’t forget that TODAY is Stampin’ Up’s one and only sale of the year!   You can  simply log into my online store and click on “Stamp Sale” to bring up all the stamp sets that are marked down 15%.  The sale ends, for those on the west coast (pacific time), at 10:59 PM tonight (9/23/20).

But, back to Fall…I can hardly wait to put on some mellow tunes, light my pumpkin spice candles, and get to baking!  Yep… I’ve been waiting for Fall to arrive for the last several weeks!  I’m excited to pack away my summer clothes and bring out the sweaters and jeans!  I’ve already dug out my camouflage hunting gear and have been getting up early, going out hiking the hills with Dean.  He archery hunts, and is generally successful each year in harvesting a big bull elk!  Have I mentioned, I LOVE FALL?!!

This truly is the season of thanks, so it seemed only appropriate to start the season with some thank you cards!  I opened my craft-room closet today and BOOM!  Right in front of my face were all of my alcohol inks that I haven’t played with in years.  Mine are all of the Ranger Tim Holtz variety which can be bought in any of the big-box craft stores or online.  I’d forgotten how much I love working with these inks!  I’ve not done a lot of it and I’m certainly not proficient in creating masterpieces with them, but creating colorful backgrounds is so much fun, watching the colors flow and merge with other colors, adding a little alcohol blending solution and metallic mixatives.  You can see the end result as the background on my featured card today.

Alcohol inks need to be used on nonporous materials; I used Yupo paper for today’s card.  If you’re not familiar with it, Yupo paper is actually more of a plastic sheeting than “paper”.

I then used a piece of window sheet the same size as my Yupo paper background, and stamped the large sunflower from Celebrate Sunflowers in black Staz-On ink.

The window sheet was then attached to the Yupo background using some silver brads I had in my craft stash.  Glue dots could be used also, and then covered with gems, enamel dots, or ?  Just something to cover the glue dots as they would show through the window sheet.

I used “Well Written” dies to cut the word “thanks” from a silver foil sheet and adhered to the front of the window sheet.

Finally, I used some retired Stampin’ Up Striped Metallic Ribbon applied to the left side of the card and three small pieces tied to it.

This is actually a simple card to make, and so much fun using the alcohol inks!  No two alcohol ink creations are going to look the same, which is what makes it so much fun!  The possibilities are endless.

MATERIALS USED:

Stamp Sets:

• Celebrate Sunflowers
• Ornate Thanks (inside sentiment)

Paper:

• Basic Black CS for card base – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, folded in half at 4 1/4″.
• Cajun Craze CS for Mat 1 – 5 1/4″ x 4″ (cut 2 of these – 1 for card front and 1 for inside)
• Basic Black CS for Mat 2 – 5 1/8″ x 3 7/8″
• Yupo Paper (available online or big-box craft stores) 5″ x 3 3/4″
• Window Sheet – 5″ x 3 3/4″
• Silver Foil Sheet (scrap)

Ink:

• Black Staz-On (this doesn’t wash off your stamp, you need Staz-On Cleaner to remove ink)
• Ranger Alcohol Inks (available online or big-box craft stores).  I used Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, Lettuce, Cranberry, Silver Mixative, Alcohol Blending Solution.

Embellishments:

• Silver brads (retired)
• Striped Metallic Ribbon (retired)

 

Don’t forget about today’s sale!  There are so many fun stamp sets on sale, 15% off!  The stamp sets are all from the ’20-’21 Annual Catalog, which will be “the main catalog” until June of next year, so the stamp sets will still be available after today, but will NOT be on sale again!!!!

So, go to my online store and place your order NOW to get in on today’s lower prices!!!!

Until next time,

Janet

Product List

Celebrate Sunflowers Cling Stamp Set (English) [152517] $24.00	Ornate Thanks Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [149471] $18.00	Well Written Dies [151816] $40.00	Window Sheets [142314] $5.00	Basic Black 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [121045] $8.75
Cajun Craze 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [119684] $8.75	Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [100730] $9.75	Silver Foil Sheets [132178] $5.00	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406] $10.00	Stāzon Cleaner [109196] $6.00
Paper Trimmer [152392] $25.00

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