Monthly Calendar Challenge - March 2010

Hello Everyone,
Time for another Monthly Calendar Challenge. The 1st of March is the beginning of Autumn in the southern hemisphere. The leaves are changing colour on the deciduous trees and begin to fall, the paddocks turn green after some much needed rain and the weather is a lot milder. 
So the theme for March is Autumn.
My calendar's are very traditionaly Autumn, so I will be very interest to see how you interpret this month's challenge.  For my first calendar I have used one of my cute cat images from Whipper Snapper Designs. I stamped the image three times and coloured them with my markers and aqua painter. The heap of leaves was cut out and raised on dimsensionals for a 3D effect, then a few leaves here and there were cut out and layered on top . I embossed the Provo Craft Leafy Branch down one side of the calendar and coloured it with Stampin' Pastels.  I used the Martha Stewart Arch Lattice Border punch  for a border on the designer paper then applied it with the ribbon and brads. After creating the calendar in Publisher I attached it with dimensionals.

Supplies:
Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs Fall Fun Kitty 
Card and Designer Paper: Very Vanilla, Holiday Treasures DP, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Stazon Black, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Really Rust, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Basic Grey, Pretty In Pink Markers, Stampin' Pastels
Embellishments: Ribbon, Brads
Tools: Mat Pack and Piercing Tool, Martha Stewart Arch Lattice Punch, Dimensionals, Aqua Painter, Cuttlebug, Leafy Branch EB Folder, Computer and Printer
I was only going to do one calendar for March until I saw the cover of the new Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue. I love the colours used so I based this calendar on the cover. It would have been wonderful to have the new products to make this one, but I had to improvise with some retired stamp sets.  I found the quote on the Internet and reproduced it on a tag. I wanted to highlight the A of Autumn so I used my Cuttlebug and Olivia Alphabet, cut two in different colours one lighter than the other and layered them which made the A pop.  Some of the leaves were inked up with Versamark and dusted with clear embossing powder and then heat set.  Others were inked on the versarmark stamp pad and then inked on coloured stamp pads to create a more autumn effect, dusted with embossing powder and heat set.  I used the air brush (spritzer) and markers to dirty the tag and calendar up a bit and the cutter tool and some scissors to make the edges rustic. The background was embossed with Provo Crafts Forest Branches EB Folder. I curled the leaves with a pencil and attached them with dimensionals.

Supplies:
Stamps: Fantastic Foliage (R), Botanicals (R)
Card and Designer Paper:  Ruby Red, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Ruby Red Markers
Ink: Versamark, Ruby Red, Always Artichoke, Close to Cocoa
Embellishments: Jumbo Button Latte, Chocolate Stitched Ribbon
Tools: Crop-a-dile, Dimensionals, Cutter Tool, Scissors, Pinking Shears, Computer and Printer, Colour Spritzer Tool
I would love you to join in my Monthly Calendar Challenge, so c'mon and have a go and let me know which one you like most.
Thanks for stopping by today,
Hugs.