We have had our first shot of fall today with a cold front that came through last night. While everything is still pretty green and summer is clinging on, we had a breezy cool day today and this card with Field Journal was the perfect way to capture the day.

With the cool weather all sorts of birds gather round the lake I live on. Because St Louis is a Mississippi River town, we are part of the great “Fly Way” for birds as they migrate back and forth between the seasons. They follow the river south in the fall and back up again in the spring. It makes sense because the river provides them with food & shelter while they rest before moving further south.  It makes for a birdwatcher’s paradise this time of year as many birds also come down along the Missouri River and as those two great rivers converge, much of central Missouri is filled with all kinds of birds.

So, in honor of the little mallard ducks we have “resting” in our lake right now, Field Journal made the perfect card. They will be here for a few weeks as they rest and feed. Every now and then a few decide the like St Louis fine and stay for the winter. We will see what this little group does in a few weeks! Until then, they will be great creative inspiration for me.

What I used to make this card:

When teaching stamping classes, embossing techniques never fail to impress. I can remember the first time I saw someone emboss gold on a card and I knew I just had to be able to do that!

Today’s card is taking embossing and using it as a resist technique called Joseph’s Coat. You can find many tutorials online and it is a much easier technique to do than it looks.  Basically you take a plain piece of white card stock and sponge colors on all over the card stock. It doesn’t matter where you put the color as long as you are “messy” with it and have a mix of colors all over the paper.

Then, you stamp your images with Versa Mark all over the messy card stock and emboss your stamped images with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder. Once you have embossed your stamped images, you pick a dark color stamp pad and drag it over your embossed designs. It will look awful! But let the ink dry a bit and then take a paper towel and gently clean up the embossed designs. And viola! The gorgeous color underneath begins to show!  I used Night of Navy.

I had to add some sparkle to this card, so I took a scrap of the Metallic Mesh Ribbon and colored it with a Bermuda Bay Stampin’ Blend. It gave the ribbon just the right amount of sparkly color. Then I added a few Costal Cabana rhinestones from the Holiday Rhinestone pack and a bit of frayed gold cord from the Forever Greenery Combo pack. You can’t tell from the picture, but I also brushed some Wink of Stella over the embossing to give it some more sparkle.

I also did the technique for the sentiment. But for that, I sponged down plenty of Daffodil Delight and embossed the sentiment with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder and spread a light coat of Granny Apple Green over it. A fussy cut shell was also done and added as an embellishment along with the ribbons.

I have to say, the Joseph’s coat technique is a lot of fun! Try it, you will love it.

What I Used To Make This Card 

Don’t Miss Next Month’s Paper Pumpkin! 

Next months Paper Pumpkin is going to be full of surprises! You will get supplies to make 4 each of 2 designs. The kit includes die cut pieces in English, French and German sentiments. You pick! Just sign up on or before before October 10th.  Kits will start shipping around the 12th-15th. Click on the image above to subscribe or learn more at www.OrderFromSusan.com

Today’s card is all about  monochrome colors combined with natural elements, both of which work well for fall cards. I saw the Acorn paper from Gilded Autumn and I wanted to do something with a woodsy look and a harvest theme. Because the card was so monochromatic, I used a lot of texture in the die cuts and the embellishments to give the card its interest. Dark brown accents in the ribbon and the stamped sentiment gave the design a little punch. It was a simple card to put together and perfect for sending a harvest themed card.

And today’s post is very short because there is some other big news you’ll want to see! Stampin’ Up is having a 24 hour sale with 15% off select stamp sets. The sale details are at the bottom of this post, so be sure to scroll down and see all the stamp sets on sale today. The key word is TODAY, this sales lasts today, September 23rd,  only!

What I Used To Make This Card

Stamp Sets On Sale Today Only, September 23, 2020  Click On Any Image to Start Shopping. The Host Code Is JT9 74H R4