Tag: Fall

Fall

A Pile of Thanks

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Have the leaves begun to change in your area? Fall is my favorite time of year. And I absolutely love it when the leaves begin to change colors. The main thoroughfare through our neighborhood is lined with a wide variety of trees that put on quite a show during the fall. The street looks like it’s lined with fire. I love to watch the process and am always awed by it. I find reasons to run errands every day as the leaves are changing.

I was super excited to receive a box of goodies last week, which included the beautiful Oxidized Copper designer paper, the Autumn Leaves die collection, and brushed metallic dots. When the Holiday Mini Catalog first released, I completely talked myself out of any of the fall products. But after participating in a team building event where we used them, I realized that I would find myself reaching for them more than I thought!

I was inspired by a card posted by i.heart.stamps over on Instagram and wanted to try my hand at recreating it with a few twists here and there. This card design begins with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. The beautiful woodgrain panel is from the All About Autumn designer series paper pack. The gorgeous leaves are diecut from Oxidized Copper designer paper using the Autumn Leaves dies. The sentiment panel consists of two layers. The base layer is gold glimmer paper diecut with the Deckled Rectangles set. The sentiment is heat embossed in copper atop Crumb Cake cardstock, which has been diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies. TIP: for richer color when heat embossing, whenever possible stamp in the same color ink that you will be embossing with. A twist of gold trim behind the smaller sentiment panel really helps unify the metallic elements and draw the eye to the sentiment. The brushed metallic dots allow the eye to pass across the card, following the path of the falling leaves.

I just love the details in the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining you see here is a part of those dies. There are also leaves without the vein detail embedded within the die but that include a separate die for the veins. The leaf duo under the bottom, left corner of the sentiment panel is an example of that combination of dies.

Products used:
Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, gold shimmer (retired) cardstock
All About Autumn DSP (sold out)
Oxidized Copper specialty paper
Tsukineko Cosmic Copper ink
Copper embossing powder
So Sincere stamps
Autumn Leaves, Deckled Rectangles dies
Gold trim
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Thanks, Pumpkin

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Do you participate in Thankful November? While I don’t always participate to the extent that I make social media posts, I do tend to find myself much more reflective through the month of November and try to turn my focus to giving thanks. Honestly, it’s such a wonderful practice that I really need to carry it forward throughout the entire year. How do you feel about it?

Inspiration for card designs reflecting thankfulness always seem to come much easier this time of year. And today’s design is no exception. This lovely peek-through fun fold card uses the All About Autumn designer series paper. This paper pack is so inspired — with its beautiful foiled patterns on one side and still life fall photographs on the other. I’m finding it hard to even begin to grow tired of it! And clearly LOTS of you agree because it is now completely sold out!

Today’s card begins with a base of Cajun Craze. Aside from the 1-inch peek-through section on the card front, the base is a standard 4 1/4-inch by 5 1/2-inch design (when closed). This design uses 3 separate sheets of All About Autumn designer paper. The sheet with the sweetgum leaves, the foiled side of the sheet with books, and the sheet with pumpkins. The sweetgum leaves sheet is cut to 3 1/8-inches by 5 3/8-inches and adhered to the front panel of the card base. I retained a 1-inch strip of the leaves and used it as an accent on the foiled panel on the inside of the card, and the small strip is matted with a scrap of the blue cardigan sheet from this paper pack — that I happened to have lying on the craft table. The pumpkin sheet that serves as the peek-through portion of this card measures approximately 2-inches wide. The sentiment panel is more understated in this design because I wanted it to complement more than stand out. The base panel of the sentiment is vellum that is diecut using the All That die set. The sentiment from Circle Sayings is stamped in Cajun Craze on Very Vanilla cardstock and then diecut using the oval from the All That die collection. Before adhering the sentiment to the vellum base, I elevated it on dimensionals and then set it atop some twists of gold cord. Glitter sequins and speckled spots add a little sparkle and visual interest and help guide the eye down and across the card design.

I don’t know about you, but when I have a pack of really gorgeous paper, my mind immediately turns on designs that allow me to showcase as much of the paper as I can. And so I naturally gravitate to fun folds. Do you like fun folds? Did you know that there are quite a few PDF tutorials for some of my favorite folds over on the Tutorial page of my website? Feel free to click here to check them all out!

Products used:
Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn DSP (sold out)
Circle Sayings stamp set
All That dies
Speckled dots
Glitter sequins
Gold cord
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Warm Hello

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We have a beautiful ash tree in our front yard, and just this week it has really begun to turn. This beautiful designer paper from the All About Autumn pack reminds me of our tree right now with the stunning yellow leaves strewn about.

This card design is set atop a piece of Cajun Craze cardstock. The z-fold design allows the use of the entire sheet of DSP, minus a small half-inch strip at the bottom. I kept the front sentiment panel small to ensure the inside message panel is easily accessible. The sentiment from Circle Sayings is stamped on a Very Vanilla panel diecut using the All That dies. To draw the eye, I used a small scrap of the foiled side of the tree sheet leftover from the Fabulous Friend card (see that design here) and added a small twine bow, along with some speckled dots and sequins.

I really wanted the gorgeous designer paper to be center stage, and I think the smaller sentiment panel does the trick. What do you think?

Wanna see how the design came together? Check out the reel over on Instagram.

Products used:
Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Circle Sayings stamps
All That dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots, sequins
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Fabulous Friend

susanfoxbowen1 Comment

It’s really beginning to feel and look like fall here in Texas. Fall is my favorite season. At its peak, the main street to our house is lined with trees that look like fire. I try to run errands often once the trees begin to turn just to be able to watch the progression and transformation into a street lined with the beautiful colors of a warm fire.

And that brings us to today’s design which uses the beautiful All About Autumn designer paper. It has been so popular that it sells out as quickly as Stampin’ Up! can restock the shelves. I was lucky enough to get a sampling and just this week snagged a whole pack!

The card base for today’s card is Mossy Meadow cardstock. The fun fold design begins with the single Z-fold. (Hop over here for a PDF tutorial.) I selected the beautiful grove of trees and the foiled side of the limbs of leaves sheets of DSP. The grove of trees pattern is cut into 2-inch strips and adhered on the left of the outside and inside panels. The foiled sheet is approximately 3 inches wide to allow some overlap with the tree pattern. The inside sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped on a 2-inch strip of white paper and the panel is adhered in the center on the left side of the center card fold (at 4 1/4 inches).

The outside sentiment from Bold Bouquet is stamped on a Very Vanilla banner diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. A strip of natural finish ribbon is layered behind the sentiment panel and adhered to the outside tree panel. Because I wanted a large focal point on the front of the card, the z-fold must be modified to a half-barn fold by adhering the two smaller panels together to ensure the sentiment and message panel inside the card are visible and accessible. And I absolutely love the result! If you want to see the evolution of this design, hop on over to Instagram to catch the reel.

TIPS for this design: 1) you can turn a one-line sentiment into a block using a simple masking technique. I inked each word individually and covered the inky words I didn’t want to stamp using a piece a masking tape; 2) you can keep a ribbon in place using staples.

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Bold Bouquet, Heartfelt Hexagon stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots
Natural finish ribbon
Adhesives

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Fall

Hello, Pumpkin

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s really beginning to feel like fall here in Texas. And fall is my favorite season! I love everything about fall — cooler temperatures, beautiful colors as the leaves change, pumpkins, hot apple cider, toasty fires, going to sleep when it’s dark! There’s so much to love about fall.

The All About Autumn designer paper in the current Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog has been popular, and it’s no wonder because it’s absolutely stunning in person! There are beautiful photos on one side and gorgeous foiled designs on the other. Honestly, it’s hard to choose, but the great thing about the 6×6 pack of papers it that you have 4 of each design so you don’t have to!

For this card design, I began with a base of Mossy Meadow. I wanted to bring out all of the detail in the various pumpkins and so I chose to use two different foiled sheets, one in vanilla and one in peacock. I love how it brings out both the lighter details of the pumpkins and the greens in the heirloom pumpkin. To carry on with the natural theme, the natural wavy trim pays tribute to the pumpkin stems. The little sentiment panel is diecut from white using the Nested Essentials dies. A few speckled dots add visual interest and draw the eye to the sentiment panel and help carry the green elements through the entire design.

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, white cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Pansy Patch stamps
Nested Essential dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots
Natural wavy trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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