Welcome Fall Swap

I just love fall.  The colors seem more beautiful for some reason, the air a bit more crisper, the temperature starts to get a bit more cooler (no more triple digits) and in Central California it's Harvest Time!!  So, in celebration, Mark's Finest Papers is holding a Speedy The Cat Fall Card Swap.  I was in the birthday swap and had such a blast, I joined the Summer swap and now the Fall swap. 

For my swap cards, I chose my favorite fall color combination: Stampin Up! Really Rust (why was it retired?), Old Olive, and More Mustard.  Instead of stamping my images on plain vanilla card stock, I used Mark's Finest Papers Corn Husk card stock.  I'm finding I like the texture and how Koh-I-Noor wood less pencils color and blend on this card stock.  Fantastic!!

Once I had decided on my card stock colors, I pulled out my All Aboard and Welcome Home stamp sets.  After stamping my All Aboard train station image four times, I pulled out the Koh-I-Noor pencils and got to work, using the prismacolor blending marker as I needed to.  When I finally got to coloring the trees, I had to pull out five (5) different pencils to obtain the shading I wanted for the leaves and then colored spritzed an old olive marker over the entire image.  After all of the layering was done for my main image, I then pulled out a cuttlebug Autumn embossing folder and ran the card portion through my Big Shot before sponging Stampin Up! really rust ink over the raised wording.  Finally pulling out the "There's no place like Home" saying from the Welcome Home set, I stamped my saying also onto Corn Husk card stock and layered it before color spritzing an old olive marker over it. 

For my final touches, I punched out some large and small leaves using a large Marvy punch and a small EK Success punch, then sponging ink, rolled up the edges of the large leaves with a quilling tool and adhering them with glue dots.  Here's a close up of the detailed section.

There's still plenty of time for you to come join us in the Speedy The Cat Fall Card Swap.  Just make sure you've joined Speedy TV to sign up for it.  If you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for??  There's lots of inspiration, friends, and videos/tutorials at Speedy TV.  The swap is due September 30th and the sooner you get signed up in the forum, the sooner you can get your swaps done.  By the way, all participants of the Speedy The Cat Fall Swap receive a free mini stamp set courtesy of Faith.  Isn't she the greatest??

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.


Stamps:  MFP Welcome Home, All Aboard
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Really Rust, Old Olive, More Mustard
Card Stock: MFP Corn Husk, Stampin Up! Really Rust, Old Olive, More Mustard
Accessories: Koh-I-Noor Wood less Pencils, Prismacolor Blender Marker, SU Old Olive Brads, Glue Dots, Cuttlebug Autumn Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Color Spritzing Tool, Stampin Up! Old Olive Marker, Sponges, Marvy Leaf Punch, EK Success Leaf Punch, Quilling Tool