Amber Autumn Dies

 Hi all!  Have you been seeing all the wonderful projects made with the large coverall leaf die in the Amber Autumn bundle?  It seems these awesome ideas are cropping up all over the place.  I haven't seen anything quite like what I want to share with you today.  Hope this is new to you and you love the idea.

Can you see what I did here?  I started with a quarter sheet of Cajun Craze cardstock which measured 5 1/4" x 4".  The die was placed in the center of this keeping the edges even all around as much as possible.

It was run through my die cutting machine twice to make sure that all the detail in this die was cut properly.  Then I took the time to make sure all the little cut pieces were cleaned out from the design.

Now comes the fun part.  Find a nice 'pathway' up through the middle of the die to sort of cut it in half.  When you look at the two cards above, if you turn the one on the right upside down the two pieces mesh together.  I love that you can easily cut the two sections apart and then make two cards instead of one.

The card base for both of these cards is Basic Beige cardstock.  It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.

There is a Basic White layer that is cut to measure 5 1/4" x 4" for each of the cards.  To give the cards lots of texture, both white layers were embossed with the 3D Exposed Brick Embossing Folder.  I thought this was a good background for the leaves.  

Before attaching the white layer to the card base, the Cajun Craze die cut leaves layer was added to it.  I used Tombow MultiPurpose Liquid Adhesive (green glue) around the edges and small touches on some of the more solid leaves to hold this in place.  Make sure you don't use too much where it would ooze out from the leaves.  Keep a light touch!

The same "green glue" was used to attach the white layer to the folded card base.  This gives a really good bond to hold in place.

The sentiment is from the Amber Autumn stamp set.  It's stamped onto a Basic Beige piece using Cajun Craze ink.

Then a label is die-cut around this using one of the sentiment dies in the Delicate Forest Bundle.  I love the shape of this die with the corners squared off nicely to give a different look.

The sentiment layer is attached to the card front with Dimensionals to make it stand out.

The extra oak leaf is from the Amber Autumn set and matches the background die perfectly.  It's die-cut from Cajun Craze cardstock.  I used more of the "green glue" to attach it to the card front.  It looks like it's just floating down from a tree.

The lovely bit of bling on this card is the Cajun Craze & Gold Dots.  I wasn't sure if I'd like these until I saw them in person.  They are really pretty with the flecks of gold in the transparent coppery dots.  They are just the perfect addition to this card.

The sentiment inside the card uses another of the Amber Autumn sentiments.  It has five of them and I've used each of them already.  So often there are only one or two sentiments in a set that I really like.  This time I like (and use) all of them!

I also die-cut a few extra of the single oak leaves that ended up gracing the inside of these cards.  This was a quick and easy way to make two cards at the same time.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hopefully I'm on the mend and back on my feet again.  It's been a rough month.  But it should all be behind me now. (fingers crossed)

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Delicate Forest Autumn Card

 Hello friends!  It's been wonderful weather that I'm enjoying to the max.  But all those fall color changes will be coming soon, so I thought I would get a jump on it ahead of time.  On yesterday's card, I used a piece of the Country Woods Designer Series Paper that I had die-cut.  Today, the card uses the rest of the piece of DSP that framed the piece that was cut for yesterday.  Sometimes my extra pieces sit around for days (or weeks) before I get around to utilizing them.  I made sure to get this one used right away.

I started this card with the piece of 4 3/4" x 3 1/4" Country Woods Designer Series Paper.  The center was cut from this using the largest rectangle die in the Everyday Details die set.  I love how the frame has all the open-work dots all around the opening.  It just gives it a little more interest than a straight cut.

Next is the piece of Very Vanilla cardstock to layer the frame on.  This measures 4 7/8" x 3 3/8" which gives it just a skinny frame of vanilla around the wood grain piece.

The tree from the Delicate Forest Bundle was used for the main image.  I measured where the frame opening would be so I could place the tree.  The stamp was inked with Pumpkin Pie ink then dabbed on with Cajun Craze ink to meld the colors together.  There is another stamp in the set that is a bunch of scattered leaves.  I added just a few coming from the tree and just two tiny leaves up higher near the tree.

The wood grain frame was attached to the Very Vanilla layer after the stamping.  I used Tombow Liquid Glue for this so it could be carefully maneuvered into place.

The card base of Cajun Craze was cut to measure 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half.  A layer of Early Espresso cardstock was cut at 5 1/4" x 4" to add next.  This is attached with adhesive.  The Very Vanilla layers are attached next using Dimensionals.

The sentiment is one of my current favorites and it's from the Winterly Tree Tops stamp set.  It is stamped on a 7/8" x 2 3/8" piece of Very Vanilla cardstock.  I used Cajun Craze ink for this.  This is layered onto a piece of Cajun craze cardstock that measures 1" x 2 1/2".  They are attached together with adhesive.  Then this is attached to the card front with Dimensionals.

The embellishments for this card are simply 2 golden birds from the Adhesive-backed Dragonflies & Birds bling.

Hope you've had a chance to peruse the new mini catalog and all the new items in the Online Exclusive and Kit section.  There's a wonderful selection right now.  If there's anything you're wanting that is back ordered, be patient.  The items will all get back in stock soon.

Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me today.  I've got several more cards lined up ready to be posted.   Just need to find the time to do it all.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Cute Little Fun Fold

Hello Friends!  Today's card is all about bright and cheerful, with a little fun-fold action thrown in for kicks.  I have a friend who's having another surgery soon.  This will be the third in three months.  The surgeries are going well, but it's still a lot of stress and worry.  I was looking for an idea that would be just a little something to cheer her up.  I think this little card fits the bill.

Isn't this a darling little card?  And I do mean little in size.  With it all folded up, it's not even 3" wide and only 4 1/4" tall.  Like I said, little.  But it's just the cutest card when it's standing up with all those folds and angles.  Are you interested in making one of these?  Well, let's get stamping!

The card starts out with a base of Thick Basic White cardstock that measures 4 1/4" x 11".  Then it's scored at 1 1/2", 3", 5 1/2", and 8".  This is folded like an accordion with the first fold going to the back.  Make sure to use your bone folder to get a good crease on each of the folds.

The DSP color is called Shy Shamrock and is in the 2024-2026 In Color Designer Series Paper.  Here are the sizes you need to cut:  

2 @ 1 1/4" x 4"

2 @ 2 1/4" x 4"

1 @ 2 3/4" x 4"

Adhere each of these to the corresponding folds of the card base.  I used "green glue" to attach these pieces.  The two smaller ones go on the front folds, the largest is the back piece, and the middle two go on the middle folds on the card.  Make sure you line up all the top and bottom edges to keep it neat.

Next up are the daisies.  These are from the Cheerful Daisies Bundle.  There is one die that has three daisies and some leaves all connected in the one die.  One of these was cut from Basic White cardstock, then trimmed apart with Paper Snips.   The three layering pieces for these daisies was cut from Basic White.  And several extra leaves and one of the airy fern pieces were also die-cut from white.   Then the fun begins.  On the center of each of the flowers and layers, Daffodil Delight ink was added to them with a Small Blending Brush.  Try to keep the yellow ink in the centers only with the edges of the petals still white.  Another Blending Brush was used to add Shy Shamrock color to the white leaves and airy fern.  This was not a solid coverage at all, but kind of hit or miss, light and dark.

The centers on the flowers were stamped on the layering flower pieces.  Then a little adhesive was added to the center of the top layers and added to the coordinating flower with the darker centers showing through. 

The two smaller flowers were arranged on the front fold with petals slightly overlapping the fold.  They are attached with adhesive.  Two of the leaves were tucked in under the flowers.  Leave a little space between the flowers for a sentiment.

The 2nd fold has the large flower attached with adhesive.  It also overlaps the fold.  The leaves and part of the airy fern were tucked in around the daisy.  When the card is shut, the two layers of daisies overlap the fold and gives the look of a bouquet.

Next was cutting a white layer for the inside message on the card.  I wanted to use the Deckled Rectangle Dies, but they were too wide.  After one was cut from Basic White, I laid the long edge of the die about 1/4" in from the edge and ran it through again.  This gave me the size I needed to fit inside the card without showing through on the front when closed.  It has some triple daisies stamped on opposite corners to bring the yellow inside of the card.

Lastly is adding the sentiment.  I found this perfect little sentiment in the Delicate Forest stamp set found on page 76 of the current annual catalog.  Unfortunately, it was really close together and I wanted it split to use half outside and half inside of my card.  It is stamped onto a Basic White strip using Pecan Pie ink.  First, it's cut in half between the lines with a Paper Trimmer.  Then the ends were angle cut on the card front and attached with adhesive on the left side only, so it overlaps.  The words on the bottom of the stamp were cut in half at an angle and the outer edges of the words also trimmed at an angle to match.  They are attached flat with adhesive leaving plenty of room to write a little note.

Here's the finished card.  As you can see, the daisies overlap onto the under layers.  The large daisy even sticks out past the edge of the card.  Because of the small size of this card, it isn't a problem fitting it into a regular envelope.

I really gave some thought to adding some extra bling to the card.  But after really looking at this little card, I was afraid it would be too busy looking.  It was just perfect as is for what I wanted to mail out to my friend.  Sometimes I find it hard to make a specific card for illnesses and sympathy in the moment.  For me it seems better to have a couple different styles made up ahead of time and just pick one that fits.  But this one was not only fun to make, but I was praying for her surgery and recovery while making it.  Isn't that a win-win?

Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me today.  This is a darling little card that is so easy to make.  Now that I've made one, I'll have to see what else I can come up with next.  How about you?

Stampin' Up! is having a sale starting today until the end of the month.  This sale features 10% off Bundles and 10% of the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine.  If either of these things interest you, head on over to the store and see what's available.  If you'd put me down as your demonstrator, I'd be very appreciative!  Thank you.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon