LOVE OF LEAVES HELLO!

 Hi, Friends,

It is hard not to feel a little bit down today; the weather is dreary and rainy and it is the day before Thanksgiving, 2020.  The key is the 2020 part.  No family is headed our way, so we are planning a pretty non-traditional Thanksgiving tomorrow.  I plan to make a cherry pie at some point over the weekend, but we are planning to get carryout from Crackerbarrel for our meal.  On the positive side, I am thankful to not be cooking a huge meal (at least huge for me) but I think I will be a little more thankful to cook a big meal the next holiday we can have family.  And our family does plan to spend some time together virtually this weekend.  

Our neighborhood had an outdoor Halloween gathering this year and I made some fall themed Chex Mix.  I may regret it later, but I made another batch this afternoon and have been snacking on it ever since!  It makes a big batch, but I bagged it up in snack size ziplocks (that is how I took it to the Halloween gathering to make it COVID safe).  So if you get a snack craving, come to my door and ask for a bag of Chex Mix!

I have another fun project to share with you today, a card made with the Love of Leaves stamp set:

If you look at the picture of the card closely, the top background paper is DSP that is Crumb Cake with speckles all over it (which I adore).  Look closely at the top of the card and you will see that I ran it through the Die Cut Machine with one of the Stitched Leaves Dies to make the "stitching" along the top of the DSP--is that WOW or what?  The Mint Macaron Basketweave Ribbon just looks like a cozy sweater next to that Early Espresso Houndstooth DSP!

MY RECIPE:

     STAMPS:  Love of Leaves

     CARDSTOCK:  

          Mint Macaron:  5-1/2 x 8-1/2, scored at 4-1/4

          Early Espresso:  4 x 5-1/4

          Gilded Autumn DSP:  3-7/8 x 3-7/8

          Gilded Autumn DSP:  1-1/2 x 3-7/8

          SCRAPS:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

          INSIDE:

               Early Espresso:  3-3/4 x 5

               Very Vanilla:  3-5/8 x 4-7/8

     INK:  Early Espresso, Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze

     ACCESSORIES:  Stitched Shapes Dies, Circles Layering Dies, Stitched Leaves Dies, Magnetic Cutting Plate, Die Cut Machine, Braided Linen Trim, Linen Thread, Basketweave Ribbon, Glue Dots, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Here is what the card looks like on the inside:

I stamped one of the leaf images from the Love of Leaves stamp set using Cajun Craze ink in the bottom right corner.  

HOW I MADE THE CARD:

1.  Use Early Espresso ink to stamp the signature stamp on the back of the card base.

2.  Stamp the leaf image on the bottom right corner of the inside panel using Cajun Craze ink.  Adhere the inside panels together; adhere to inside of card base.

3.  Run the square DSP thru the Die Cut Machine using the "stitched" lines die to create the stitched effect at the top of the card.

4.  Adhere DSP to the Early Espresso cardstock.  Adhere the Mint Macaron Basketweave Ribbon at the seam.  Tie Braided Linen Trim around the Basketweave Ribbon.  Adhere panel to the front of the card base.

5.  Use Circle Layering Dies and the Die Cut Machine to cut a scalloped circle from Early Espresso Cardstock.

6.  Cut a circle from Very Vanilla Cardstock using the Stitched Shapes Dies and the Die Cut Machine.

7.  Stamp the sentiment using Early Espresso ink onto the Stitched Very Vanilla cardstock circle.  Adhere sentiment circle to the scalloped Early Espresso circle.  Attach the sentiment circle to the front of the card base using dimensionals.

8.  Use Early Espresso ink, Mint Macaron ink, and Cajun Craze ink to stamp leaves on scraps of Very Vanilla cardstock.  Cut out using the Stitched Leaves Dies and the Die Cut Machine.  For simplicity, I cut off the stems of the Cajun Craze and Mint Macaron leaves.  Adhere the leaves together, then adhere to the sentiment circle on the front of the card base.

9.  Tie a double bow using Linen Thread; adhere to the bundled leaves using a Glue Dot.  

10.  Add rhinestones; see sample for placement.

And that's my project for today!  A fun aside--I had to stop typing and clean off my laptop keyboard while I was working on this post because I had a bag of Chex Mix and got my fingers messy (and thus my keyboard messy).  Oh well, the Chex Mix was wonderful!!!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, whether it be with lots of family and friends or just a few of you this year!  And if you don't have extra family visiting this year, maybe you will get a little bit of extra crafting time!

Happy stamping,

Linda