Fall Inspiration (TGIFC#335)

Fall is my favourite season--the colours are beautiful, the days are cooler, and the nights are crisp.  I wish it lasted longer!  So the #TGIFC335 challenge of Fall and Pumpkins was right up my alley this week.  I also just received a new order of products, so I was itching to try out some new things!

I decided to take the "pumpkin" element as a colour suggestion.  :) I started with a piece of white cardstock, my Blending Brushes, and three ink colours:  Granny Apple Green, Real Red and Mango Melody.  I blended a multicolour background easily this way!  I then stamped some leaves from the Tidings & Trimmings stamp set in Early Espresso ink randomly over top.  I love the way the leaf outline looks on my custom-made paper.

I used my new Picture This Dies to cut apertures from a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  I layered it on top of my background with dimensionals and added a strip of Gold Shimmer Ribbon about 1" from the bottom,  The dimension makes a real impact with the "windows" cut with the dies, and the stitching around each circle adds incredible detail.

I added a mat of Early Espresso and a second mat of Whisper White before adding the whole piece to my Mango Melody card base.  The pop of white with the dark brown draws the eye.

I stamped four leaves from the Love of Leaves in Real Red and Mango Melody, stamping off for a few to get some depth to my colour palette without adding more ink pads.  Each leaf was die cut with the coordinating Stitched Leaves Dies and I added the optional stitched veins for even more detail.

The sentiment is included in the Love of Leaves set and I stamped it with Early Espresso ink on White cardstock and then die cut around it with a postage stamp die from the Floral Gallery Dies set.

For the final touches I added a Gold Shimmer bow and several Genial Gems, which add just the right amount of glitter and shine.

I was so inspired by this challenge that I just had to make another version! 

I used the same Blending Brush technique for my background, but this time pared down my colour palette even further and used only Real Red and Mango Melody ink.  After inking the background I spritzed it gently with water and dabbed it off with a paper towel, which left those beautiful water spots,

I cut the windows from a piece of Whisper White cardstock using the same Picture This Dies, but then I went a step further and used the Stitched Leaves Die to add stitching over the entire piece.  This is by far my favourite die!

I adhered the white die cut piece directly onto the blended background, and then matted it with a piece of Early Espresso cardstock.  I wrapped some Linen Thread around the top portion of the card and tied a pretty double bow.  Then I glued the entire piece to a Thick White top-folding card base (4.25" x 11", scored at 5.5").  

A bonus of the Picture This dies is that you get a plethora of stitched circles as scraps left behind!  I used one of the circles for my sentiment, stamping the same leaf outline image from the  Tidings & Trimmings set in Early Espresso randomly on the crisp white background.  I also stamped a small "hello" in Early Espresso on a scrap of white and hand cut around it, then matted it on a scrap of Early Espresso and hand cut a thin mat around that.

I added a few more Genial Gems for some shine, and my second version was complete!

I used the same technique for the inside of both cards, masking off about 0.5" of white space at the bottom with some low tack tape, and then blending and stamping some decoration.

I'd love to know which card you like better!  

Please comment below and let me know.  And don't forget to pop over to the TGIF Challenge site and see what everyone else was inspired to create this week.  Thanks for stopping by. :)

Happy Crafting,

Barb