My Cards and Tags: Fall Trees using Dina Wakley's For the Love of Circles Stamp Set

Fall/Autumn is this week's theme over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  I was anxious to try Dina Wakley's new "For the Love of Circles" stamp set, so I used the circles to create abstract-ish Fall trees on my tag trio.

I was pretty proud of myself on this project because I finally (and I do mean FINALLY) used a Gel Plate for the first time.  I held off joining the Gel Plate revolution for a very long time.  Then I bought a Gel Plate (ahem- about a year ago) and it stayed boxed up until this week.  I don't have a good explanation for my hesitation.  Intimidation?  Laziness because it seemed messy to have to deal with?  Fear of failure?  I can't say precisely, but I'm so glad I got over my subconscious block with it and gave it a try.  It was a fantastic product to work with that was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Here's a picture of the background I created with the Gel Plate, which I made with no clue of what I was doing.  I just drizzled some paint on the plate, rolled it around with my brayer and then stuck Carabelle Studio's "Ronds" texture plate on there a few times.  I stuck my white paper on top of the Gel Plate and here's what I got when I peeled it off.

I cut my background into tag shapes and stamped some of Dina's circles on a different piece of paper using Memento Luxe ink (it always works well with red rubber stamps).  Then I cut the circles out.  I glued some text scraps onto the circles.

I added more acrylic paint to my tags and to my circles and glued my circles on top of my tag backgrounds.  I also stamped on some black circle shapes from a stamp by Paper Artsy.  I colored the little circle/square shapes in with a black Sharpie.

The colors were looking a little crazy (even for me), so I toned everything down with some white paint.  Then I added a big bold word to each tag from a Reverse Confetti die.  I also did some stamping by the tree trunk (the names of the months and a little "I believe in gratitude phrase) from some Paper Artsy stamp sets.  I added some Dina scribbly script to the bottom of the tags.  To make my circles look like trees, I cut some trunks and branches out of strips of black cardstock and glued them on.

I added some browns (Umber paint) to the edges of the tags to give them a more Autumn type of vibe.

To make the tops of the trees stand out and to give the edges of my tags a little more definition, I outlined these areas with an embossing pen and heat-embossed the black on there.  LOVE the freedom of embossing pens!

I do love this time of the year and look forward to cooler temperatures, boot-wearing, and family fun (with pie).

Here are the supplies I used, which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Dina Wakley For the Love of Circles stamp set	Carabelle Studio Ronds Art Printing Texture Plate	Paper Artsy Eclectica3 EKD02 Stamp Set	Paper Artsy Eclectica EEA04	Paper Artsy Eclectica Everything Art 03 Stamp Set
Gelli Plate - Gel Printing 8.5 x 11	Reverse Confetti Grateful, Thankful, Blessed die	Tim Holtz Sizzix Tag Collection	Sizzix Big Shot	American Crafts Moxy Embossing Pens
Ranger Black Embossing Powder	Ranger HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL	Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet	Dina Wakley Marine Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley Olive Acrylic paint
Dina Wakley Peacock Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley Ranger Night Acrylic Paint	Dina Wakley UMBER Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley TURQUOISE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley heavy body acrylic Elephant
Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Prima Impasto Acrylic Paint, Lemon Peel	Prima Impasto paint, Pumpkin	Prima Impasto paint, Crimson	Prima Impasto Acrylic paint, Aubergine
Dylusions Paint Polished Jade	Dylusions Paint - London Blue	Ranger Dylusions Paint - Calypso Teal	Ranger Dylusions Paint After Midnight	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad
Memento Luxe Blue Danube	Memento Luxe Teal Zeal	Memento Luxe Elderberry

I'm looking forward to seeing how YOU are inspired by Fall/Autumn this week!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

My Other Creations: "Don't Be Like the Rest of Them" Impression Obsession Notebook

"Back to School" is this week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  When I was teaching school, one thing I looked forward to every year was meeting entertaining, endlessly creative, energetic teens.  I was always impressed at those who were able to be their wonderful original selves despite everything that tried to get them not to be.  They were the inspiration for this crazy-bright notebook with that fabulous sentiment on the front: "Don't be like the rest of them, darling."

One thing I love to do on notebooks is to color the edges of the pages.  It's easy to do.  I just took my stack of pages (which are 3x5 index cards in this case) and fanned them out a bit.  Then I took sponges and dabbed Distress Ink on the edges of the pages.

 When you bind the pages, they have a subtle hue, as you can see here:

While the cover is a crazy mash-up of scraps and layers, the notebook itself is filled with blank white pages. 

I enjoyed this project and wish well to all those people, young and old, who are making the trek back to school this week!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Like the Rest Cling Stamp by Impression Obsession	File Tab Punch-We R Memory Keepers	Cinch - We R Memory Keepers	Dina Wakley - Scribbly Birds Stamps	Ranger - Dina Wakley - White Gesso
Pretty Pink Posh Scalloped Square Tags die set	Dylusions Paint - London Blue	Ranger Dylusions Paint LEMON ZEST	Dylusions Paint Cherry Pie	Ranger Dylusions acrylic paint Squeezed Orange
Ranger Dylusions Paint FRESH LIME	Ranger embossing powder White	Ranger HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad
Black Permanent Sharpie Marker	Salty Ocean - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad

I can't wait to see your back to school projects!  Be sure to upload them to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp!