Hello stamping friends! We've been having some glorious fall weather here and it's wonderful. I love the brilliant blue skies juxtaposed against the changing colors of the autumn foliage all bathed in sunshine. It's absolutely gorgeous today! So, what the heck am I doing inside? Well, making a blog post about a card that features those glorious autumn colors in a super simple card. If you hang out with me much, you've heard me mention making the cards for the shut-ins at my church. This past year several ladies have been helping me put them together. I come up with the design, then cut, stamp, emboss, die-cut, and all the other stuff needed before actually putting the cards together. This means that I've learned that sometimes I need to fashion a simpler version of an idea for the ladies helping since they are not stampers at all. But they all have a good time chatting and spending time together.
Today's card started out with an idea or two I saw on Pinterest and morphed from there. I loved the crisp clean lines on this card but could foresee some issues for the ladies putting the card together. Let me show you what I mean.
The upper card was my version of ideas I had seen. Isn't it gorgeous and truly gets the Thanksgiving message across beautifully? I love the open image design on the Elegant Leaves die-cut leaves, and the colors of Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, and Golden Glow are pure autumn in my opinion. But I could foresee adhesive all over the place and possibly some ripping of leaves from the ladies trying to get these leaves to stay in place. So, it was time to get creative and come up with something similar but easier to put together.
That's where this bottom card comes into play. It follows the same layout, colors, and Elegant Leaves bundle, but there are definite changes to make it easier to handle.
Let's get started making this card. Start with a Cherry Cobbler card base that measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". It's scored and folded in half. Next a layer of Pumpkin Pie was added. This piece measures 5 3/8" x 4 1/8". The layer of Basic White is cut next. It measures 5 1/4" x 4".
The white layer has an die-cut inset from a long skinny die in the Elegant Leaves dies. This is cut about 1" down from the top edge and centered across it. This is just a cool woodgrain-looking strip that is an accent but doesn't actually cut anything out. For some reason, this seems to enhance the look of movement for the fall leaves.
The sentiment is from a really old wood-mount Stampin'Up! set. I just loved the font on this stamp, so it's been saved for years and gotten out for special occasions like this. It's stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink.
I started out with a full sheet of Basic White cardstock. This was covered with a blending of Golden Glow, Pumpkin Pie, and Cherry Cobbler. There were blobs of color (yes, that's a technical term) laid down randomly using Golden Glow ink and a Blending Brush to start. Next the Pumpkin Pie was added here and there in sections. The Cherry Cobbler was used next to add some depth to the design. Lastly, I went back with Golden Glow to fill in any open spots and to blend it all together. It looks kinda weird at this point, doesn't it?
Next, the medium-sized leaf from the Elegant Leaves set was used to stamp a bazillion leaves. I tried to use all three of the colors to over-stamp on this paper I made, but only the Cherry Cobbler color stood up to these colors and looked good. The Golden Glow and Pumpkin Pie got pretty lost in all the color. After all the leaves were stamped on this background, I realized I didn't have enough leaves for the number of cards needed so another piece of color-blended cardstock was made.
Then came die-cutting all of these leaves one at a time. Whew, that took a bit of time! Thank goodness they didn't need to be hand cut!
Adding the leaves to the card front came next. I made sure the three leaves all had a different mix of the colors some lighter, some darker. Also, the leaves needed to have a different orientation for each of them. This helped give the illusion of movement to the leaves on the card front. Each leaf is attached by just a single Dimensional in the center, so they look like they're floating.
I tried several different embellishments for this design. I ended up choosing to add the darkest Sunset Sparkle Sequins. They seemed to mimic all the lovely shades of fall on the leaves.
Everything is packed up and ready for the ladies to put these cards together in another week. I think they will have no problem making these cards. And I'm hoping the recipients will like them.
What do you think about making your own background paper to use on a project like this? Have you tried it lately? It really is fun playing with colors and blending them to get a myriad of different shades to work with on your projects. Let me know if you like this idea and give it a try.
Thanks for stopping by today so I could share my love of stamping with you. I don't think anyone is either too young or too old to enjoy a little creativity! Maybe it helps to keep the brain active and keeps me out of trouble too!! 😆😂😁
Happy stamping and creating,
Sharon
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