Firstly I just want to say – I saw this challenge and my mind went to pumpkins and Halloweens and my mind went to panic. It’s not all that popular of a celebration here in Australia. Then I thought of the gorgeous All About Autumn suite in the new Mini Catalogue and the beautiful Designer Series Paper – there is a particular design that features a gorgeous realistic design covered in pumpkins and I was inspired to create an Autumnal design with pumpkins. This week’s TGIF challenge inspiration challenge can be taken however you wish and it was intention to take it and use this gorgeous paper to be my inspiration. I also took the beautiful Autumnal leaves from the suite and tried three different colouring techniques using a mixture of; sponge daubers, blending brushes and water painters to colour my leaves! I hope that you get some inspiration from my project.

#TGIFC439 – inspiration challenge

This week is all about being inspired by the above challenge. Maybe it might be the pumpkins, the colours, the cute sign post, the design you see. What do you take from the above picture? I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Head here to check out this week’s challenge and take part.

the finished card

It was a bit hard to envision how this card would come out. The idea was in my head but it was hard to see how it would come out on paper until I started to play. I knew that I wanted to play around with different colouring techniques and that is just what I did.
I actually did this LIVE on my Facebook page. Playing with colouring techniques is something that I like to do quite often and so if you would like to see some different ways of colouring and love to learn different colouring techniques feel free to go and check out the replay here.

list of colouring techniques

Large leaf: I have coloured this leaf with blending brushes with a mixture of Crushed Curry, Copper Clay and Cajun Craze (I did use a mixture of Blending Brushes and Sponge Daubers for this) – once finished I use a Stampin’ Spritzer and unscrewing the cap and the water on the tube spritzed some water flicked off the tube over the leaf and let the droplets dry.
Medium sized leaf: On Crumb Cake cardstock I have added some Copper Clay and Cajun Craze ink with a Sponge Dauber. On the BACK side of these pieces I have spritzed them with water from a Stampin’ Spritzer and them carefully screwed them up in a ball and then unravelled them and screwed them up again and repeated. Allow to dry.
Small leaf: On Very Vanilla THICK cardstock and using a Water Painter I have added some Crushed Curry Ink to the leaf (slightly wetting leaf first) I have then gone back and adding some Cajun Craze slightly dabbing it on. Be sure not to oversaturate leaf. Allow to dry.

the colour combination that inspired the card

Copper Clay

Cajun Craze

Crushed Curry

Wild Wheat

Crumb Cake

close up of the FINISHED card & a look at some of the texture

Here is a close up look at the finished card & a look at some of the finished texture and detail. As you can see each of the different colouring techniques produces a different finished detail. I love combining them all onto the one project. To pick a favourite would be too hard as they all look great!

I finished the card by adding some of the beautiful frayed Natural Ribbon and some of the gorgeous Speckled Adhesive Backed Dots. Aren’t they gorgeous?

I added some more texture to my background by spritzing it with some Copper Clay ink from a Stampin’ Write Marker and of course I did add some Wink of Stella (I also added some of this to my leaves!)

a look at the inside of my card

To decorate the inside of my card I added some more blending in Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze and I did have some left over leaves taken from my Facebook demonstration so it only seemed fitting to add a few of these to the inside of my card!

I also did add some more of the beautiful All About Autumn Designer Series Paper to the inside of my card.

I really enjoyed featuring a beautiful Autumnal Thinking of You card for the TGIF challenge this week. Be sure to go and check out the blog and take part in the challenge this week, we can’t wait to see what you make.

Would you like to see more projects from this suite and learn more? There is still time to register for the Suite Card Extravaganza All About Autumn Edition. Check out all the details here.

Until next time, crafty hugs. xx

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Autumn Leaves Bundle (English) [162186] $98.00	All About Autumn 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [162178] $27.00	Wonderful Thoughts Bundle (English) [161494] $93.50	Adhesive Backed Speckled Dots [162191] $14.00	Timber 3 D Embossing Folder [163094] $17.50
Copper & Natural Ribbon Combo Pack [162192] $16.75	Oxidized Copper 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [162190] $14.00	Sponge Daubers [133773] $9.75	Blending Brushes [153611] $23.00	Water Painters [151298] $23.00
Stampin' Spritzer [126185] $7.00	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $14.00	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [147087] $15.75	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [147085] $15.75	Copper Clay Classic Stampin' Pad [161647] $15.75
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $15.75	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [161697] $62.50	2023–2025 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [161695] $31.25	Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock [159230] $15.75	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock [144238] $15.75
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock [121685] $17.50	Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock [121683] $17.50	Wild Wheat A4 Cardstock [161734] $17.50	Take Your Pick Crafter Tips [161602] $37.00	Take Your Pick [144107] $19.25