MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - SENTIMENT AS FOCAL POINT

Welcome back to another monthly challenge from Moving Along with the Times - our challenge to you this month if to use a sentiment as the focal point.  I loved this challenge as it made me look through my stamps and remind myself of what I have and I found this.

The sentiment is from a Visible Image stamp set called Express Yourself.  I used a background I had made with the gel press which was a very faint image and added extra stamping with a crackle stamp by Alison Bomber.  I also stamped her blackberry stamps at the top and bottom leaving the middle ground for the sentiment.  I added a Tim Holtz Transparent Wing.  I used Tim Holtz Watercolour pencils for the colouring. 

THE MALE ROOM - #203 - FOR A BABY BOY

A card for the little men in our lives this month for our challenge at The Male Room this month.  Baby cards are not really ones I seem to make so I had to put my thinking head on for this one.  I found an old Stampin Up set in the back of the cupboard which had this cute image of the kangaroo and the baby koala inside.

I had some cute baby papers which I had used for a scrapbook page recently of my little grandson so they were perfect to use on this card.  The Baby Boy banner card was part of the set and I stamped the words from the Stampin Up set inside.  I used the same background paper to stamp the image and then coloured it in with Tim Holtz Watercolour Pencils. 

PEARLY SPARKLES - PUMPKINS AND/OR AUTUMN LEAVES

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles.  Can you believe I don't have any pumpkin stamps!  I even had a look through what may be out there to buy but they all seemed to be hallowe'en type ones and not just autumnal pumpkins.  If anyone knows of any I'd love to have a heads up.

So my card focused on Autumn leaves.  Autumn is my favourite season and it's all just starting to happen slowly in my part of Wales.  My chutney has already been made and the sloe gin is next on the menu.  I digress.  Back to my card!  I started off with a very old embossing folder - I've added a picture below.  I can't even make out the name on it but if you have something similar in your stash this idea may work for you too.

I started off by inking up the leaves around the oval in Distress Inks in Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs and a touch of Spiced Marmalade.  I spritzed it with some water then ran it through the Big Shot and I love how it came out.

Previously I've been playing with Tim Holtz Leaf Fragments dies even before he did a You Tube of them lol!  I used various inks to create the leaves and I also used book pages but they just didn't seem to quite fit this theme. I took three of the leaves and added them to the centre of the image.  The sentiments are from two separate Tracy Evans sets for Aallandcreate.