Now on to More Pressing Matters....

Be sure to get your cat crafting supplies dusted off for the
2017 Cat Lovers Hop
Oct. 23-28, 2017
Right here at Her Peaceful Garden.
Read the Guidelines and FAQs HERE.

Don't forget the GIVEAWAY for
displaying my 2017 Cat Lovers Badge.

Hi, Friends.......

I am back with one more card for the wonderful Winnie & Walter September Color Combo Challenge and this time I actually stuck with the theme as well as the colors!! :)

Each year our church hosts a Friendly Fall Festival of activities spanning several days in October which includes a Saturday of apple picking and cider pressing. So.Much.Fun.!!!! This takes place at the nearby farm of friends who are cattle ranchers and honey producers. They graciously let us use their roomy honey house for the pressing along with other fun games and activities for the kids. 

It is a fabulous community event where everyone brings apples from their own trees or picked from the "wild" trees that abound up here in our little community.  Then we all help with the processing.  Once done, we all go home with some DELICIOUS cider. Oh, my....so wonderfully sweet!! As you can imagine, this is at no small inconvenience to these generous farmers....so I always try to make an apple-themed thank you card of some kind as a token of my appreciation.

Interesting note about apples: What residents here call "wild" apples are actually ones planted by homesteaders, beginning when this area was opened up in the late 1800s. Everyone wanted apple trees on their homestead and a big apple dryer was erected for community use. The dryer is no longer standing (only the huge round foundation is still visible) but many of the apple trees persist and are still bearing, though not as vigorously as in their prime.

Apples are amazingly long-lived and can bear in some capacity for their entire 100+ years until they finally succumb to disease, fire, or removal. Our UK friends are probably aware of the Original Bramley tree (the originator of the Bramley variety, a cooking apple which is popular in England and Wales, but not well-known in the USA). It is over 200 years old and, astonishingly, is still bearing....although sadly it has contracted a fungus that will kill it at some point. Fortunately, plant scientists have successfuly taken samples and propagated it.


Okay.....enough about apples......

My background was made using Walnut Stain crystals. These are like Brushos, but coarser crystals rather than a powder. I stamped my sentiment and tree directly on the background and then "dry smooshed" Distress Ink for the red leaves. Dry smooshing is my own term for applying the distress ink to my acrylic block and NOT misting before smooshing onto my paper. After doing that several times, I misted the remnants on my block very, very slightly and smooshed some more. The main thing was that I did not want a watery, muddy look as the red and brown got activated together!!

Supplies used include:
Winnie & Walter - Essentials: Katharine Cutaways die set
Winnie & Walter - Kindness with Evelin T Designs stamp set
Versafine Ink in Black Onyx
Distress Ink in Candied Apple
Ranger - TH Distress Marker in Walnut Stain
Imagine Crafts Walnut Ink Crystals
Tonic Studios - Nuvo Crystal Drops
Ribbon from my stash

Hope you enjoyed reading about apples and seeing my card! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your sweet comments.

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Winnie & Walter September Color Combo Challenge
2. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - A Walk on the Dark Side
3. Penny Black at All Sorts - Close to Nature
4. Dare2BArtzy 0ctober Challenge - Fall Colors
5. Ribbon Girls October Card Challenge - Any Card
6. House that Stamps Built DCC104 - Count Your Blessings
7. SSS Work-It Wednesday August/September - Use a Stamp
8. Word Art Wednesday Weeks #302-303 - Anything Goes Family Friendly
9. DL.ART October Linky Challenge - Anything Goes
10. DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #213 - Halloween or Thank You
11. HeARTful Stamping Challenge Oct.1-8 - Anything Goes + a stamp
12. CARDZ-TV Anything Goes #14
13. Cardz-TV Anything Goes Challenge #15
14. Just Keep on Creating - October Anything Goes Link Up