Control Freaks Tour - Gratitude

This month's theme for the Control Freaks Tour is "Something to be Thankful For". Fall is often a great time to reflect on the things in our life that we are grateful for...especially with Thanksgiving coming up. It's the perfect time (although any time is a good time!) to share with our loved ones just how thankful we are for them. Or it's just a good reminder to stop to say THANKS and express your gratitude.

If you have already been following along on the tour, you should have just arrived from LeeAnn Greff's blog. If so, you're on the right track, so continue on to enjoy some inspiration today!

I just recently held two card making nights this month. I like to try and use a couple of Fall-themed sets during October and November as I know many of my stampers enjoying handing out "thankful cards". The first two card samples use the For All Things stamp set. I was so glad when this set carried over into the Annual Catalog from last year's Holiday Catalog so I could use it longer with my customers!

The first card was inspired by Cheryl Sommers. I added some different elements as I often like to do to help make it my own! The card base is Crumb Cake and paired with a layer of Very Vanilla cardstock. Using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, I stamped the "splatter" in Hello Honey. I then stamped the watercolor background image using Crumb Cake. The wheat is stamped in Blackberry Bliss. I used the 2013-2015 In-Color Washi Tape as an accent, as well as the Gold Buttons with a Linen Thread bow through the center. I added a few Gold Sequins and finished it off by stamping the "Grateful for You" in Hello Honey.

This next sample is a variation of the one I had created above. For my second card night this month I wanted to do a repeat of this card (different stampers attend), but I had run out of the gold buttons so I did a little improvising. I started with a Hello Honey card base and because I had also run out of vanilla envelopes, I decided to change the second layer to Whisper White. Everything else is the same except for in the top left corner I added a Blackberry Bliss banner that I had punched out using the Banner Punch. I then stapled to it a string of the Gold Sequin Trim. It might be a little harder to see, but I also added some tiny Pearl Accents in random places on the card. For my card nights, I often have a variety of sentiments available for the stampers to choose from, so for this sample I made it a "thanks" card with a stamp from the Another Thank You stamp set.

Just a fun side-by-side to show the differences. 

Which one do you like better? 

My last card I wanted to share with you today is also one I created to use for my most recent card night. It uses the set Happy Scenes stamp set from the 2015 Holiday Catalog. Many of my customers love to color, so I will often make sure there is a card where they can use some ink and Blender Pens. This card also showcases the Into the Woods DSP from the 2015 Holiday Catalog. I thought this was a fun "block" layout to help keep the card simple and make the Fall scene a stand out on this card. Obviously I didn't add many accents, but I did include some Daffodil Delight Cotton Ribbon and an Old Olive Candy Dot. The card has a Tangelo Twist card base and the colors in the Fall scene in the bottom right are Old Olive, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, and Daffodil Delight. I think the sentiment (from the same stamp set) is perfect for this Fall-themed card!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up is the one and only Julie Davison. Keep hopping along to see what she has to share with us...as well as the rest of the Control Freak crew!