Distress Ink Leaves (AKA Pre-Election Therapy)

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So there are two issues looming large in my brain:
#1     It is 4:10 p.m. and already getting dark
#2     Full-on pre-election panic.   I do not want to move to Canada where it's even colder and darker. But as Texas Daughter reminds me, we would be a shoo-in given The Captain's genealogy research.   Our people in Quebec should welcome us with open arms, right?

What to do in the meantime but make something.    I saw these fall leaves done by Tim Holtz .   I'm not great at following directions, so I made a few changes.

He made a custom ink pad out of fall Distress Ink colors - too much for my frazzled brain, so I just swiped ink onto a craft mat, then spritzed with water.  I used these colors:

Then I laid a piece of white yardstick down onto the inked craft mat.   Don't swipe the paper through the ink or you'll get mud - just lay the paper down and then lift it off with no smearing.  I gave the papers a quick blast with the heat gun to dry the ink.

I did follow Tim's technique of splattering with some diluted gold Distress paint.   I love the fan brush for this technique - better paint dispersal learned the hard way, so now I wear an apron when using it!

Added some more interest by stamping an old script alphabet stamp randomly over the paper before cutting out the leaves.

I cut out leaf shapes with this Sizzix die.

Some areas didn't get enough color, so I used the same ink colors and blended on some more with the blending tool.

I have a plan for these lovelies, but right now am just basking in their colors and forgetting for a moment the craziness swirling around us.

A Walk in the Woods

Summer is winding down here in the Northeast, and it feels more and more like fall.  Today was a gorgeous day for a walk in the woods.    Finn loves investigating the woods - so many smells, so much territory to mark!

I am fascinated by tree fungi - beautiful patterns, texture and sometimes, gorgeous fall color.

This fallen tree stump looks like some prehistoric monster, horn and all!

While I'm appreciating the great fall weather ,  my heart belongs to summer.

Bespoke Shoes, Oh My!

Texas Daughter gave me a gift certificate for a pair of custom-made shoes from Margaux.   She wanted to thank me for spending time with her when Sweet Baby James was born.  She's so silly - as if seeing that sweet little man just minutes after he was born wasn't enough.  As if hearing his big brother say, "Good morning, Sweetie Pie" to me wasn't enough.  As if spending time with her wasn't enough.   But not gonna lie, the idea of fancy-schmancy shoes made to order was pretty exciting!

This is how Margaux explains their shoes:

"THE SHOE

Handcrafted by Spanish artisans from the finest quality Italian suede, Margaux’s ballerina flat is a wear everyday, everywhere shoe that maintains the grace and refinement of the original while incorporating precision engineering for optimum comfort and a perfect fit.

Though simple in shape, the ballerina is one of the most complex shoes to engineer. Margaux’s revolutionary interpretation is built on a last that has been sculpted by experienced craftsmen to hug the foot while providing just a glimpse of toe cleavage. The finished shoe doesn’t gape and will not lose its structure. Further enhancing the wearer’s comfort is the layer of memory foam, invisible from the outside, that pads the insole."

Well, well, well - I told you it was fancy, schmancy!

This came first:

A package with instructions on how to measure your feet, complete with a sweet tape measure , for my purse once the measuring is done.

The shoes are available in these colors.  I chatted online with a customer service rep about the olive color and she assured me it was a dark sage green, great for fall.  Perfect!  

Ordering is easy - enter your measurements online and then receive an email that your shoes are being made.

These beauties came today!

The color is perfect and they fit, well, like they were made for me.

Notice the "glimpse of toe cleavage" - so risqué!!

Beautiful sage suede, comfortable fit and every time I look at them I'll think of our thoughtful Texas family.  And try to resist telling everyone that these aren't just any flats, they are bespoke flats !

DIY Fall Raffia Wreath

Disclaimer:  I am NOT ready for fall.   I am NOT ready to say goodbye to summer.   Clearly I am bucking the trend to jump ahead on the changing the seasons thing as this is what I saw last week at Michael's:

Christmas decorations?   In September?  I think not.

But with Pinterest on all-fall, all the time and the weather turning noticeably more like fall and less like summer, it may be time to start fall decorating.

I saw this  raffia wreath all over Pinterest and loved it - no orange, no leaves, no pumpkins, just a riot of ecru raffia- perfect.   And easy.

Supplies:

Straw wreath form .  I used the 12 inch size.  Be sure to leave the plastic on, since that's what holds the wreath together!

Bag of raffia from Michael's.  This bag was just enough for my wreath.   I added a little dark raffia I had in my stash for a bit of color.

Floral pins - or you could use u-pins.

This is a wing-it project - no measuring, no precise anything.   Grab several strands of raffia  and loop together , sort of like making a bow.   I made my loops about 7 inches long - I didn't measure as I was doing it, but just eyeballed it.    Don't worry about straggling pieces, short pieces in the grab- it'll all work out.  The raffia strands are roughly 2 1/2 feet long and I usually used 5-7 strands, depending on how wide they were.  Again, I didn't count each grab - just eyeball it so each section will be roughly the same size.

Now slightly twist the loop in the middle and pin to the wreath with one of the floral pins.   You will be alternating the direction of each raffia loop.  Start with the first one horizontal on the wreath.

Make another loop, this time pinning that one close to the first and vertically.   (Sorry for the bad lighting!)

Keep adding loops in alternate directions until the wreath is full.   

And it will be very full!   Now the fun part - pull, twist and play with the raffia until it looks right and there aren't any gaps showing.  I cut some of the loops open and left others as is.

I added a twisted wire loop for hanging .  You could use a burlap ribbon , but I didn't want to crush down any of the exuberance!

I love my wreath.  It says fall, but in a cheery, subtle, "let's not go crazy just yet" way.

Fall Fantasy

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It's no secret that I struggle with the whole fall thing- you know I've gone on about it here before.  This year I'm making an effort to appreciate the colors - not just the gorgeous fall leaves, but the grasses, marshes and berries.  I've been taking some pictures as I drive around as part of my fall appreciation program.  I pretend I'm a tourist - it helps me see things I usually overlook and appreciate the little details I like to focus on when in real tourist mode.

I made some fall leaves in my journal, based on a technique by Renee Zarate in the April/May/June issue of Stamper's Sampler.  She made some gorgeous cards using water soluble crayons as stamping medium.

I started by painting a rough Gesso rectangle on my journal pages.   Then I scribbled water - soluble crayons on a craft sheet:

and spritzed the scribbling with water. (Somehow the green looks really blue here).

Stamp into the watery crayon:

I love the water color look from this technique!

I think this technique works best with bold stamp images as any detail quickly gets lost in the watery color mixture.  I'm going to try making a wood-cut style stamp and stamp with that next.

Happy fall!  Happy coloring!