Thanksgiving

Good Morning, and come on in & have a cup of coffee while we have a little chat! Our area has been having some so pleasant weather the last few days. It is still getting quite warm mid day, but our mornings & evenings are most pleasant. We've even been able to go sit in our porch swing several evenings. (That's what some Southerners do...sit on the porch, watch your neighbors go by, and wave - whether you know them or not! It's the friendly thing to do!!!) Also watch a few lingering lightnin' bugs (otherwise known as fireflies). Ok..I expect you would like to know about the card. This one was not terribly difficult in the coloring, but the making of the image into a card...well, I had a struggle with it. The image is fairly large, so I used a S/binder Grand Label eleven to diecut. Decided it would look pretty as a shaped card. Wrong! The top part of it is white, just as the bottom. Looked 'funny' with all the white at the top. There was a reddish textured scrap that was close at hand, tried to put a scalloped border at the top of the card. Again, this looked stupid. The image had already been adhered to a shaped card front. I couldn't pull it loose, and I had spent too much time in the coloring, to remember "It's just Paper!". Decided to cut the top part straight as this would cut the cardbase into 2 pieces, releasing the image...however it's still a double layer. Handcut a wider mat using the same die that cut it out, using a sort of orange tone textured paper.  I chose the matting & cardbase to try to emphasize the beautiful fall colors in this image. I tried some greens & browns, but just didn't do anything for the image.  IRL this paper is not so orange-y as it looks here - has a lot of brown tones. Then used a red speciality paper to make the cardbase, with a top fold. This red paper has specks of color in it, and is also embossed with the Dots folder. The image is a Northwoods stamp I bought from eBay, and the sentiment, stamped in Rich Cocoa, is a clear stamp from a set that I've had for a while. I was just struggling to find one that would fit the space, because I didn't want to cover up the image. I know that when diecutting, you don't have to have the full image cut out (on these large stamps). Yet I thought this image was pretty, and I simply couldn't think of what to cut out of the picture! Also, since it is such a detailed large image, I thought less was best on any embellishment. In retrospect, I think a plain square diecut might look better. Another lesson learned!! Any suggestions from my readers as to how you have dealt with the above card woes, will be appreciated! I see so many cards on blogs & Pinterest, that look so stunning. Then I do one like this, and think "Why do I make it so difficult?". But I do enjoy coloring these detailed images...it's the kind of stamp I gravitate to when I'm buying stamps. Not sure why...

Anyhoo, thanks for coming by, and hope to see you soon. Have a great day.

Edit: This is a Northwoods Stamp, Fall Apples & Pumpkin Harvest Tree Baskets, purchased on eBay,. I bought several from the same seller. They were not 'great buys', but the stamps were in very good condition, didn't have to clean the rubber, etc. So I was pleased with the price for the quality I received. But again, no big bargain. I can provide the seller - if anyone wants to know - AND if I am allowed to do that here! Got some queries as to stamp brand, name, etc. and I'm always happy to provide the info if someone is interested. As to the complexity of coloring: My method is to pick a color to start, use it wherever needed, then go to my next color choice. I take a stamp such as this one, in 'bites'. I also color slowly, so it takes me a while. (usually an evening of tv watching!). That is why I struggled so hard to salvage the card, once I realized what I had done, wasn't appealing in the way I had done it to make the card. This is a challenge area for me, picking papers, doing layouts! I always appreciate any suggestions/feedback anyone can provide to h help me improve!!! Thanks for looking and also asking about the stamp & how I did it. :-)