Squirrel Nutkin

Hi there, today I would like to show you a set of 3 ATC's I have made for a FB swap on the theme of "Autumn Colours". I had recently taken delivery of a few new Lavinia stamps to enable me to produce autumn themes, so I was able to bring them into play here.

I cut three pieces of white card each 3.25 x 2.25 inches, and created a background with autumnal shades of Distress oxide ink, and background stamped my wording. I stamped my Oak leaves, acorns and squirrels using a mix of Versafine and Versafine Clair, and coloured my acorns with Distress ink. I distressed a separate piece of card and then stamped my autumn words three times, and cut out the words "Hello Autumn" which I attached to each ATC. I finished by painting some watered-down Sakura sparkly ink onto my leaves to give them a shimmer whilst allowing the background autumn colours to show through, and matted each finished piece onto standard ATC size snippets of brown card stock..

Here is a close up of one of the ATC's.

Initially I just stamped my squirrel using Versafine in Vintage Sepia and gave him a black fineliner eye and mouth ... but I was really embarrassed by how flat and uninspiring he looked. As luck would have it, the same day I saw a fabulous example of how to colour the Lavinia squirrel posted by Karen Orme on FB, so I asked her how she did it. Obviously as I had already stamped this little guy I could only do so much to remediate him, but I did my best to make him look a bit more shaded and dimensional. I'm hoping my next effort will be much better - watch this space!!

Stamps: Lavinia Squirrel, Oak Leaves, Oak Leaf Flourish, Winter Spice;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness); Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Tea Dye); Versafine (Vintage Sepia); Versafine Clair (Pinecone, Summertime); Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink (Bordeaux); Posca pen (white), pastel pencil (white); Sakura Stardust pen (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #23 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

ATC's With a Heart #122 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #11 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore (November) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Animals #67 - Anything Goes With Animals

Crafty Catz #614 - Anything Goes - TOP 3

Creatalicious #247 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #58 - Anything Goes

Dare 2B Artzy (November) - Non-Birthday (2nd entry)

Double Trouble #125 - Thing 1: Use Orange, Yellow and Green

Dream Valley #282 - Anything Goes

Hero Arts (November) - The Great Outdoors

Paper Funday #47 - Anything Goes with option Colours of Autumn

QKR Stampede #456 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #269/270 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

This is quite likely the last of my few autumn projects as winter is nearly upon us .. I believe the weather is meant to be turning cold on Friday so it will be time for winter woolies!!

Take care, and thanks for dropping by.

Hugs,