Thankful for Home

With Thanksgiving approaching, Linda Coughlin over at the Frilly and Funkie Junkie Blog and Online Boutique-here's the link:  http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/thanksgiving.html challenged her readers to pause and reflect on our blessings this past year. This week's challenge is to make an art project that "reflects the abundance of the harvest season and the gratitude we express". Even though I'd already had made one canvas wall hanging with this theme, I made a second project for this challenge -a Thanksgiving card. Thanksgiving is a special time for me as we were married the day after Thanksgiving and every year we have celebrated our anniversary and been together with family. Our home has been our comfort and one that we share with everyone who can visit this time of year. We are truly blessed. this scene reminds me of my childhood country homes and the one my husband and I share now in the countryside. There are trees surrounding our property and this time of year the colors of the leaves are brilllant reds, oranges and yellows. With nature's beauty in mind, I set about to create a vintage card to reflect our beautiful land.
Here's my finished card:



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The fun part of this project was that I had an actual sized- postcard image large stamp which is a pretty winter scene. 



 Suddenly I thought maybe I could change it up and create an autumn scene by stamping it in archival ink on pastel paper and coloring with Pan Pastels. Just took a workshop on Pan Pastels with Donna Downey at my local craft store. Love how they blend together- perfect for making fall foliage! Background layers are made with Kraft embossed paper by Tim Holtz colored with Distressed Paint and colored cardstock. The sentiment is a stamp from my collection-not sure which brand. Flowers, lace and a safety pin with tiny baubles are always my go to favorites to add the right amount of embellishment. Finally, I found an actual cancelled US postage stamp from my ephemera collection which I tore around the edges and added a touch of gold pen to highlight the borders.

 Thanks for stopping by to look at what I've been creating. Your turn to try this fun challenge!