Happy First Day of Autumn!

Hi Friends,

Fall is officially here.  There's a different feel in the air and, of course, all the vibrant colors of fall are sprouting everywhere.  So now that it's official, Happy Fall, Y'all!

Let's make a beautiful fall-themed birthday card to celebrate!

Here I've used Vintage Leaves, one of my all-time favorite stamp sets.  The card base is made from Thick Whisper White.  On a 1-1/2" x 5-1/2" strip of regular weight Whisper White, I randomly stamped one of the smaller leaves in the set using Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz & Calypso Coral.  The leaves all hang off the edge of the cardstock - when you finish stamping it looks like a cut strip of designer paper!  This strip gets layered on top of a 1-3/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Copper Foil Sheet.

I used a technique called "thumping" to make this multi-colored maple leaf.  It's a fun technique that produces different results every time - there were lots of "ooh's & aah's" when the ladies made this card at my last class!  Simply ink the maple leaf in the normal manner, using the lightest color you have chosen to work with.  In this case, we used So Saffron.  Then take sponge daubers, one for each color you choose to add, and apply more ink directly to the stamp randomly.  Here we've added Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz & Calypso Coral on top of the So Saffron ink.  

"Happy Birthday" is part of the Special Celebrations stamp set.  I stamped it using Early Espresso ink and die-cut it with the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  The maple leaf and the greeting are both adhered to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.  There's another multi-colored leaf stamped on the inside of the card and one more on the envelope.

Two 10" pieces of Linen Thread tied together into a bow and attached with a glue dot finish this project.  I love the coppery accents on this card - so much prettier in person, but you get the idea! 

Inspiration is everywhere...nothing matches the beauty of an autumn day.

Product List

Vintage Leaves

[138802]

Leaflets Framelits Dies

[138283]

Special Celebrations Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143885]

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

[145372]

Copper Foil Sheets

[142020]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[140272]

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100730]

So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad

[126957]

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

[126976]

Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad

[131180]

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

[126983]

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[126974]

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

Linen Thread

[104199]

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

Glue Dots

[103683]

Thanks for stopping by today,

Pat

Vintage Leaves Sympathy

Hi Stampers,

My love of Vintage Leaves continues...today I'm sharing a couple of sympathy cards I designed. These are so simple to make, yet stunning (in my humble opinion!)

  The first one uses what I think of as "fall" leaves - maple and oak.  The colors are Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Rich Razzleberry.  The stamping is simple - it's just random, with no particular pattern to it, on a background of Very Vanilla.  If you look closely, you can see that I "flicked" some gold Wink of Stella over the leaves.  You can barely see it in the photo but trust me, it's stunning to see in person.  I added a double mat of Basic Black and Cajun Craze,  a sentiment (non SU) using my Layering Oval Framelits, and a strip of 5/8" Burlap Ribbon.  I stamped the envelope flap using the same three colors for a finishing touch.  

As much as I love fall, this is a card that I probably wouldn't use outside of the season, so I changed it up on the next one by using different leaves and colors:

On this one I left off the maple & oak leaves and used all the others.  The colors are Dapper Denim (stamped off once), Pear Pizzazz and Smoky Slate.  I covered the Smoky Slate leaves with clear Wink of Stella - it shows up nicely here, isn't it pretty?  The ribbon on this one is Dapper Denim 3/8" Ruched Ribbon.

I hope you're inspired by these cards!  Please visit my website to purchase any of the products mentioned here.

Happy stamping,

Pat

Inspired

Hi Stampers,

Fall is the best time of year, no doubt about it.  I've been inspired to create beautiful fall cards by all the colors of nature.  The cards I've been working on this week use some of my favorite things - Vintage Leaves, watercoloring and copper embossing powder!  Here's my card:

And here's my inspiration:

Aren't those just the best colors?  I tried to duplicate them with my watercoloring - I'm pretty happy with the result, what do you think?

I have to admit, these colors weren't the only thing that inspired me to make these cards.  I watched this awesome video from Patty Bennett and couldn't wait to try this watercolor wash technique.  I could go into more detail about how it's done, but Patty does such a great job explaining it in her video that you really need to watch it!  (Seriously, you'll be inspired too!)

Here are some of the sheets that I cut my leaves from.  Don't be discouraged if you try this and think your watercoloring doesn't look right - there's no right or wrong with this technique.  Every piece is unique and you'll probably think it looks like a mess, until you cut the leaves - then they are gorgeous!

Another thing I used on all of my cards is my favorite embossing powder, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I'm amazed every time I use it at how quickly and smoothly it melts.

Isn't that beautiful?  So elegant and perfect for Fall!

Once I got started making these cards, I couldn't stop.

I really couldn't stop.  I made birthday cards, and thank you cards, and hello cards, and missing you cards, and Thanksgiving cards.  I call it my all-purpose card for Fall :)

This is actually my first time playing with Vintage Leaves and the Leaflets Framelits.  I wanted it when it first came out last year but didn't get it, so I was really happy that it was carried over into this year's annual catalog.  If you like fall decorating, there is so much you can do with these leaves besides make cards!  Imagine wreaths, garlands, scrapbook pages, tabletop decorations, placecards, napkin rings, classroom decorations, the list goes on and on!

You can shop for any of the supplies to make your own inspired cards by clicking on the Shop Now link on the left side of this page.  Please be sure to leave your contact information when you order to get a special "thank you" from me.

Happy stamping,

Pat