Wednesday, September 23, 2015

First day of Autumn

Fall is my favorite time of year.  Growing up on Long Island (NY) I got to enjoy all the wonderful colors Mother Nature thought so kindly to share with everyone.  Golden reds, bright oranges, and browns in so many shades one can't even name them all-- least not me!  

Driving on the Southern State parkway was like living in a hand painted masterpiece.  Every turn around the bend revealed another layer of art to thrill and excite me.  I loved the change of seasons from Summer to Fall.  

When I was older I'd take the Long Island Ferry across the Sound with friends.  It was such fun to drive our car onto the ferry and relax as we crossed over to Connecticut for a day long adventure driving around the farm lands, and thru the many roadways with the splendor of Fall.  I do need to admit here and now that each trip taken was planned so that we could visit different rubber stamp stores along the route.  The added bonus was the farm stands ripe with Autumn treasures. 


The changing of the leaves meant soon my favorite holiday would be here.  I loved celebrating Halloween it was the most enjoyable and fun holiday all year long.  In the house we didn't have to prepare for days for the dinner quests as we did for other holidays,for there were none!  No need to do extra chores or any extra cleaning.  Halloween was about F*U*N!

Weeks before the holiday Mom would help my brothers and I figure out what we wanted to be dressed as and then the week of the holiday our excitement took over and we bounced around as if we had already eaten a bucket full of sugary candies.

Yep, Fall was and is my favorite time of year, and Halloween was and always will be my favorite holiday.  So it it any wonder that today I'm going to share with you some cards I've made using images from my favorite rubber and digital stamp artist:  Ms. Mo Manning!

It's a few years now that I've been collecting her images in rubber.  There are several companies that sell them, one is Penny Black and I've finally figured out how to upload a link to pbstamps.com on the side bar-- John, the owner, is a doll to shop with.  He goes out of his way to be sure you get what you want, quickly, and at good prices too.  

Stampendous.com also stocks images by Mo Manning, as does Stampingbella.com.  My most recent purchases for Christmas images came from there.  Expect soon to see them here as well.
You need to check all three places because each carries different images created by Ms. Manning.

Meanwhile, take a peek at cards I made to celebrate Autumn and Halloween-- images are a mix of rubber and digital. (Since I'm talking about my favorites, let it be known my favorite type of image is that which is made of natural man made rubber.  Cling or wood mount.  )

 These first two images come in a transparent set of stamps by Penny Black called "Glenda and Frankie". 

Regardless of my passion for natural red rubber, I had to get this set because my husband's name is Frankie and like the artist, the season and the brand, Frankie is one of my favorites too! ;) 

Next up came my first step into the digital world...  

A few years back I was left with no choice but to purchase a laser printer so that I could purchase and print more images that was available in rubber.  While I liked that I could adjust the size of the images to fit my needs, I missed using an ink pad and working in my studio.  However I did print myself up a bunch of the images I bought, and have them filed away for use any year I'd like to use them.



 I esp. enjoyed this witch flying as I wanted a dark sky, yet not so dark as to miss seeing her fly by. So I worked with two different shades of grey Memento Ink Pads and some ripped text weight paper to create this scene. I hope you like it.....
 This little girl I just adore!  She's so cute sitting there taking a break after pulling the corn ... makes me miss the fact I didn't grow corn in the garden this year.
I love this gal on the bike.  I have her dancing as well and am working on a card with her so keep an eye out for it to post here soon.  I mean really, isn't this old gal just too wonderful?!?!?!?!

I hope you're enjoying your visit here and hope you sign up to get an email when I update and you are most welcome and encouraged to leave a comment.  Be it good or bad, it's all welcome.

Thanks to stopping by, see ya next time!

Cara Febe

4 comments:

  1. Fun cards and fun memories. I too had to buy a laser printer for digis and now I find I don't use them as much - mainly because I forget I have them! I love the old lady on the bike and have her as well as the one dancing. Aren't they fun?

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    1. I love that you too Sheri have these images and I'd love to see what you do with them! ;)

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  2. What fun cards to get anyone into the autumn spirit! I love the cloud background on the bike lady and the broom flying witch.. are they stamps? of free hand? I love that you share your talent with everyone. Thanks!

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    1. Hello Retired!!

      Thank you for stopping by and your comments. I love your question!! :) The cloud background I created by folding a piece of text wt. paper in half and then gently tearing long thin holes into it passing over the fold. Then I opened it up, laid it flat on the card, (masking the stamped image if needed) then used stipple brushes and memento's ink pads to apply the ink. The torn paper helps to create the cloud shape, the stipple brush allows me to apply a heavy coat of ink or light.

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