Thanksgiving Leaves

 Hey there!  Hope this finds you doing well and enjoying your fall.  I can't believe it's almost time for Thanksgiving already.  Where does the time fly?  Before I get all my Thanksgiving cards sent out, thought I'd better take a picture or two and share the ideas with you.  Let's get right to it.

Staying with some warm fall colors, I started with a card base of Cinnamon Cider cardstock cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half.  The next layer up is Bumblebee cardstock cut to 5 1/4" x 4".   The next layer is Very Vanilla cardstock cut to 5" x 3 3/4".  This layer was die-cut with the  Stitched Greenery Die that doesn't actually cut, but gives this lacy, leafy, stitched look.  I had used this die before, but wasn't ever really impressed because I just left it plain.  Well, this time I used my Blending Brushes and first Bumblebee ink lightly over all, and then a bit of Cinnamon Cider ink more on the outside edges.  Wow!  This added color just totally popped the stitching and I love the look!  I'll have to try this a lot more often now that I know how cool it really can be.

After adding the color, this layer was attached with MultiPurpose Liquid Glue to the Bumblebee layer, and then attached to the card front with the glue also.

I thought the bold leaves from the Stitched Leaves Die set would be a wonderful contrast to the smaller leaves of the greenery I just did.  The largest leaf was die-cut from Cinnamon Cider cardstock.  Love how the stitching on the leaves mimic the background.  I then die-cut two of the medium leaves using the 2021-2023 In Color Shimmer Specialty Paper.  This is a pretty colored vellum with a subtle shimmer on one side.  I used the Pale Papaya color and it adds a lovely shimmery look to the card.  

I wanted to add a darker color to the mix, so I die-cut two leaf sprays with the Eden Dies and Cajun Craze cardstock.  I think they create a fun addition to the mix.

The sentiment is from the Sparkle of the Season stamp set.  It contains several fall and Christmas sentiments that I've used quite often lately.  This is stamped on a  1/2" scrap of Bumblebee cardstock using Cajun Craze ink.  Then just trimmed down on the side edges with Paper Snips.

Before attaching the sentiment, I colored a length of the White 1/4" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon using the Dark Cajun Craze Blends.  I colored it with just a few swipes of the Blends and it dried super quick so I could use it right away.  I used about a 4" strip and folded in half then attached it under the sentiment.  The sentiment was then attached to the card using Dimensionals.

I did make several of these cards because I liked it so much.  On some of them I changed up the sentiment to this.  It's one of the sentiments in the Love of Leaves stamp set that coordinates with the dies I already used for the leaves.  I just love it when everything comes together and works out nicely without a bunch of fuss.  Now I just need to get these in the mail before it's too late!  😏

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Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been making.  Hope you're inspired to get out your stamps, ink, and paper and have some fun!  Just enjoy yourself and create.  It's much better than therapy and cheaper too!

Happy Autumn!

Sharon

Tale of Two Cards - part 2

Ok, are you ready for what I made with the leftover parts from yesterday?  Remember I had used the Blending Brushes on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock to make a circle of Mango Melody.  I also had seven leaves in different sizes and colors made with the Love of Leaves stamp set and coordinating dies.  I also thought it would be fun to use a different fun fold to make this card.  So that's just what I did.

I hadn't made a book binding fun fold in forever, and thought this would work well with the pieces I had too work with.  I started out with a card base of Cajun Craze cut at 11" x 4 1/4", scored at 5 1/2" and a second score line at 6 3/4".  After folding on the scored lines, I folded in half.  Then opened on the side to put Multi Purpose Liquid Glue on the space between the two scored lines, and closed it up.  When it dried, it now opened like a book with the binding area on the left.  Great start.

The Very Vanilla cardstock that had the Mango Melody soft circle on it was up for the chopping block next.  The piece was 5 1/4" x 4".  I cut off the 4" that included the Mango Melody circle to end up with a 4" x 4" square for the front of the card.  That left a piece 1 1/4" x 4" that I trimmed down to 1" x 4".  I had a lot of fun playing with the stamp that looked like alcohol inking yesterday, so I tried it again on that 1" piece.  This time I used Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Cajun Craze inks.  Granted there were only small portions of each color, but it gave me the look I wanted.  

The leaves I had to work with were all inked with a rock 'n roll technique using mixtures of Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Bumblebee, and Crumb Cake.  Each leaf has at least two colors and some have three.  After shuffling them around on the Very Vanilla square of cardstock, I found I had two problems.  One, the background space was too bare.  To fix that problem, a Blending Brush was used to add some Mango Melody on the outside edges with a bit of Pumpkin Pie added in.  The second problem was solved by die-cutting a branch from Soft Suede cardstock using the Harvest Dies.  I love using that branch (as a whole or cutting pieces from it) to tuck in some interest on so many cards.  It's a natural addition for florals, but it works well for a Halloween special effect too.

Here is the card standing up so you can see how it's put together.  

The sentiment was stamped on the small strip of Very Vanilla cardstock.  The words are from the Love of Leaves stamp set and I used Cajun Craze ink to stamp it.  The Banner Pick-a-Punch was used to trim the left edge.  I added a bit of Mango Melody and Pumpkin Pie ink to the edges with the Blending Brushes.  Have I mentioned how much I love those things?!  This was added to the card front with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue and  Dimensional on the left edge to keep it straight.

A double bow of Linen Thread was added to the tag with a Mini Glue Dot.  The same Linen Thread was wound around the book binding part of the card four times and tied off with a bow.

The last thing to do was finish the inside of the card.  Another 4" x 4" square of Very Vanilla was cut to fit.  The Blending Brushes came out again with Mango Melody and Pumpkin Pie inks to add a good amount of color all around the edges.  It was then attached inside the card with Multi Purpose Liquid Glue.  There was just one small leaf left over from the stash I was working with.  So it landed in the corner here.

After much thought and deliberation, this has ended up being a bling-free card.  It just seemed like it was already beautiful with all that bright, glorious color.  What more could be added to make nature even better?

It was fun doing these last two projects.  They truly didn't end up the way I envisioned either one when I started out, but that surely does keep things interesting.  Creating cards is a process where many things can end up going sideways instead of forward.  And this is how we learn as we go.  I once read that either you continue to learn something new each day, or you die.  So I'm planning on doing lots more learning for a good long time!   *big grins*

If you're thinking of placing an order soon, please use the Current Host Code that you'll find in the upper right corner of my blog post.  Thank you in advance for all your support.  I'd love to hear from you, whether it's a question or comment about any of my projects, or just to let me know that you're hanging out with me.  If there's something you'd like me to tackle, just ask.  Not sure if I can always figure it out, but I'll give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by again.  I miss all of you, my friends.  Hopefully I can get myself up to Michigan again soon and see you.

Happy creating and stamping,

Sharon