Hello Fall! Time to Get Back to Work!

Aloha, all!

     I know you haven't seen much of me the past month, but I've been working hard at recovering from my bit of a scare of a heart attack earlier in the month. I actually can stand at my work table for more than 15 minutes at a time, and that's making a big difference in how much I can get done. (For those unfamiliar with how I work, I prefer to stand up when I'm arranging layouts and stamping images as it feels to me as if I have more control over what I'm doing.)

     I know that I can stand and design and put a card together without resting because I did that with today's card!

     On the other hand, when I saw the photograph of the card and wished I'd done some things differently, I didn't go try to remake the card (which I sometimes do). So you have my first edition here, warts and all!

     This card is part of the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge that is a new challenge on the SUO Challenge blog today. The challenge is to feature Stampin' Up! punches in your project. For my project, I used two punches – the Triple Banner Punch and the Washi Tape Punch.

     The strip at the left of the card is made with four layers each of which has been punched on both ends using the Triple Banner Punch. The layers are 1-1/2" wide. Beginning with the Old Olive layer, the layers are 6", 5", 4" and 3". Once they are punched, the layers lose about 3/4" of their length.  The Designer Paper layers are a print from the Into the Woods Designer Series Paper set in Stampin' Up!'s 2015 Holiday Catalog. The colors are Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive. Once I had layered the strips up, I tied a piece of Into the Woods 3/8" Cotton Ribbon around the center. That's from the Holiday Catalog, also.

     From the beginning of my design efforts, I'd wanted the main layer of the card to be Rich Razzleberry Cardstock. But the layer looked just too plain for my taste. I tried a few different backgrounds, including stamping leaves of various sizes onto the Razzleberry paper with Rich Razzleberry Ink as well as with Versamark ink. Finally, I decided on the Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Once I layered everything up, it was a simple idea to cut some leaves out of another sheet of the same Designer Paper set and adhere them to the wall just below where I was going to adhere my sentiment.

     The sentiment is from the For All Things Stamp Set, which was in last year's Holiday Catalog, and then carried over into the Stampin' Up! 2015-2015 Annual Catalog. So glad that set's still around! As punching was the theme for this SUO Challenge, I went ahead and punched it with the Washi Tape Punch, and adhered it just to the right of the ribbon.

     I promise you will not have to wait another two weeks for another project from me!  I am so ready to get crafting again and am definitely going to spend time at it as I continue to get better!

     Thanks for all your good wishes!