Pastor Appreciation Card

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and I wanted to make a very special card for my pastor. He has been shepherding our congregation for over 30 years now, and he is such a humble, faithful, and caring pastor. My church is truly blessed by his service.

I started with a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 brown card base that is folded on the short side. I stenciled my leaf stencil using Tim Holtz distress ink in yellow and then die cut the stenciled background and adhered it to the card base. I used SU!'s Fond of Autumn stamps and dies to create the other elements on the card front. I watercolored the images I had stamped using watercolor pencils and some water. After previously watercoloring the images before die cutting them and then having the die shift and cut the colored image in the wrong places, I learned my lesson and stamped then die cut the images BEFORE watercoloring them😁. My washi tape doesn't stick to the heavy watercolor paper as well as it does to traditional card stock, so I also learned to apply more of it to keep the dies in place.

The Fond of Autumn die set has a lovely lacy die that I die cut in kraft card stock for the card front and in yellow card stock for the inside of the card. 

A look at the inside of the card: 

Close up of the front: 

A look at one of the pieces I die cut before coloring with my watercolor pencils. The top five leaves are watercolored, and you can see how adding water makes the color smoother:

Here's how it looked after all parts were watercolored:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends October 22)

Allsorts challenge blog: ATG with option of monochromatic (2/3; ends October 13)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends October 15)

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge (colourcrazychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG with coloring of some sort (2/2; ends October 21)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends October 21)

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends October 12)

Challenge | Your Next Stamp (3/3; ends October 13)

Stamping Sensations (sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com) : Autumn (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

We Love Stamping: Fall colors (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com): Fall (3/3; ends October 13)

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com)

Outlawz Challenges: Monthly linky

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for this week; 9/10 for the challenge period; ends October 12)

Tuesday Color challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-tuesday.blogspot.com) (Yellow, green, red, brown)

Double Trouble Paper Crafting (doubletroublechallenge.blogspot.com): fall colors and entered Jan's Digi Stamps Challenge (2/4; ends 10/16)

Jan's Digi Stamps Challenges: Anything Goes October 2022 (jansdigistampschallenges.blogspot.com)

handicraft dream (bastel-traum.blogspot.com): Fall (ends October 15)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG (ends at the end of the month) 

The Diva's that cut ....paper! (die-cut-divas.blogspot.com): Watercolor (1/4; ends at the end of the month)

Happy Little Stampers: Watercolour Challenge: ATG with watercolor (ends at the end of the month)

Happy Little Stampers: Stencil Challenge: ATG with stencils (ends Nov. 5)

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies (ends October 9)

fourseasons (thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com): Fall

Songs and Rhymes challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-sunday.blogspot.com): The browns in the card reflect the line: The month is amber, gold, and brown

Double Trouble Paper Crafting (doubletroublechallenge.blogspot.com): Leaf colors (4/4; ends October 17)

InspirationStation (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): The leaves in the photo were my inspiration

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends October 17)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Octoberfest (1/3; ends October 16)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Autumn Mood Board

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! (stencilfun.blogspot.com)