September Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the September Card Chain Challenge big reveal, 29
card makers took part and I sent my card to Tina in Slovenia.

This month I have used the theme options of Autumn and Friendship and the technique option of Foil.

I bought this spellbinders autumn leaf border hotfoil plate in the spellbinders sale an few weeks ago and this is the first card I have made with it. I used iridescent gold foil onto smooth white cardstock and then coloured the image with my polychromos pencils - I was quite pleased with the result. I hope my leaves look suitably autumnal.

I cut my panel with a scalloped edge die and decided that I had to do something about all the white space. Hence my attempt at splatters. I am terrified of splatters and feel that I haven't mastered them yet. Firstly,  I took three acrylic paint pens in different colours (green, orange and yellow) and splattered away. The resulting splatters were very fine and the different colours didn't show up very well so I had another go with some gold calligraphy ink. These splatters were a bit more visible, but still very fine. Anyway I left it there as I thought I was about to ruin it.

My next conundrum was where to place my sentiment, which was foiled in a different gold and stacked for dimension. In the end I just placed it in the middle as it just didn't look right anywhere else. I rarely make landscape cards, mainly because I can never get them to stand up properly. To add interest to the insert, I used the foil plate to emboss a piece of smooth watercolour paper. I tried using thinner paper but it just cracked. I lightly inked the embossing, trimmed the panel and attached it to a pale yellow insert.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Dagmara in Poland. I love the colours on this one and the background has a lovely shimmer to it. The card is sitting on my shelf and that little fox just keeps staring at me! Anyway, I love it. Thanks Dagmara. She tells me that the sentiment means 'empires fall, friendship endures'.

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here.

Yesterday I said I would share some of the photos of the succulent displays that I came across at RHS Wisley on Thursday. I have been growing succulents for a number of years so I am always interested in seeing new displays and getting ideas. I wasn't disappointed.

This display is in a large terracotta pot and those plants are quite large, each one about the size of my hand.

They are doing a trial of Aeoniums with the intention of awarding some an award of garden merit (AGM). You can see about a third of them in this picture.

This is one of about 10 displays that were sat on the tables on the roof terrace of the Hilltop centre.

I love them all.

And finally here is one of my own displays.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it.