Variations on a theme of Thanks...

Each year, my little group of stamping friends talks about the fact that we don't as a custom send Thanksgiving cards.

Why the heck not? This is truly my favorite holiday. I love the weather, the food, the absence of that crazy pace and list of things to do that comes with the Christmas season..

It's an easier, more relaxed holiday, but with all the great things (most notably - pumpkin pie) that mark the end of the year, plus the opportunity to just be grateful.

And why wouldn't we send "thank you" cards whenever we got the chance?

I'd like to challenge you guys to build a Thanksgiving card list that rivals your Christmas card list! The colors and images are just as, if not more, beautiful than those of other holidays - especially from Stampin' Up! and it's a fabulous sentiment - be thankful!!

Shameless kitty cuteness I'm thankful for to follow. I'm still waiting for the Secret Service protection to start, by the way. Now that they've announced, they're supposed to get it, right?

Anyway, I borrowed the colors of one spectacular Zindorf tutorial for this piece. But my pumpkins are those beautiful bluish white ones that Martha Stewart always has in her magazines. I LOVE those pumpkins!!

I colored them with Copics, and then used my Eclipse tape with the added benefit of Maureen's tip in a comment on my first Eclipse post here. Thanks Maureen! Unrolling the tape and stamping all my pumpkins on there lead to much less waste! I really like this stuff.

Anyway, after I colored them, I brayered on Barely Banana, then Apricot Appeal, then Pumpkin Pie, then Really Rust on top. Before the Really Rust, I punched a 1" circle from Eclipse tape (TIP - adhere it to cardstock before punching - it's too thin by itself to punch cleanly) and stuck it in the sky to create a moon. Then I brayered the rust on.

Then I brayered Certainly Celery and then Old Olive on the bottom and removed the masks. I stamped the greeting from In Every Thing Give Thanks in Craft White, and that DSP is retired Halloween paper.

It looks like a Great Pumpkin scene from Charlie Brown to me - I can hear the music!

The second one I really enjoyed too. I love the little Mayflower from In Every Thing Give Thanks - it's so clean and pretty.

I colored that very quickly with copics - just the background, and then mounted it on black. I used the new extra wide double stitched Baja Breeze ribbon and stamped the same greeting in black. So simple and clean!!!

So, on the list of things I'm thankful for.. Some pics of my insomnibeests who will soon be in the White House.

Enjoy them. Beautiful little creatures.