Gently Falling for Fab Friday

Hey there! Are you still on a bit of a sugar high from all of the candy you swiped from the kids' trick-or-treat bags? Why is that stuff so hard to resist? I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween. I just can't believe that it is already November! How the heck did that happen? The months are just flying by! Soon we will be eating turkey, fighting the Black Friday crowds, and getting all ready for Christmas. Crazy!

Anyway, it is Friday and Fab Friday! We have a wonderful color combination that is perfect for Fall cards...

I decided to pull out one of my very favorite stamp sets, Gently Falling, for this one. I was lucky enough to have a stampy play date with my awesome friend, Jen Timko, last week and I made this card while she was here. It is so much more fun to stamp with a buddy. I love that she is so close and hope that we can get together often during the coming months. Here is my card...

This card uses the super cute and fun Expressions Thinlit dies. I just love them. I had some reservations about them and didn't order them right away. I thought they would be hard to cut out and difficult to adhere, but with a sheet of wax paper between the die and the card stock and a few dots of mono glue, they are actually really easy to use. I stamped off for the leaves and then fussy cut them and popped them up with dimensionals. A very simple card, but I like the way it turned out.

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: Gently Falling
Paper: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Sweater Weather DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Big Shot, Expressions Thinlits, Early Espresso stitched grosgrain, dimensionals, mono adhesive

Before closing, I just have to share a card that my little girl made. Her Kindergarten class has a project each month that the student is supposed to work on with their family. This month, the project was to make a Christmas card to send to our troops serving overseas. This project was just perfect for my budding, young stamper. Here is the card she made. I thought she did a great job. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to visit us at Fab Friday and play along. We can't wait to see what you make!
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FM114: Brick Wall

In my quest to do more stamping for fun this summer, I have been keeping my eye on all of the challenge blogs out there. I saw that The Friday Mashup had a really technique challenge that I hadn't tried before called "Brick Wall", so I decided to give it a try.

And here is my card (a little early since it is very fall-ish, but oh well)...

Stampin' Up Supplies Used:
Stamps: Gently Falling, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry
Accessories: Big Shot, Woodgrain EF, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, Tombow Multi Liquid Glue, paper snips, sponge
Techniques: Brick Wall, 2-Step Stamping, Stamping Off, Sponging

Isn't that a cool technique? I really had fun making this card for my dad's birthday in November (provided that I can keep track of it that long). ;-)

A couple of thoughts and tips for this technique...

• Check out the photo tutorial on Splitcoaststampers and watch the video.
• Allow yourself some time to play. This is not the technique for those times when you have ten minutes to make a card.
• I found that drawing the bricks on the backside of the cardstock and then cutting worked better than using the trimmer.
• When cutting apart your stamped cardstock, do one strip at a time and immediately sponge it and glue it down. Otherwise, this will become a very tricky jigsaw puzzle.
• I found that using liquid glue worked well because it allowed me some time to make adjustments and make sure everything was straight.

OK, I think that's all of the advice that I can offer. This is a fun one! Give it a try!
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More Fall Card Buffet Previews

I am finally finished with all of my projects for my fall card buffet! Yippee! I'm even a couple of days under the deadline- shocking! I have three more cards to share tonight! I hope you like them!

This first card is a fun Halloween card that uses the super adorable set called Spooky Bingo Bits. I just love these cute images!

Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon, Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Big Shot, Spiderweb EF, Chevron EF, Scallop Square punch, 1" Square punch, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch

The next card is a card using one of my very favorite stamp sets for this time of year, Gently Falling. I love the realistic leaf images. So pretty! This card also uses a technique called Triple Time Stamping that Dawn Olchefske shared on her blog recently.

Stamps: Gently Falling, Petite Pairs
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Soft Suede
Accessories: linen thread, Naturals Designer buttons
Technique: Triple Time Stamping

This last card was inspired by a card that Amanda Mertz posted on Splitcoast. It caught my eye immediately because it used the colors that were in the Spice Cake DSP that was in last year's holiday mini. I loved that DSP. It was one of my favorites ever. Even though the colors don't scream "fall", I think that the medallion from Day of Gratitude looks very "fallish".

Stamps: Day of Gratitude
Paper: Soft Suede, Pool Party, First Edition DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Pool Party, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Very Vanilla seam binding, sponge
Techniques: Stamping Off, Sponging
Inspired by this card made by Amanda Mertz.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my final two projects for the buffet and if you plan to attend, please check back on Saturday for a post with all of the choices.

~Marla Pin It