Hello Pumpkin!

Since the deadline for Halloween/Fall cards at Send a Smile 4 Kids is October 5, I've been working hard to make some to send them. This is one of those.

I started with Operation Write Home's Sketch #203:

The focal image & greeting are from the "Harvest Friends" set designed by Katlyn Traxler. I am a MAJOR cat person, and I just couldn't resist that sleeping kitty! So my main requirements for a card design were a place for the greeting and a circle element for the image. This sketch fit the bill perfectly!

I die cut & embossed a piece of watercolor paper using one of the dies from the Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" Nestabilities set. I printed my kitty onto that, and colored him with Inktense pencils and a paintbrush & water. When that dried, I painted a bit of "ground" by smooshing Pumice Stone Distress ink onto an acrylic block and picking up the color with my wet brush. I did the same for the sky with Tumbled Glass Distress ink. Finally, I inked around the edges with Tumbled Glass & my mini ink blending tool.

I chose the patterned papers for my banners & greeting panel from 3 different 6x6" pads: Simple Stories Sn@p "Color Vibe," and Basic Grey's "Fact" & "Hey Girl." (The paper for the middle banner came from my scrap stash.) The background paper came from the "Off the Bolt" 4.5x6.5" pad from The Paper Studio. I felt that gave a good, bold "fall" vibe, to go with the banners.

I die cut the background paper with the stitched rectangle from the "Femme Frames" die set by Mama Elephant. Because that is slightly smaller than 4x5.25", I made the banners just a smidge narrower than in the sketch. I die cut another piece from white cardstock using the scalloped frame from the same Mama Elephant die set, & inked it with Peacock Feathers Distress ink. I layered those 2 pieces together, and glued the banners to the background.

After printing the greeting on the orange patterned paper, I matted that with a piece of black paper. I adhered the focal image with foam adhesive to the card front. I applied foam squares to the back of the greeting panel, just around the edges, and glued it to the focal panel where it overlapped.

To finish the card, I inked the front of a white A2 card base with Rusty Hinge Distress ink, and adhered the card front to that.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Send a Smile 4 Kids "Fall Colors 4 Kids"