Lighthearted Leaves & Rest

Hey lovelies! Hopefully you are in the process of recovering from a FANTABULOUS long weekend.

As I was talking with local friends on all the exciting things they were going to do I was beginning to feel a bit boring.

I only had one thing on my agenda.  S L E E P.  My long weekend was just that.  SLEEP.  This young body of mine needed a little rest.  I’ve been going 90 to nothin’ (that’s southern for REALLY CRAZY FAST) since the kids started back to school.  My body needed a rest.  My brain needed a rest.  My feet needed a rest.  I was happy as a clam with my bed head and pajama’s gazing at the clock to note it was 11:30am and I was just putting my feet to the floor.  That’s what I call a successful weekend.

I’m sure the kids will go to school and tell a different story.  It may end up something like my parents are lazy.  I’m totally okay with that.  <grin>

Once I had a few ounces of coffee on board I was in my studio crafting away, listening to music and being in my zone. I had work to finish and then it was play time.

Play time is GOOD.  If you are a creative entrepreneur we can get caught up in the worky worky and forget about the time we need to rejuvenate our creative spirit.  It’s good.  Really good.

Lighthearted Leaves 

I wanted to play (this sounds like I’m a 2 year old) with a fall set and one that I love is the Lighthearted Leaves.

I had no idea what direction this was going to go in.  My creative brain was mush.  I started with a bit of rockin’ and rollin’ with the inks directly onto the leaf images.

Tips & Tricks: 

If the rock n roll technique is new to you, take an image and stamp onto a ink pad.  Next, choose a complimentary color and “roll” the image over your second ink choice. Some people ROCK, others ROLL.  I like to do both. Now stamp directly onto your cardstock.  I used Whisper White (no surprise there).  Once I had my images looking a bit psychedelic I wanted to take that process a little further.

I have a bunch of spritzer bottles around my studio.  Some I have created myself using alcohol and re-inkers and some are purchased from other companies such as Heidi Swapp’s Color Shine.

Since I was in that gypsy mood I decided to use all kinds of spritzers.  One of my spritzers even became clogged. Guess which leaf had the clogged spritzer? Do you LOVE when a mistake ends up being something good? I liked the SPLAT the clogged spritzer created.

I also added a bit of Gold Shimmer Smooch.  You can tell that by the gold flecks.

I let the leaves dry a good bit which gave me time to figure out what I was going to do with them.

I wanted to keep this simple.  I loved how the leaves looked and I didn’t want to add  embellishments like I normally would.  The next best thing for me was some stitching.

Here comes another mistake that turned into something I liked.  I ran out of bobbin thread in my sewing machine.  Look closely at the picture above and you can see random stitching without the thread.  Ha.  Who knew? I like it.

Finish it Up!

This card was easy to finish up.  I stamped the greeting “Believe” in Cajun Craze and it was complete.

If you are a “white cardstock lover” I highly recommend Stampin’ Up!’s new Thick Whisper White cardstock.  This heavy cardstock is the perfect cardstock for card bases.  Love the feel and the weight.  You will love it.

Overall, I accomplished what I set out for this weekend.  Rest and creative splurge.  I want to hear about your weekend.  What did you do? Were you lazy  resting like me?

Please Don’t forget these…

Paper Pumpkin Half Off promotion ends on the 10th.  Get 2 months at half the price!  That’s a STEAL.  Plus read what you get when you become a subscriber with me HERE and a bonus project.

New Online Class Available.  Make sure to check it out and see if it tickles your fancy.

Fun Fact…

Did you know you can click the search button on the right side bar and look for ALL kinds of things.  Try typing in Halloween, Christmas or even a stamp set you want to use for inspiration.  8 years of blogging there is TONS of great ideas tucked nicely away.  Use that tool to find lots of projects.