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A Squirrel Says Happy Thanksgiving

I had a visitor yesterday, a cute fuzzy squirrel!  He sat up there chewing on a nut and I managed to snap a photo through the window but the second I opened the door he scattered.   I managed to get the message he brought:  Enjoy the moment (and if you try to hard to capture it you’ll miss the moment).

 

 

Browns, yellows, and orange aren’t my usual color choice but the squirrel inspired me!  I used Jessica Sporn’s Medieval Leaf Motif Stencil and Terra Cotta Adirondack Color Wash.  You’ll be seeing more of Jessica’s stencils soon!  I’ll have the details about it next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I randomly put the stencil down again and used Butterscotch Adirondack Color Wash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a palette knife I slathered on some gesso.

 

 

 

 

Deli paper that I had been messing around with became food for my Sizzix machine and out came 3 leaves.  The machine was still hungry so I fed it a bit of brown felt.

It was way too much pattern when I put the leaves on the tag – so cardboard to the rescue!  A quick painting with brown ( the least used color in my studio) and I had a way to get the patterns to become friends in the spirit of Thanksgiving.  A felt leaf became the ribbon substitute.

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am going to be thinking about that squirrel and enjoy the moment!

I’m also going to enjoy Paint Party Friday and Creative Every Day Month!

{ 37 comments… add one }

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  • Corrine November 21, 2012, 1:21 pm

    Yummy, yummy, your tag bits looked like chocolates and you had my mouth watering a bit and I thought Oh how clever she is using the leaf die cut to decorate chocolates!!!! Shows how looks can be deceiving. Already I am liking this stencil and mine arrived today…..now to get making and baking – oops no icing the stencil cakes!!! See now I am hungry. xox

  • Cynthia November 21, 2012, 1:52 pm

    I totally thought that you were playing with chocolate too! YUM. 😉 I absolutely LOVE that stencil!! Love the color choices too. Very rich looking! And the leaves are just gorgeous! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

  • froebelsternchen November 21, 2012, 2:15 pm

    that´s AWESOME Carolyn!
    Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Carly November 21, 2012, 2:46 pm

    I LOVE everything about this… And brown is my least used color, too!

  • Ginger Davis Allman November 21, 2012, 4:05 pm

    Not the colors I tend to use in my studio either. But it really turned out well. You make it look so easy and it makes me think I should be more creative when it comes to my Christmas tags.

  • elle November 21, 2012, 4:19 pm

    The leaves are great and they do look like they are on chocolate slabs!

  • Claudette November 21, 2012, 4:43 pm

    Love those colors! And cute squirrel, too! Awesome as always!

  • Mari Carmen November 21, 2012, 4:44 pm

    Love your work, Carolyn! And I love squirrels very much! Several days ago I took some pictures of thre squirrels in a big garden with lots of trees, in Aranjuez city.

    If you go to our blog (I have a group of photography) named Simplemente Dulcinea (http://wwwsimplementedulcinea.blogspot.com.es/)
    you can see three pictures of our squirrels too 🙂

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and friends!

  • Ginny November 21, 2012, 6:01 pm

    Orange and brown are not usually the colors I use either except I have found that I have really been drawn to them this month. I love your stencil and can’t wait to learn more.

    I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy every single moment. That’s my plan too!

  • Wanda Hentges November 21, 2012, 7:56 pm

    Beautiful!!! It came together well and I love the leaves!!!

  • Judy Shea November 21, 2012, 7:59 pm

    Chocolate.. yes.. me too!! Must be the of the year for the sweets. Great colors, Carolyn.. I don’t lean towards those colors also, but wow.. they came out fantoostic!

  • Marjie Kemper November 21, 2012, 10:32 pm

    Those leaves are gorgeous! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

  • Rita McGregor November 22, 2012, 12:32 am

    Lovely leaves and fall colors. They always remind me of Thanksgiving.
    Great squirrel advice, too. 😉
    Have a wonderful day tomorrow. 🙂

  • Tracey Fletcher King November 22, 2012, 1:06 am

    Hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving and that the squirrel comes to visit again soon.. he is very cute….xx

  • Kathy Gledsdale November 22, 2012, 8:37 am

    Lovely work! A great place you have too, what a view to have out of your window.

  • Rinda November 22, 2012, 11:34 am

    Love those leaves! I always forget how effective punching images out of decorated paper can be!
    Happy Thanksgiving to you! I’ve got a give-away today you might want to check out.
    Rinda

  • Sue November 22, 2012, 3:27 pm

    wonderful leaves and the squirrel is so entertaining
    they do tend to be very shy by nature, don’t they?
    xxx

  • Raine November 22, 2012, 11:27 pm

    Chocolate! I scrolled down quickly to find out how to make the leaves to decorate the chocolate! At least I’m not the only one. And I don’t even eat chocolate!!! (I know…my friends don’t understand it either…)

  • Christine November 23, 2012, 12:28 am

    lovely textured piece!

  • JKW November 23, 2012, 12:34 am

    I love the colors, definitely fall. Great picture of the outdoors. Blessings, Janet PPF

  • Debbie November 23, 2012, 12:50 am

    Beautiful work! I recently did a journal page with these colors for the creative color challenge, not my typical palette either. Yours turned out so nice! The stencil is really beautiful.

  • Anne November 23, 2012, 5:15 am

    Lovely, lovely work! I find your unusual palette very pleasing!

  • Kat November 23, 2012, 5:33 am

    I love this piece Carolyn, it makes me think of chocolate, so decorative and yummy and well you know how much I love Autumn, so this really is a favorite of mine, so very creative. You are so right, just let’s enjoy our moments and not strive to capture anything, pleasure must flow, like everything!

  • sandra sherman November 23, 2012, 5:41 am

    What a wonderful place to get inspiration from, that little squirrel is so cute! I love the colours you have used on your tag and think that the cardboard seperates the patterns and adds balance to the whole piece. great idea 🙂

  • NatashaMay November 23, 2012, 6:25 am

    Those brown plates look like chocolate to m. :)) Awesome tags! Love Jessica’s stencil.

  • soulbrush November 23, 2012, 6:47 am

    I absolutely adore the colours, and the whole thing. Happy PPF.

  • Jessica Sporn November 23, 2012, 9:03 am

    I totally thought those were fudge! Beautiful leaves, lovely stencil (!!) and just love the color palette too, even though it’s not one I usually turn to either. Happy PPF!

  • Gloria J Zucaro November 23, 2012, 9:12 am

    Love the layers, the browns to set the leaves off and Jessica’s stencil is great. Wonderful Fall tag. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!

  • Faye November 23, 2012, 9:50 am

    wow, Carolyn, I thought those were real leaves! Beautiful art and beautiful photo of the fall scene.

  • Piarom November 23, 2012, 10:25 am

    What a wonderful tag! My eyes where caught by the leaves and their splatters…I really enjoy seeing the progress of it…And so funny the message you get, is quite similar, which I brought home from out trip in italy…If you have the chance do something, do it right now…later most of the time there will be no oportunity to do it again!

  • Annette G November 23, 2012, 12:24 pm

    Smashing backgrounds and love how you’ve used the die cuts. Happy PPF, Annette x

  • carlarey November 23, 2012, 12:47 pm

    This is so beautiful, and what a great message for us all.

  • aimee November 23, 2012, 2:55 pm

    I love Jessica’s stencils and I love what you did with them! And deli paper!! So cool!

  • denthe November 24, 2012, 8:49 am

    that stencil looks great! love what you did with it!

  • Maggie Nemetz November 24, 2012, 9:15 am

    Love the squirrel’s message! He’s so right. The photos are beautiful and the tags are awesome! I love the stencil and what you’ve created with it!

    Maggie

  • Lori November 25, 2012, 3:30 am

    The tags are great. I really like the background pattern and the way you repeated the leaf shapes over the top with the dramatic writing.

  • Karen Smithey November 29, 2012, 1:08 pm

    the squirrel is adorable, and I need to remember his message! I remember thinking the same kind of thing when I’d try to videotape some event of my children–I felt that while I was recording the event, I was somehow also MISSING the event…

    I love what you’ve some here! At first I thought they were real leaves that you’d painted on (hmmm…I may have to try that…)

    Happy PPF!