Forever Thankful

Yesterday's color challenge CC291 on Splitcoast Stampers was absolutely yummy: rich razzleberry, so saffron, and tangerine tango. What terrific autumn colors! It was also the perfect combo for my first SNEAK PEEK of a beautiful new clear stamp set scheduled to be released by Mark's Finest Papers next week. This is Thankful for You, a versatile set that includes a wonderful mix of thankful sentiments and harvest images. (Isn't that wheat image beautifully detailed?) My inside sentiment reads "Happy Thanksgiving" in a lovely script.

Other challenges that went into the making of this card:

• Critter Sketch Challenge: this sketch
• Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger: to be inspired by this abstract folk art Painting by Catherine Horvath Buchanan. I was inspired by the farms and fields to use wheat on my card and by the pretty autumn trees to use leaves. Many of the colors coordinate nicely with the challenge colors I used, too :)
• Stamptacular Sunday: Challenge #79, Layer It On, to use at least 5 layers
• Paper Sundaes: Something from Your Stash (I've had that satin ribbon in my stash forever and just recently discovered how nicely it coordinates with rich razzleberry!)
• Stamps R Us: Challenge #6, an All Nature Theme
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 25, Hooray for the Holidays--create a holiday project for any holiday. I went with Thanksgiving for this one.
  
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge 124, Sparkle and Shine. My glittery DP certainly does sparkle!
  

What am I happy about today? I finally have a Bow-Easy!! Yay!! I have always been quite definitely bow-challenged and have thought for quite some time that I should get a Bow-Easy. I didn't want to pay a lot for postage and didn't need a lot of other supplies (which might normally qualify me for free shipping somewhere). So I finally poked around and found an eBay seller through whom I could get a Bow-Easy for $6 (USD), including shipping. (Here is the Bow-Easy listing.) Sounds like the right price to me! :) It arrived on Friday, and I spent some time playing with it over the weekend. This online photo tutorial was a huge help. I'm happy that I can finally tie somewhat decent-looking bows, like the one on today's card. Not perfect, but a huge improvement. At least I'm on the learning curve now!!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a super day!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Thankful for You
Paper: PTI kraft CS, SU so saffron CS, SU tangerine tango CS, DCWV textured CS, DCWV sparkle DP from Indian Summer Stack
Ink: SU so saffron, SU tangerine tango, Palette bordeaux
Accessories: CM 1.25" square punch, SU scallop square punch, SU scallop trim border punch, SU scallop trim corner punch, SU wide oval punch, SU scallop oval punch, MS maple leaf punch, satin ribbon, foam tape, hemp cord, Bow-Easy