Friday, September 17, 2010

Autumn Pear

I squeezed this card in today, between cleaning the house and taking a walk with a friend.  We have company coming for dinner tomorrow night, so the house must be clean; no getting around it!  But all morning I was thinking about what kind of fall card to create for the Mark's Finest Papers challenge that ends today.  Here's what I came up with:


I am also playing in the City Crafter Challenge, where the inspiration photo is this:

The picture seems to glow, and I love that swirly tree. 

I tried to capture the essence of that with the swirls and sponged background.

A couple of close-ups:
This picture shows the black embossing best.



A trio of olive pearls.
To create this look, I started by using black embossing powder/heat tool/Versamark ink and the swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs (SU).  Once the embossing was done on the white cardstock, I then sponged on the following colors in this order:
  • So Saffron
  • Summer Sun
  • Apricot Appeal
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Certainly Celery
  • Old Olive
  • Elegant Eggplant
  • Basic Black
I began with the lightest color in the middle of the paper and as I progressively added colors, my sponging moved outward.  After using just a bit of Eggplant and Black at the end, I also used the direct-to-paper technique to edge the layer with Black.  It is matted on a black layer of cardstock as well, then attached to a white card base.

I feel like Michelle Zindorf when I play with sponges like this.  She is uber-talented with sponges and brayering, if you've never seen her work.  It's worth taking a visit to her blog, even if all you do is look (and never try the stuff she does); she's amazing.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!



Colleen

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs, Pear by Rubber Stampede
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink:  So Saffron, Summer Sun, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black; Memento Tuxedo Black for pear image
Other:  heat tool, dimensionals, pearls ($1 selection at AC Moore), SU black embossing powder, Copic markers, sponge

16 comments:

Marisa said...

Wowzers, Colleen, this is fabulous!!! I just love the flourish from Baroque Motifs and your sponging is great! You knocked this one out of the ballpark, GF :)

Lynn McAuley said...

Love this luscious pear over the Baroque Motifs!! What a sensational design!!

Thank you so much, Colleen, for sharing this gorgeous card with the Friends of Speedy the Cat in the week's fall colors challenge!!

Unknown said...

This is so beautiful and elegant. I just love it... Thanks for playing along with us at CCCB!

Vicki Dutcher said...

Who knew a pear could look so amazing! Thanks for playing with Speedy's Friends!

redwasher1 said...

Your cards are stunning!!
Thanks for playing at Speedy's Friends.

Joanne (jojot) said...

both cards are fabulous....the tree image does seem to glow...great effect....and the pear card is absolutely stunning....thanks for playing with Speedy's Friends this week

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

Fabulous card Colleen! Just look at all those colors work for the background, very cool!
Your house must be very clean now! Kind of what I would do, clean up only when someone is visiting, LOL!

Deb Hickman said...

Wow Colleen,your card is stunning!!! I just love how you've done the sponged background.

Ros said...

This is so lovely ... at work of art ... thanks ever so much for joining us at CCCB

maddy hill said...

I adore your card Colleen , such a wonderful golden glow it has to it !
love
maddyx

Laura (scrapnextras) said...

Your background is amazing and the pear just pops off it! Fabulous fall card!

Emily Keaton said...

This card positively GLOWS, Colleen!! That is one awesome autumn card. You know, I think I have that exact same pear stamp. I've never used it, but I'm going to have to. It makes a gorgeous card!! And we love pears here--yum, yum :) Outstanding work, my friend!

Anonymous said...

Stunning card and your sponging is outstanding Colleen! I love the swirls, they set off the pear beautifully.

cnelson said...

Absolutely STUNNING! Thank you for joining us at CCCB!

Emily Keaton said...

Hey, Colleen!! I just wanted you to know that I *finally* got around to accepting your lovely Cherry on Top Blog Award on my post today. Thank you ever so much :)

~Tammy~ said...

Wow, this just rocks! the background is fabulous! The blending of the colors has me drooling! The embossing is beautiful! The pear just pops!

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