If you tickle the earth with a hoe, she laughs with a harvest.
          ~ Douglas Jerrold

I had so much fun with this Penny Black stamp. I ordered it from Paper Garden Projects a long time ago and have just been holding onto it until I had time to do it justice. If you look closely, you can see a little raffia in the buckets and the little guy's hat. He looks all dressed up for Sunday dinner but more interested in harvesting his frogs. He's kind of a tribute to my inner child. "In every real man [and woman] a child is hidden that wants to play."  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

This image is so sweet, I knew I wanted the layout of the card to be simple – to make it all about the image. There are a lot of wonderful sketches out there among the sketch challenges this week and I probably spent about as much time searching for just the right sketch as I spent making the card – well almost. I did a lot of paper piecing which meant a lot of detail cutting, but it was worth it. Laura's sketch over at 2Sketches 4 You was perfect.

I took a lot of inspiration from both the color and concept from this weeks Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #77. Don't these cupcakes make you want to grab some apple cider and jump on a hayride?And the Just Us Girls, JUGS 51 challenge was a perfect fit, a color challenge using black, red and green. And lastly (yes, I really slammed the challenges this week), I took my sentiment from this week's Card of the Week challenge – to make a card about "thinking of you."

So . . . all that put together made this:

Ah . . .

So, loves, here's the rest of the recipe and the Copic Markers. Because of all the paper piecing, the only things colored with markers are the hair, skin, frogs, pussy willows, and grass. I used the grays to add shading to the paper pieces.

• Fibers: linen thread and raffia ribbon
• Ink – Memento Black Tuxedo, Copic  markers (see below), Stampin' Up More Mustard and Creamy Carmel (sponged around the edges)
• Paper – Neenah Card Stock, Basic Grey Oliver and Mortifica 6×6 paper pad, and Prism cardstock.
• Stamp: Penny Black Hoppy Day
  
• Tools: Nestabilities and EK Success 5/8" circle punch
• Misc.:  Stampin' Up! Vintage Mini Tags, Magic Mesh, Crystal Effects (on the frogs).

Happy Fall ya'll! Here's hoping you got a chance to see that beautiful full Harvest moon tonight and embrace your inner child.