Hurray! The All About Fall Blog Hop is finally here!

The entire talented Joy's Life design team is hopping today, sharing projects that are "All About Fall."

Here's the whole hop order, in case you just stumbled across this hop:

 Joy -- http://joyslife.com
Laura -- http://www.laurascraftsandmore.com
Lori -- http://got2bcrafting.blogspot.com
Maria -- http://asimplefive.blogspot.com
Stacey -- http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Kendra -- http://luv2scrapnmakecards.blogspot.com
Julie -- http://muddypawsinkyfingers.blogspot.com (you are HERE)
Dawn -- http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com (go HERE next!)

 

I have a project to share with you that has lots of pictures, so bear with me.  It may make for a long post, but I think you'll like the end result. And, of course, there's a story. I seem to always have a story, LOL!  One of my dogs, Sophie, is terrified of thunderstorms.  My craft room is in the basement, and she seems to be the most relaxed there.  So, when it storms, we often craft.  Several Friday nights ago, it began storming around midnight.  I started working on this project for today's blog hop.  At 5 in the morning, it was still storming.  Wave after wave of thunderstorms came through all night.  I stayed up all night, and had this project just about complete when the thunder finally faded away. At 5:30, with Sophie snoring at my feet, I finally went to bed for a couple hours. And, what did I make on that all-night crop session?  A Fall banner.  Tell me what you think...

 

 

There's a lot to see on this banner, so I have pictures of the individual panels.  I'll tell you more of how I made it as I go along, too.

First, a close up of the top square of the banner.  Each of these 4x4 decorative squares is from a mini album that I took apart.  Close To My Heart used to make them.  They were called a Mix & Mingle album.  I love them for banners because some of the panels are acrylic and some are chipboard -- perfect for something like this!

 

I used a stamp from the Joy's Life stamp set "It's All Fall Puns" on the first panel, the "Give Thanks" sentiment.  The #4 and all the letters were cut out on my Cricut, using the Cricut Classic font cartridge.  The designer papers are from the Jillibean Soup Apple Cheddar Soup 6x6 paper pad. The white and cocoa cardstock are from Close To My Heart.

 

 

I used various Spellbinder dies to cut the shapes throughout the banner.  Here, you can see an acorn cut from a Tim Holtz die, painted with Creative Inspirations paint.  The leaves are from a cutting file from The Cutting Café using American Crafts Autumn cardstock.  The twine is from Trendy Twine, and can you see that jute string on all 4 corners?  That's the new jute string found in the 3 Girl JAM store.  It worked perfectly on this banner because of the wonderful Fall colors.  I used the Jute ribbon found in the 3 Girl JAM store at the top of the banner.

 

 

the "a" is decorated with more leaves from the Tim Holtz die. They've all been painted with various Creative Inspirations paints.

 

 

On this first "l", you can see another of the acrylic pieces that I used. There's some more Trendy Twine here, too, along with leaves cut from The Cutting Cafe's file and the Tim Holtz die.

 

 

This final "l" gives you a good look at the pretty jute string from 3 Girl JAM.

At the bottom of my banner, I used another Joy's Life stamp, from the same stamp set -- It's All Fall Puns.

 

That cute squirrel is cut from a die.  I didn't use my electronic cutter during the stormy night, so I stuck to metal dies as much as possible.  The Spellbinder ones were perfect for this project, as was this squirrel die from Cottage Cutz. I cut the squirrel out on white cardstock, but used TH distress inks to ink him up.  The eye was made with a Viva Décor Pearl pen.

I have one more view of the whole banner for you, since it was a few pictures back when you saw the whole thing.

 

 

In honor of today's hop, and the fun I had making it (it's been years since I've pulled an all-nighter!), I have some blog candy to give away.  I have some stamps, a 6x6 paper pad, some embellishments, and brads.  To be eligible to win, please follow my blog and leave a comment on this post.  I'll pick the winner with my Joy's Life post on Monday.

Now, off you go to the uber talented Dawn's blog. It's All Fall and all beautiful at http://dawnmercedes.blogspot.com.  Off you go!