Paisley Pumpkin

Before I do anything else I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your sweet comments! I'm so touched (:o) And to anyone who has been wanting to start a blog of their own, don't wait another day - it's so much easier than I imagined it would be.

Okay, I have to share the inspiration for the card today. My Mom was kind enough to snag a bunch of See-D's stamp sets for me when they were clearanced, and we both ended up with some Paisley sets. A couple weeks ago she sent this cool sample stamping. She will be horrified that I published this unfinished work - sorry Mom! LOL but I loved the idea and the placement of the paisleys, and the overall shape of the pumpkin/gourd is perfect.



So I dug out my paisley set (See-D's Perfect Paisley #50326) and three orange inks by Stampin' Up! (Really Rust, More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie). I stamped various paisleys into a rough outline I had drawn in pencil. I ended up with lots of gaps at the edges, so I trimmed a Post It note into a crescent shape and sponged the darker ink where the section lines would be, and the outside edges. For the stem I ripped a v in a Post It note and stamped a distressed paisley in Old Olive at the top. The swirls were stamped in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. Which brings me to my

*tip*

if you get ink where you don't want it, grab an eraser immediately and buff it to get as much off the surface of the paper as you can, then grab an Exacto blade and gently scrape the top layer of the paper off, going both directions. This will rough up the paper a bit, but you can usually make it less noticable by stamping over it, etc.

The brown background cs was stamped with a leaf pattern in black ink, then sponged around the edges in black. The main panel was sponged around the edges in Brilliance Galaxy Gold, then Chocolate Chip. The embellishment is an antiqued brass-tone circle with a rope border (a bottle cap would work just as well) and since I didn't have a circle punch to fit inside I chose the closest size and stamped the phrase (Savvy Stamps) on cream cs, punched, sponged the edges and pop-dotted it in the recessed center. The ribbon, which seems to go with every fall card I work on LOL is from Joann's.

The finished card measures 5 1/2" x 4 13/16"

Thanks for looking!