Like many of you, I took full advantage of the Black Friday and End-of-Year sales to stock up on some of the stamps and dies that had been on my Wish List.  It feels like Christmas when my packages arrive!

My card today features two of the sets I got during the sales – Hello Bluebird’s Long Distance stamp and coordinating die and The Greetery’s Mighty Oak die set – along with some staples I have in my stash (Taylored Expressions Scattered Leaves embossing folder and Pretty Pink Posh Scallop Frames die).

I started out by stamping the sweet little squirrels from the Long Distance set and coloring them with my Copic markers:

Squirrel Belly & Face:  W1, W3, and W5

Squirrel Body: E33, E35, E37, E99

Squirrel Cheeks:  R20

Squirrel Nose:  100

Tin Can:  Y15, Y18, Y19 and YR07

Once colored, I die cut them with the coordinating dies and set them aside until I was ready to assemble the card.

I did a little ink blending on white cardstock using Catherine Pooler inks – making sure that there were light and dark areas across the sheet and the colors I wanted for the leaves and the acorns:

Mandarin Spice

Tutti Frutti

Over Coffee

Orange Twist

Spruce

Tiki Torch

I chose my favorite areas of the ink blended cardstock to cut out the leaves and acorns from the Mighty Oak die set.

I then cut the Pretty Pink Posh Scalloped Frame die three times from heavy-weight white cardstock and glued them together to get a sturdy frame with dimension.

I began to attach the squirrels and leaves to the frame, making sure to attach them in such a way that I could place my sentiment in the middle. Once they were glued in place, I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit behind the frame, stamped the sentiment, and glued it to the back side of the frame.

With my focal piece complete, I embossed the card front with the Taylored Expressions Scattered Leaves embossing folder.

Before attaching my focal piece to the card front with double-sided foam, I attached a piece of twine between the cans and around the frame.  I just love the nod to the old-fashioned telephone game I played as a kid.

I added a few Honey Bee Stamps’ gems for a little bling.

This was such a fun card to make and I love how it turned out.  I hope you make some time to create something fun today!

All the best,