Hello and happy first day of November! I love Fall (although it's still hot and humid here in Florida) and always think of our visits to New Hampshire during this time; wearing sweaters, crunching leaves underfoot, and seeing pumpkins on front steps. Some day, my friends, I swear I'm gonna relocate someplace where I can once again enjoy a cool, crisp Fall season. Meanwhile, I will continue to design and create Fall-themed projects here in the confines of my air-conditioned craft room.
Today I'm sharing a simple, yet pretty Fall card utilizing different
Graphic 45 collections, textures, and die-cuts. Here's a look at how it came together.
Like many of you, I keep a collection of card sketches. This makes it easy and quick to start a card. I don't always follow the sketch to the letter, but rather use it as a starting point for the basic layout, then play with my elements as I go along.
Gather your materials. I chose this pumpkin page ("Don't Be Late," B-side) from Graphic 45's Halloween in Wonderland collection and the golden honeycomb pattern ("Harmonious Honeybees" B-side) from Nature's Sketchbook, finally the green striped paper is a scrap from Portrait of a Lady. I lay out ribbons and cardstock I think I'll use, but sometimes not everything makes the cut. For now, it's just about gathering.
Texture is an important part of any of my creations, and I'm currently in love with this "3D" woodgrain texture folder called
"Lumber" from Sizzix. I embossed tan cardstock (on the left) then scribbled Gathered Twigs Distress Crayon on the raised surface, spritzed it with water and rubbed with my finger. Once dry, I blended Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the entire surface. I love the real wood result!
My card is 6" x 6" so I cut the green striped paper to 5 1/2" by 1 1/2" and used a decorative punch along one long edge. I decided on the tan lace and the gold ric-rac ribbon, which I found at Hobby Lobby.
Cut the woodgrain piece to 5 1/2" x 3" then adhere the elements as shown, wrapping the excess ribbon around the back. I find this to look much neater than cutting the ribbon on the edges.
By folding the bulky ribbons around the back, it does create an uneven unit, so I grab some scrap pieces of thin cardboard and adhere them to the back as shown, avoiding the ribbon areas which are already dimensional enough. Foam tape could be used here, but I find it rather thick for this layer.
Cut orange cardstock to make a 6" x 6" card base. Mine is tent-style, but make yours book-style if you like. Adhere a 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" square of the pumpkin paper, then the woodgrain unit as shown. I stamped my sentiment, then placed in inside the cute die-cut frame (
Mini Picture Frames by Lawn Fawn). The stamp set is an old Stamp of the Month set from Close To My Heart.
Die-cut a doily or simply use an existing paper doily and add some color with inks. I've used my favorite
French Pastry Doily die by Cheery Lynn Designs. Add the pumpkins next, popping up the front one with foam tape for dimension.
After adhering the vines and leaves to my pumpkins, I added a die-cut leaf stem using Graphic 45's
Tags and Flowers die. For a finishing touch, I added sparkly gems to the lower left and upper right corners.
Not difficult, very pretty, and fun to make. Let's kick off November with Fall crafts! Make sure you share your creations on social media for all of us to enjoy. I love following all of you, too.
Thanks for stopping in. Happy November!
