The Beauty of Fall

Can you imagine a more "fall-ish" image than this one by Impression Obsession? It's called Pumpkins and is illustrated by Gary Robertson. Love his illustrations because they already include all the clues you need to color up a masterpiece. The areas of light and shadow are determined by the level of crosshatching (that may or may not be the proper technical term, but you know what I mean), so that's one {huge} less thing to think about!

I stamped this image a few times in several different brown inks before settling on Frayed Burlap Distress Ink (Tim Holtz/Ranger). Its nice shade of medium brown really warmed up the image and allowed the orange tones to show even in the most shadowed areas. I colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits using paper blending stumps. The combo of Frayed Burlap ink and the colored pencils gives such a nice, soft look. Here's a detail shot:

The embellishment cluster in the upper left is made from some hemp cord, gold organdy ribbon, and two leaves die-cut with the smallest Spellbinders Nested Maples Leaves die, topped, of course, with a button.

A few other details ... the sentiment is from JustRite's Nature's Nested Sentiments. The creamy yellowish paper with the diamond pattern is from the Blackbird collection by My Mind's Eye (not just for Halloween!). To help the organdy ribbon stand out a little more, I added a thin strip of designer paper underneath -- a striped pattern from Cosmo Cricket's Wanted collection. A third dp snuck in to the picture -- the top-most leaf is cut from the woodgrain pattern in Crate Paper's Restoration collection. It's rare for me to mix manufacturers like that - so liberating, though! The lattice border is done with a Martha Stewart punch, and the warm brown card base is Prsimatics Dark Tawny.


Thanks so much for stopping by today!




Stamps: Pumpkins Cling Stamp (Impression Obsession)
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and Natural, Prismatics Dark Tawny card stock, My Mind's Eye Blackbird dp, Cosmo Cricket Wanted dp, Crate Paper Restoration Collection dp
Ink: Frayed Burlap, Old Paper, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain Distress Inks
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol odorless mineral spirits, paper blending stumps, distressing tool, needle and thread, Martha Stewart lattice border punch, Spellbinders petite oval and nested maple leaf dies, Stampin' Up gold organdy ribbon, natural hemp twine, button, Robin's Nest Dew Drops
Size: 5 1/2" square