Autumn and More

Hey friends!  Let's get back to some autumn ideas again.  Today is a perfect fall day with sunshine and blue skies with puffy white clouds and temps requiring a sweater.    Doesn't that sound perfect?  It's been a great day to go out for a walk and just enjoy the beauty around me.  It hasn't been quite cool enough at night to get the leaves to start changing to those glorious fall colors.  But it's coming soon, and I want to be ready for it.  Today's cards are featuring the Gathering Together DSP with a fun fold that's easy to do.  Ready to get started?

Here are two of the cards I've made with this quick fun fold.  The colors are just gorgeous for this time of year with all the golds, rust, and browns.  The Gathering Together Designer Series Paper has an assortment of colorful prints that are just perfect for this time of year.  These cards only feature one of the prints, but I'll get around to using the other prints soon.  They are too pretty to ignore.

My plan was to do basically the same card using both Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry, just switching out which color would be the base and which one the layer.  Doesn't it give a different feel to the cards?

Let's focus on this one first.  The card base is Crushed Curry cardstock that measures 7 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It is scored at 3 1/4" and 6 1/2".  The 3 1/4" section is folded over to make the front flap of the card.

There are three Cajun Craze layers.  They measure (2) 3" x 5 1/4" and (1) 3/4".

The three DSP pieces measure (2) 2 7/8" x 5 1/8" and (1) 5/8" x 5 1/8".

There is one Basic White piece that measures 3" x 5 1/4".  There is also another piece needed for the sentiment.  For this sentiment I used a 3" x 3" piece.

Layer each of the DSP pieces onto the coordinating size piece of Cajun Craze.  I used "green glue" to attach these together, so I had a bit of "wiggle" time to get them on straight.

Attach the two larger pieces of DSP and layer onto both the outside and inside front flap of the card.  The skinny layers get attached to the right edge of the card onto the area that was scored earlier.  This will be put aside while we work on the inner Basic White piece and also the focal sentiment piece.

The sentiment I used here is from the Grateful Blessing set.  It's sort of hard to find in the catalog, but you can find it on page 98 in the Annual Catalog.  I like the nice bold size of the font, so it really makes a statement.  One of the Spotlight on Nature dies was used to cut a label with plenty of room for this sentiment which is stamped with Early Espresso ink.  

One of the leaves in the Grateful Blessing set was inked with Crushed Curry ink then off-stamped before stamping over the wording. 

To attach this to the card front, two Dimensionals were placed on the back of the circle where it would be positioned on the skinny layer of DSP.  When the card is closed the label is just a decoration.  But when you fold back on that 1" score line, the card pops open  

A double strand of the new Old Olive Linen Thread was tied into a bow and attached to the label with a rolled Mini Glue Dot.  A trio of Pecan Pie & White Dots are added to the sentiment label.  Sorry, I thought these were still current, but they sadly are not.

Here is the darker version of the card.  The dimensions are all the same as the previous card.  The base is Cajun Craze cardstock, and the layers are Crushed Curry cardstock.

Did you notice a different DSP on the skinny side piece?  That is just the backside of this lovely leaf print.  I thought it went well with these colors.

The sentiment used here and on the inside of the card are both from the Grateful Blessing set.

The leaves stamped here use Cajun Craze for the larger and Crushed Curry for the smaller.

The gems are the new Cajun Craze & Gold Dots that are an Online Exclusive item.  They really have a pretty gold sparkle to them that nicely enhances the gold touches in the DSP print. 

This card also has a double strand bow, but it uses one strand of Old Olive, and the other strand is Early Espresso.  I liked the darker mix on this card to go with the darker overall look.

I thought it might help to visualize the card using another angle of photo.  With the 1" score line on the right side, it's so easy to just slightly bend back and have the card pop open.

Since I was having so much fun making this style of card, I had to try a different DSP to see how it looked.  Love it!

The dimensions are all the same, but the colors are sure different.  This looks so summery and happy.  For this one, the cardstock colors were Pretty in Pink and Basic White.

The pretty print paper is from the Florals in Bloom DSP.  The skinny piece on the right edge is the backside of the floral print.  I thought it was a nice contrast.  I used the Pretty Florals stamp set for all the stamping on this card.

This also uses the Spotlight on Nature dies, just a smaller size.  

Three of the Holographic Dots were used here.  I was surprised how well they picked up and blended with all the colors on the card.

These flowers turned out so pretty and matched the DSP nicely.  The colors used are Pretty in Pink, Real Red, and Garden Green.  When stamping the flowers, the stamps were off-stamped, so the ink was lighter and more transparent.  The sentiments were stamped full strength with the Garden Green ink.

I hope you enjoyed and were inspired to try making this fun fold card.  Just by rethinking your color palette and DSP print you could make a card to fit any occasion or time of year!  How many ideas can you think of right now?  Let me know what you do with this fun fold idea.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Magnolia Mood in Three Versions

 Hello, hello!  I decided to make a birthday card for a friend using the Magnolia Mood Bundle today.  It is a very simple card but still looks elegant.  At least, I think so.  Since it was so easy to make, I figured it would be a great idea to make a few more playing around with different color combinations.  You know I can always use more cards, so why not!  

The Magnolia Mood stamp and die set are found on the Online Exclusive items section of the shopping site. It's an interesting bundle in that the dies cut both outline images and make some lovely, detailed images that can be used as a stand-alone which I have done today.

To start, the detailed magnolia was die-cut from Basic White Thick cardstock.  I wasn't sure what colors I would use, so this could be set against the different shades to decide on the final card.  I wanted a delicate, feminine look to the card, so I decided on Soft Seafoam and Basic Beige with an accent of Basic Black.

The Basic Beige measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored and folded in half for the card base.  The Soft Seafoam was cut next.  It measures 4 1/2" x 3 1/4".  The Basic Black was cut to frame this at 4 3/4" x 3 1/2".

This sentiment comes from the Magnolia Mood set and was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I decided where the die-cut would go and stamped the sentiment to fit the area.  The Soft Seafoam layer was then attached to the Basic Black layer using adhesive.  These layers were then attached to the Basic Beige layer using Dimensionals.

The die-cut magnolias have adhesive on only some of the solid petal areas and left rather loose on the leaves.  It's added to the card front next.

The bling added to the card is from the Blooming Pearls.  There are three pearls added to enhance the magnolia image.  I loved the greenish tinge on these pearls with the golden accent overall.  A nice finishing touch.

Here is where I figured it would be fun to make some more cards just to see how this card layout would work with different colors of cardstock.  I was very pleased with the outcome, but also surprised with the colors. 

This is the second card in the series I made.  The card base is Blackberry Bliss for a nice, rich base color.  

Bubble Bath was chosen for the color of the top layer.  These two colors always work nicely together.  The sizes are the same for all three card samples, just the colors change.

In between the two colors is a layer of Gold Foil Specialty Paper.  I wanted to give this card some extra elegance, so I chose the rich colors with gold as the accent.  I think that worked out well.  

The die-cut this time is the gold foil to match.  I tried to fit the die onto the gold layer, but no matter how I twisted it, it was just too small to fit the die.  I hate having a large layer of the specialty papers covered over wasting all that lovely paper.  But sometimes, that's how it works.

A sentiment from the Spotlight on Nature set was used for the card.  It's stamped with Blackberry Bliss on the left corner.  The two cardstock layers are attached together using adhesive.  Then this is attached to the folded Blackberry Bliss card base with Dimensionals.  

Again, the die-cut is attached with adhesive on the more solid petals of the image.  

The added bling on this version of the card used the Adhesive-backed Pearl Trio in the rosy tones.  Love these with the colors of the card.

The last color combo I wanted to try was Pool Party with Pretty Peacock.  I always love these two together, so it should be a good match.

The card base is the Pool Party.  The next layer is Pretty Peacock with a layer of Basic White framed on top on that.

I had planned on using Pretty Peacock as the die-cut color, but after cutting it really didn't appeal to me.  So now what?  I found the Thoughtful Designs Specialty Designer Paper that I haven't gotten around to using yet. If you haven't seen it, it's a pretty ombre paper with a pearlized design on it.  I cut a piece from the darker end of the paper that measured 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" to die-cut the magnolia. 

I liked this print on the card which gives it even more interest.  It's attached the same way as the other cards.

Now, to the sentiment.  This was sitting on my table as a left over from another card.  For the life of me, I have no idea where the sentiment comes from even though I looked through my stamps.  Anyway, the Basic White strip is about 5/8" x 2 1/2".  It's attached with Dimensionals to the card front.

After trying several different embellishments on the card, the Basic Gray & Smoky Slate Pearls were chosen.  One of the larger pearls and two smaller ones were added to the card to finish.

It's funny how the first two cards came together with very little fuss.  The pieces just worked together so nicely and almost made themselves.  On the third card though, it was a struggle to find the right colors to work together and give me the look I wanted.  So much for quick making a few extra cards!  You never know how things will turn out.  But it definitely is a good thing to stretch myself and not use the same things over and over.  I'm glad I've finally used the beautiful Thoughtful Designs DSP.  It's so pretty and now I'll need to think of a way to use the other colors too.

Thanks for sharing your time with me today.  Hope you're inspired to get out your stamps and create!  It always makes me feel wonderful when another masterpiece comes together.  😏😏

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon  

Spotlight on Nature in Mauve

Happy Sunday to you.  Hope you're relaxing and enjoying the weekend.  Today I have a card for you that focuses on the color Moody Mauve.  I really like the color but haven't used it in a while.  It was time!  There's a lot going on with this card with two layers of circles with designs die-cut into them, pastel images that are water colored, DSP, and some bling to finish it off.  Really, it has a little bit of everything.

I love how the Moody Mauve and white elements play off each other and show up so nicely.  I started with a Moody Mauve card base measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2".  It's scored and folded in half.  

I had a piece of the Poetic Expressions DSP in this lovely mauve color in my stash already cut and ready to use.  It measures 4" x 5 1/4".  It's attached directly to the card base with adhesive.

Next the flowers, leaves, and butterfly images from the Spotlight on Nature set were stamped onto Basic White cardstock using Stazon Jet Black ink.

Each of the images were lightly colored with ink and Blender Pens.  The flowers are colored with a layer of Bubble Bath ink.  Then Moody Mauve was added for shading and some detail.  I made sure to keep the colors very light.  The leaves are all colored with Lost Lagoon and the Blender Pen.  Again, keep in very light.  The butterfly was based with Bubble Bath and just a few touches were added with Moody Mauve.  I love how I was able to get such pastel colors with adding just a touch of color with the Blender Pens.  

After the three pieces were colored, each of them was carefully fussy-cut with Paper Snips.  The sentiment is from the Spotlight on Nature set too.  It's stamped on a scrap of Basic White cardstock using Moody Mauve ink.  This was also fussy-cut.

The circle dies were cut next now that I knew the size of circles that I wanted.  The Basic White circle measures 3 1/4" in diameter.  The Moody Mauve circle measures about 2 3/4".  After die-cutting the circles, they were layered together with adhesive in the center area.

The leafy cluster was added to the circles to one side.  I used adhesive just down the center of the leafy cluster.  Over this, the flower stems were added.  Again, I only used a little adhesive in the center portion of the stems.  I added a Mini Dimensional under each flower to keep them in place.

The circles were added to the card front at this time.  They are attached using Dimensionals over to the left side of the card front.

The butterfly was attached with two Dimensionals to the right of the circles.  The sentiment was added using adhesive to keep it flat to the card.

I tied a double bow of white twine from the Baker's Twine Essentials Pack.  This bow used about 14" to make it.  It's attached to the flower stems using a rolled Mini Glue Dot to hold in place.

For the added bling, this time the Iridescent Faceted Gems were added.  I usually only use three on a card, but this card needed five to look right.

Almost done.

One last addition was made after I thought the card was already finished.  A layer or two of Wink of Stella would add some nice shine to the butterfly on the card.  This time I used two layers to really make it shine.  This picture shows what it looks like in the sunshine.  Oh my!  So pretty.

Hope you enjoyed this quick idea.  I love the layers of the circle dies.  These Spotlight on Nature dies are so pretty with the die-cut details.  What a nice addition having the details already part of the layers.

Okay, I'm trying to decide what to play with next.  Christmas or general?  Any specific sets you'd like to see (if I have them!)  Any thoughts?  I can't decide.  Hope you'll help with some input.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon