Monochrome Leaf

Hello lovely peeps, I hope you are well.

I finally got back in my craft room after an absence of several months (more on that later) so that I could make a card for my Guest Designer spot today at AAA Birthday 

This month's challenge theme is 'Monochrome'

You can use shades of any one colour (and it has to be a birthday card). Given the autumnal feel to the weather at the moment I went for orange.    

To start off I ran a 6x6 card blank through my embossing machine with a Crafts Too embossing folder called 'Cherry Blossom'. Because of the positioning I ended up with the front of the card being debossed (which I tend to prefer anyway). 

Next I smooshed some Crackling Campfire distress ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and dabbed some watercolour paper into it. I did a few layers of colour, drying the card in between. 

After using the Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Tattered Leaves' die to cut out some leaves I went around the edges of the fattest leaf with some blending foam and the same colour ink to give it some definition.

I used the same colour ink again to do the sentiment - this one is from an old Marion Emberson stamp set.  To make sure the card colour matched exactly I sacrificed a card blank from the same pack and cut off some strips. 

A few sparkly enamel dots finish it off.

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:-

Dream Valley Challenges #281 dies and/or punches

Creatalicious Challenges #246 Anything Goes with optional fall

Crafty Calendar Anything Goes

Through the Purple Haze #198 Monochromatic 

So if you've got this far and you're interested in why I've been AWOL for so long I'm afraid it's been an 'aestas horribilis' (horrible summer).

 I won't go into all the detail but my lovely mother-in-law had an operation that went terribly wrong and she was critically ill for several weeks. Thankfully we managed to get her transferred back home at the end so she passed away peacefully with all the family there.

It's been an emotional rollercoaster and physically draining too so I'm thankful for my very accomodating boss and our amazing neighbours.

She wasn't one for having her photo taken so we sadly don't have many pics but this is the two of us enjoying some refreshments before heading off for spa treatments to celebrate her birthday.

  

I hope to see you again soon.

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe
Katrina x