A feeling of Fall.....

    Today is the day that we have to make all the decisions about what preparations we need to do for the Storm?  As of early this morning, Hurricane is still expected to continue to weaken and thankfully when it huts our area, it will now be a tropical storm with 1-3" of rain and heavy winds here on the Coast.  We are a little less that a mile to the ocean, but up higher than sea level which keeps us pretty safe for any type of coastal surge.   Hubby wants to take out our AC units (we have the window units), but I don't want that, nor do I think we need too.  First I'll melt without them and secondly, he'll be off to work Monday and that will mean there is not chance of them getting back in until at least Monday night, if not even next weekend.  Not a good plan!! 

  As I start this post, (almost 3PM) the storm continues to weaken, so I think he's now planning on leaving them in!  Phew!  Of course, I would always rather be safe, but I really think we'll be just fine.  I'm the positive person in our home and hubby is also always the pessimistic one!   He did put away all our of deck furniture and I took in my potted plants and hanging plants, but otherwise, they is really not much else we need to do.  It's not a strong enough storm for us to have to board up windows and I think we've had far worse in the Winter.   I also noticed that all of our neighbors still have their AC units in, and some have not even taken in much of their yard stuff.  Mostly we all have our grills tied down and most have their yard furniture stacked or put in a more sheltered part of the yard.

    Taking in the plants and having the deck bare already, makes me thing that Summer has quickly ended and that Fall is now here, even though the temps are still very warm.  I'm so not ready for Fall in some ways, but as far as crafting goes, I'm ready for a change of season and actually have already started creating more in a fall theme or worked with Fall colors.  All of the projects I worked on today very much have that feeling of Fall and I had fun with them all!  

    My first card was created for the new 'Catch the Bug Challenge, and our challenge this week is to use 'Warm Colors' and also include some paper piecing on your project -- one of my favorite techniques.   Of course, I love Purple as your know and my next favorites are bright pink, aqua, so I guess deep down I'm a cool color gal, and those are definitely the colors I use most.  Until I looked at this cute little color chart (copied over from Bugaboo), I never realized now much of a cool color lover I am.   If you are NOT sure what you prefer, I'm sure this little chart will help you too!

     I also took the same image and made a second card, in a very clean and simple style.  For this card, I colored the image with Copics and added a hint of 3D Crystal Lacquer to the little Heart   Both my card bases are from new Hero Arts Sets that I've been buying lately.  I really like them, because the colors are nice and all the insides are white, making them perfect for OWH.   I also found a great deal on each of the sets from a seller on eBay.    I used Distress inks to add a pop of color to my embossed die cut and then tied on a matching ribbon.   Very easy and very fun!!    When I started on this I really thought I'd find quite a few Fall-Themed challenges, but was surprised that I really did not find ANY?  

  I was however, very happy to find these fun challenges, where I am submitting my cute little Pumpkin card:

• Craft us Crazy - Challenge # 15 - Anything Goes
• Moving Along with the Times Challenge - Tweet Tweet - Birdies

  And next I have a very different (for me) card that I created for today's new Paper a La Mode Challenge at The Outlawz.  The DT girlz have put together an fun challenge, where we had this image (see below) as our inspiration for any type of Paper Crafting project --

  And this is the card that I created based on the image.  I loved the color combination and also really thought the design concept was very cool.   So...I combined both along with a favorite digi from Wax Fruit Company, that I colored to match.   In the end this is my card - which I think is very Fall-like.

   And lastly, before I sign off, it's now about 4 pm and so far all the AC units are still in and it looks like hubby has hit the couch for the day!   Yippee!   I'm a happy girl and feel confident, that we'll be fine!  If the forecast for some reason, changes dramatically, we can always take them out tomorrow morning -- the storm is due to be here later in the afternoon.   But, as is often the case - I think we lucked out again and will not have much more than a rainy and windy afternoon.