Gratitude

As Thanksgiving draws near, I once again find myself wanting to stop and take time to acknowledge the special people in my life.  So, as is my custom, I've been making Thanksgiving Cards.  This year I've purchased some special stamps from JustRite that are designed to be used with cutting dies.  This is really speeding up my card-making process since I can use dies to cut out my focal pieces.  Today's post showcases 3 different cards made using the same two stamps - both from the JustRite set called "Antique Autumn Tags One" and cut out with a die from JustRite's "Antique Tags One" die set.  Over the next several days, I'll be showcasing several more cards made using other stamps in that set.  The patterned papers I'm using come from a DCWV 4.5 x 6.5 Matstack called "Harvest Gathering".  I love this size of matstack for card making! The plain colored papers were glimmer paper from my stash. These cards were all made quick and easy by layering die cuts.  And in each case, the focal is given a bit of dimension with foam tape.

The first card (teal one above) was made using the following additional dies: Spellbinders 5X7 Elegant Labels Four (cut the dark teal background), Spellbinders Adorning Squares (one of the larger dies for the black mat, and a medium one for the white mat). The white "ribbon" under the narrow black one is really just a narrow strip of the same paper used for the white mat for my focal.  The focal itself was stamped with black ink and then colored with gel pens.  The center of each flower is a Liquid Pearls dot. The background teal piece was altered a bit by snipping out little pieces with my scissors after cutting it with the Elegant Labels Four die.

These next two cards are done in more traditional Thanksgiving colors. The patterned papers are from the matstack.  For the striped card, I used the following additional dies:  Spellbinders Labels 27 (orange dot) and Decorative Labels 27 (white frame for rust-colored dot, and yellow flowered pattern); Spellbinders Ornate Squares (brown frame).  The focal was stamped in brown ink, and then colored with chalk before adding additional touches with gel pen and gold liquid pearls.

The color on this one isn't true.  The brown is not nearly as black looking as the picture - more like the brown in the previous picture.  Once again in addition to the nested medallion die I used Spellbinders Ornate Squares (brown lacy layer) and Spellbinders Decorative Labels 27 (rust-colored dot and yellow dot pieces).  The focal was again stamped in brown ink and colored with chalk before being accented - this time with a glitter-gel pen.