CAS Leaves for Three Challenges

Partial view from our favorite overlook- Jewell Hollow

Hi Friends!!

My husband and I visited Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park today and it was absolutely gorgeous!! 

Look at that tall spindly tree he is in :-)

We saw a Bald Eagle flying across a field before we even left our own county (in an area we never expected to see an eagle) plus in addition to the wonderful fall leaves, we had the thrill of seeing a black bear up in a tree approx. 50 feet high!

We could not believe this branch would hold him :-)

He was quite the acrobat :-)

We were not the first to spot this bear so we are not sure if he climbed the tree in front of the spectators, or if he was already at the top of the tree when they spotted him, but we had the pleasure of watching him for a few minutes.   It is amazing how agile these bears are and the tree trunk was very small compared to the other trees around him but he have loved the nuts  and/or leaves on that particular tree (since he did not even seem to notice that we were congregating on the drive snapping pictures of him)!

All in all, a wonderful fall day marveling at God’s amazing creation!!  Just glorious!

I was so inspired by all of the fall colors, I decided to create a quick card for Nance’s PP267 “CAS Leaves” Challenge at The Paper Players along with the Stampin’ Royalty SR#300 Photo Inspiration Challenge and the FMS209 Sketch atFreshly Made Sketches.

I hope you have a chance to visit the above galleries- wonderful inspiration from all!

To create this card:

Stamp the leaf image from the retired Best of Autumn stamp set using Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink onto a piece of watercolor paper.

Use an AquaPainter™ to add water to the image and color with the Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink pads (“spritzing” and adding more color to create the watercolor wash).

Dry with the Heat Tool and add additional detail with the Stampin’ Write Markers of the same colors.

Use the Big Shot™ with the My Favorite Things™ Stitched Rectangle Dies to cut out the image (I actually shortened the die cut image by overlapping the sides).

Stamp the sentiment from the retired Short & Sweet stamp set using Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, flip the cardstock over and use the Simply Scored™ Tool to score along the sides and top.

Add the scored panel to the Very Vanilla card base, adhere the Gold Twine loops and finish off the card by mounting the leaf focal image using dimensional foam.

Another view- of course, my card can
never compare to the splendor of the real thing!

Stamp Sets:  Best of Autumn, Short & Sweet(retired Stampin’ Up!)

Ink: Stāz-On® Jet Black, Hello Honey, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango Classic Ink; Stampin’ Write Markers- Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Watercolor, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Simply Scored™ Scoring Tool, AquaPainter™, Water Spritzer Bottle, Gold Twine

While I had these colors out, I did create one more fall card with leaves and will share a bit later today.  Thanks again for stopping by- hugs to you, my friends!