Simply Autumn

The leaves are changing & falling in a major way, but I rarely have luck portraying the beauty of this season in a card. So I decided to try my hand at the "Autumn" challenge at Less is More (but I entered 6 challenges, not 5 (I thought it was 5 plus theirs) so it's ineligible, which always happens to me over there).

I used a "letterpress" technique to stamp/deboss the fence; the shape is actually a wooden shape (which I received from Linda as part of a City Crafter swap). Basically, I inked the wooden shape with brown chalk ink, carefully taped it, ink-side-down, onto my cardstock (with removable tape), and ran it through my Bigshot using the sandwich of: multipurpose platform, wooden shape, cardstock, extra piece of cardstock, one embossing pad, and a clear plate on top. Because the wood is so thick, I had trouble with getting a good embossing without the paper cracking, but it "stamped" great!

The leaves are embossed/cut with Spellbinders dies. I used craft foil for the copper leaves. The sentiment is stamped with brown StazOn, using a stamp from an Adam Prescott/Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine set.

The stamped portion is adhered to the card base with foam tape, so that it pop up a little bit (like I see the pros doing). I'm very happy with the results; just because it's "clean & simple" doesn't mean it was easy!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cardabilities Sketch #61: Sketch
Critter Sketch: Embossing  
Divas by Design Challenge 58: Use some Orange
House of Gilli: Embossing, wet or dry
Simon Says Stamp: Autumn Leaves


Update: I ended up sending this, along with a completed repair order, to the State Police. Hey, working in Traffic can't be fun; and everyone deserves a card!

Thank you for visiting,