The Maui Stamper

Last month Ray and I were in New Hampshire and Boston to see the fall color and visit our daughter at Tufts University.  We got a little bit of everything in just over a week…gorgeous blue sky, cloudy sky, snow…brilliant leaves…great food…and of course, time with our favorite university student.  (I can say this now that her sister is graduated and her brother is still in high school.)  In Hawaii, leaves don’t change color much, so the sight of a tree like this really took our breath away.

I’ve wanted to work with these colors since I got home, and this morning I had my opportunity.  I love the reds and oranges in the photo, and the way they contrast with the brilliant blue sky. Within 24 hours, by the way, we were looking at grey skies and snow, so that blue sky is a fond memory!  No blues in my card though…I had a different idea.

• Autumn Days, Woodgrain and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets
• More Mustard, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango and Naturals Ivory cardstock
• More Mustard, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, and Pumpkin pie Classic Ink pad; Versamark ink pad
• Dusty Durango Stampin’ Write marker and Aquapainter
• Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, Vintage brads, piercing tool and mat pack, double rectangle punch, 3/4″ square punch and corner rounder punch
• Tissue paper and Dotto

I wanted my wreath to have a nice circular shape, so I traced a circle very lightly with a pencil onto my cardstock before I started.  I think if I were to do it again, I would try to avoid getting ink on the stems of the leaves – they’re not a big deal, but I would be happier if they weren’t visible.   I just played with the leaves in the circle until I liked the pattern and fullness.  Of course, then I got the brilliant idea that the image needed the Woodgrain background.  I’m crazy, but I’m not crazy enough to cut out all those leaves for masking.  That’s nuts.  Seriously.

Instead, I placed a piece of tissue paper over the image, drew an arrow to indicate the top, and traced around the inside and outside perimeters of the wreath.  I did a rough cut around the edges and used a little Dotto to hold that mask in place.  When I stamped the Woodgrain, it looked a little stark so I blurred it with my Aquapainter.

The little banner isn’t pegged down completely flat – it has a little lift to it in real life.  Those lovely, symetrical corners were created with the corner of the square punch – you didn’t think I could get them like that on my own, did you? And just in case you don’t know the piercing tool and mat trick, that’s the way to get perfect placement for your brads anywhere on your project.

This is a 5 x 5 inch card, a size I almost never work with.  I think I’ll have to change that.