September 2016 Challenge with Birgit & Patti

Hello friends.  It's that time of the month where BIRGIT, PATTI and I challenge ourselves to think outside the box!  Well, it was definitely a challenge for me this month!  And that's good, because sometimes (OK, a LOT of the time!!) I tend to get too comfortable using the same stamp sets and layouts over and over again!!  Patti picked the challenge this month, and wanted us to use ANY of the Inspired sets, the Forget Me Not set, and the Winter or Spring Woods sets.  It took me a little time to get into this challenge, but once I did, I had no problem coming up with 5 cards for this challenge.  My first 4 cards follow the seasons, and my last card was just because I wanted to make another card!  :0)

So let's start with Spring:

I started with the Spring Woods Cover Plate die cut (Thank you Nancy Penir...you sent me a few of these a loooooong time ago and I finally used one!!) that I placed over a white card base.  My little floral clusters from the Forget Me Not set were stamped in Blueberry Sky, Enchanted Evening, Bright Buttercup, and New Leaf inks.  I used the same blues on the bird from the Spring Woods set and for the stacked die cut "Praise" from the Inspired: Praise set.  The rest of the sentiment was embossed with white on black cardstock.

A very simple card for Summer comes next:

I called this one Summer simply because I love purple flowers in the Summer.  I used Amethyst Allure, Royal Velvet, Summer Sunrise, and Simply Chartreuse inks for the flowers.  I die cut a circle using a Lil Inkers stitched circle die and added my sentiment to that using the Inspired: Grace set.  A little strip of striped DSP, some sequins, and bakers twine finished off this simple card.

Fall comes next:

This card may be little (3 3/4" X 3 3/4"), but I love how it turned out!  I used some more Gina Marie Design dies for the rounded and stitched squares and also for the twig wreath.  My flowers and bird were stamped in Summer Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse, & black inks.  I used the Inspired: Blessed set and Canyon Clay cardstock to cut the "Blessed" multiple times, and then finished off with a few Rainstones and some twine.

And finally Winter:

 

Of course I had to use the Cardinal for Winter!  I started with watercolor cardstock for this card and used my Aqua Painter on the pine branches I stamped in Simply Chartreuse.  Because I didn't want to take away from the Cardinal or the watercolored branches, and still wanted to use the flowers from Forget Me Not, I used just the very centers from the flowers in Scarlet Jewel ink and then used my Aqua Painter on those too.  I'm hoping they look a little bit like Winter berries!  My sentiment on this one uses the Inspired: Grace set again.  A few clear sequins and some matting finished up this card.

And last, but not least, a card that uses a few of my favorite PTI colors:

 
I absolutely LOVE Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel inks together, and I hadn't used my Inspired: Prayer set yet, so those were the inspirations for this last card.  I love using the ombre coloring on these stacked die cut sentiments too...I think it makes for such a pretty focal point!  Most of these cards will be going to my dear friend Nora (who I mentioned before in this post) who is battling with ALS...prayers and cards for this sweet lady would definitely be appreciated!!).

Like I said in the beginning of my post, I was a little leery of trying to use all these stamp sets together, but in the end, I had a blast and think my cards came out pretty good!  Hope you enjoyed them too, and PLEASE make sure you stop by BIRGIT and PATTI'S blogs too as I know they will both inspire you also to get these fabulous Papertrey Ink sets out and play.  Comments are ALWAYS appreciated, and thanks so much for sticking it out through this loooooong post!