Altenew Majestic Maple for Time Out Challenges #297

Happy Friday – again!

I made a card for the new Time Out challenge and used a new die set from Altenew called Majestic Maple. Oh. How I love these days.

Once again the Time Out challenge team had me scratching my head. The theme this week is your favorite season and why. OH, brother! Now I had to sit and do a pros and cons list as to whether I liked fall more than winter. Spring and Summer are great, but it’s fall and winter that float my boat!

Seriously, how was I going to decide on that? I tried thinking about how the two season make me feel. That didn’t work. OK. So out came the old Pros and Cons list. In the end, fall have far more pros than cons. Sadly, living in Minnesota meant that winter lost out. Cos, let’s face it… we have REALLLLLY long winters here!

As I was contemplating what I was going to create for the challenge, I looked across the circle and noticed that there was a single maple tree beginning to turn. All the other trees around it are still bright green. But there is this one pop of orange and green popping up over the roof of a house and in the sunlight it glows and is truly a bright spot against all the green. Then I remembered that I had this new die set waiting to be used.

So, thanks again to the Time Out team for making me think about a challenge!

Here’s a sneak peek of my card:

All those glorious colors just make me happy! BTW, this multi-layered die-set is quite something!

Oh, here’s the challenge badge for Time Out:

I decided I didn’t want to use colored cardstock for the layers and I didn’t want to do ink blending. I love ink blending but just can’t quite get the same translucency as I can with watercolor. So I cut up some hot pressed watercolor paper, die-cut the layers and went to town creating colors and dipping the individual layers into the various colors.

I really wanted to try to capture that multi-color look when the leaves are turning and some are still green, some are darker orange, some are lighter and some are almost yellow. I liked that the watercolor dipping also left some small white patches to represent sunlight hitting them.

Once I had my focal image, I needed something to ground it. A background stencil wasn’t going to cut it as there was a lot going on with the tree. I remembered that a frame cut and emboss set had arrived from Altenew with my last purchase and realized that might work really well. I decided to use a Hero Arts Ivory cardstock – I just love this color. It’s the perfect cream. Not too white and not too yellow. I die-cut the frame in the same cardstock and adhered that to my base, I added a sentiment and then adhered the multi-layered die onto the card base.

Here’s my full card:

This card represents everything I love about fall. The warm, rich colors. The touch of cool in the air. The drop in humidity. Goodbye to the mosquitoes (Minnesota’s national bird in summer!!!). The birds that stop by our feeders on their migration south. The first fire of the season. Decorating the house; removing the cool, light decor that has been up all summer and adding the rich, warm tones of fall decor, perfectly echoing the outside scene. The first warmth of candlelight of the season. A bowl of hot, steaming soup. The rustle of the drying leaves as they shake in the wind. Watching the squirrels running around the yard collecting for their winter stash. The seedheads of the butterfly weed breaking away and floating in the air. Oh yes, Fall is MY season. There is absolutely no doubt about it. Sorry winter, but ya just don’t cut the mustard 🙂

I’ll be back tomorrow with my Addicted to CAS card. In the meantime warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Card recipe:

• Dies: Majestic Maple – Altenew. Frame: Illuminated Scenes Embossing Folder and Die

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