Just Stay in with a Good Book and a Drink of your Choice!

 

Hello....

I'm blogging from a very wet Hertfordshire today, and the weather suits my mood! It's getting harder for me to avoid my hibernation tendencies!

I hope you are feeling less grumpy than I am!

It's felt very Autumnal the last couple of days, the leaves are definitely on the turn now, but as yet they are not falling too much - hang on in there, I say!  Those dreary months of bare brown branches and dead looking earth are so long and so depressing.

Did I mention I was feeling grumpy?

  Anyway, its Daring Cardmakers day and reflecting the nicer, cosier side of the impending dark days Dawn's chosen a lovely photo for the October Elemental Challenge

October Elemental Inspiration Challenge
As its the first Friday of the month, its time for an elemental inspiration challenge. I have found an image which I think is perfect for October.  

Lovely warm autumnal colours and lots of textures.  
Please remember to use at least 3 elements from the image below on your creations and have fun.
Using the Colour palette counts as 1 element..
We're looking forward to seeing what you make

 

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

I managed to squeeze a few of the elements from the picture into this one.  My original idea was to use a page from a book, but then, browsing around the digital downloads on Etsy for something to use I came across a fab collection of book spine digis which I couldn't resist!  I love digital images for the scope they bring to the crafting table - easy to crop, to cut bits from and of course to resize to fit your project

 

The elements from the image that I've used this time are: Book, Drink, Black and White (from blanket), Texture, Wool strands (Twine),  

 

Info

Fat rectangle white card blank, with a side fold

I stsarted by adding some Autumnal shades of ink to the card, then angled a stencil with a 'weave' pattern over the top and rubbed a Nuvo Bronze embossing paste (Tonic Studios) through part of it to add some of the texture from the picture.

The Book Spine download is from LuckyBeanStore via Etsy 

 

I resized and printed my chosen book spine image onto white card and printed it out.  After cutting the image out I spent some time folding along the lines between the books, then running a largish ball tool down the back of each 'spine' 
Next, to echo the gold lines on the book spines I added a margin-line of gilding flakes, plus a bit more on the lower left edge for an old book distressed kind of feel

The Black and White chevron paper was adhered to the top section, and some twine strands glued in place before the book image was glued in place - I used a piece of corrugated cardboard between the layers to give more dimension to the books

Next I hunted out a good quotation a

 

nd found the perfect one for Dawn's image from C,S. Lewis

For the cup and saucer I used dies from Spellbinders, but as they were a bit too big, I drew inside the cut line until I got the size I wanted. For the handle I used a swirl punch shape, which was more interesting than the basic circle shapes in the die set.

All the Black and White elements were created on the pc

I'm not sure I entirely agree with C.S. Lewis though, as I don't really like tea, and reading the trilogy of "A Suitable Boy" AND carrying it around for months while doing so, I'm not sure the long book bit either 😄 At least these days a Kindle means you don't go everywhere carrying you own personal doorstop!

Anyway, do pop over and see what the team have been busy with this week - and we would love to see your creations using elements from the picture too!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe, its getting a bit Covid-scary out there