Got Pumpkin?

Fall — my favorite time of the year! Sweater weather, cooler days and nights, beautiful colors and pumpkins! Many of my friends excitingly await the appearance of their much-loved pumpkin lattes at their local coffee stop. To celebrate with them, I thought I would make a few cards using the Brutus Monroe Stamp Club stamp “Got Pumpkin?”

Using Brutus Monroe Detail Ink in Raven, I stamped the cup and sentiment on heavy white cardstock. Easy enough! I colored the cup using colored pencils (one of these days I’ll venture out into the world of watercoloring or ink pens) and fussy cut the piece. I scribbled with a few different pencils over the sentiment to give it some color and life. For the block of printed paper, I used this cute pumpkin in a wagon print from the Autumn Harvest Digital Paper Pad and print it on the same heavy cardstock I used for the stamped images. The hardest part of this step was picking just one pattern in the paper — they are all really great!

Using all the leaves, acorns and pinecones from the Autumn Inspiration Stamp Set, I stamped on natural kraft paper from the Brutus Monroe Natural Elements Paper Pad and on a somewhat funky goldenrod cardstock that I had in my old paper stash. I colored the leaves using golden and copper browns, adding touches of a deep red and green. Then, out came the tiny little scissors and I did a whole lot of fussy cutting.

To give the card back a bit of pizazz, I used a very light spritz of Liquid Elements Penny. I kept it to one layer this time around — as you know I am always tempted to make it heavier! I used double sided tape to place the block of print paper. Arranging the leaves in the top right corner of the print piece, I worked the layout to the right using the various colors and varieties of leaves. I attached the three bigger leaves with foam tape so they stand off the flat card a bit and tucked the other leaves and pinecones in and around them using double-sided tape. I positioned the coffee cup at an angle since it seemed like the right toss with the pile of leaves. Using foam tape, I framed the bottom of the cup with a few leaves, and finished it with acorns and a cute little pinecone taped flat to the card back. 

I wrapped three rounds of natural baker’s twine weaving it a bit in and out of the leaves up top, tied it with a snug square knot ant a bow. The topper of it all is the “Got Pumpkin” piece looking as if it is hanging from the cord attached with a natural finished clothespin. The sentiment is actually taped in place but just in the middle area, leaving the top of the tag free to slip into the clothespin and fly lose in the pile of leaves. I finished it off with a few tiny little dots of gold from a shimmer pen. Interesting how the tiniest little bit of sparkle just makes it glisten.

Pretty cute and really simple. I made a few variations for friends — hoping that the little clothespin does not become a victim of the mean old letter sorting equipment. I am going to ask the postal people to hand stamp the cards at my small town post office; hoping they still do that these days! I may also mail them in the cardboard mailers I use for trlplansandprints.  The Brutus Monroe Stamp Club stamps have been fun to work with. I loved the Witch’s Broom September stamp that I used to make a planner clip, invitations and gift tags (I did write a post showing you all of that, so maybe you’ll take a look and get some inspiration). I am now working with the November and December stamps — you might want to subscribe to the Stamp Club so you don’t miss out on all the fun!

I just watched a You Tube video by Jennifer McQuire in which she talks about mailing handmade cards!! I've linked it here.

As you may know, I had the good fortune to be a member of the Brustus Monroe Inspiration Team in 2016. I thought it would be fun to share my posts from that blog with all of you here. Hope you enjoy.