
Welcome! We are close to our peak Fall colors in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so I've had colorful leaves on my mind for a couple of weeks now. When I saw this month's JustRite releases, I knew that I wanted to play with the Oak Leaves cling stamp set, for sure! The background stamp is also in this month's release, Crackle Cling Background stamp.

On the leaves image above, I used mostly Ranger Distress inks, painted with a waterbrush; after it dried I went back in with my Copic markers and deepened several areas that didn't have enough contrast. I hand-cut my leaves and cut the background sky oval with a Spellbinders Grand Ovals die template. The Scarlet Jewel layer behind it is cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals One die template.
Besides the beautiful Oak Leaves Cling Stamp set and Crackle Background Cling stamp, a lovely Mums Cling Stamp set is being shown in some of the DT blogs linked below. I hope you get a change to visit each one!
JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (here)
Becca Feeken
Michele Kovack
Kazan Clark
Amy Tedder
Darsie Bruno
Marisa Job
Kathy Jones
Kristi Schurr
Angela Barkhouse
Additionally, there is a SALE on all JustRite Christmas stamps, HERE, through October 13.

Now, if you're one of the two or three people who has read this far, I'll tell you "the rest of the story." Have you had creative days in which everything goes perfectly smoothly and you effortlessly accomplish a lot? I have too, but trust me--this was not one of those days! Kellie had asked us to use watercolors on our cards if possible since several people had been asking for more watercolor samples. Now I'm a bit watercolor challenged at times: I tend to overwork watercolors and not stop soon enough. (No surprise there, huh?) I had already thrown away three attempts with a different image--yes, it was definitely one of those days.
I originally had the leaves and background on the same layer; but when I stamped the sentiment, I got it noticeably crooked. Hmmm--couldn't leave it. I tried die-cutting a tag to cover my goof-up, but I wasn't happy with it. That meant I had to hand-cut the leaves image. (An SVG file was provided, but you need to use SVG files before you stamp, not after.) I redid the background and die-cut it, stamping my sentiment afterward. Since I was stamping on watercolor paper, I had to correct a couple of little places where the texture of the paper kept the stamp from stamping clearly. What didn't occur to me, however, was that ink would take longer to dry on watercolor paper than on cardstock. Oh yes, I smeared the ink!
I can't even tell you how long I spent spinning my creative wheels today (and if I knew, I'd be too embarrassed to tell you anyway. ;-}) What's my point? I just wanted to share a thankfully non-typical day, knowing that you probably have those days too. Eventually you get it done, but it take a LOT of plodding some days. . . Let's hope that tomorrow is more productive day. If it isn't, I may take up underwater basket weaving! Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have a great day,


Little Fumee Lake in Norway, Michigan, September 30, 2014