Gilded Autumn Suite - two beautiful cards for the best season of the year

 

 

It’s Monday! And let’s start the week with a look ahead to autumn, one of my favourite times of year.

Summer isn’t really my thing; I burn to a crisp in minutes and the heat just drags me down. Thankfully, not a major problem in the UK, although sadly becoming more of one. As the days shorten, I miss the long, light evenings, but I welcome the cooler weather and beautiful colours that autumn brings. 

It is no surprise, therefore, that the first products I bought from the new August-December Mini Catalogue was the whole of the Gilded Autumn Suite. I haven’t used every part of the Suite yet but I have been enjoying the Beautiful Autumn stamp set, the Autumn Punch Pack and the stunning Gilded Autumn Specialty Designer Series Paper which has beautiful copper and gold foil on some designs, such as the one you see here. 

 

I have to say, the stamps line up beautifully. They are photopolymer, which helps, and lining up the leaf and acorn centres with the outlines is really easy, although they look good offset, too, if there’s enough of a colour contrast.

For this card, I used one of my favourite Annual Catalogue stamp sets, Happiest of Birthdays. This is SUCH a great stamp set and ideal for masculine and teen cards as the greeting does all the heavy lifting for you.

Yes, this is a product-heavy card; on top of all the Gilded Autumn goodies and the Happiest of Birthdays stamp set, it uses the Stitched Rectangles Dies to create a DSP frame around the words. I’ve embellished the frame using those beautiful stamped and punched leaves and acorns.

 

 

When it came to the second card, I had a bit of a wobble about my acorns, and decided the colours should be the other way round. Green cap, brown acorn. Then I checked with my husband, a keen naturalist (I said naturalist!!!!) and he confirmed that either is fine as they change colour over the course of the season. 

 

 

This little Very Vanilla Notecard used up some leftover punched pieces and DSP, and the Stitched Shapes Dies. It’s always great to be able to product a second card from the bits left on your craft table, isn’t it? 

 

I love the colours, the crispness and the images... yes I know I shouldn’t say so myself but why not? I made a card and I love it. If you receive this – or indeed the first card – in the post, you know you’re pretty high up in my estimation!

To get the three-colour greeting, I used the Stamparatus. Always start with the palest colour... inking the top of the stamp using your ink pad or sponges, or even a brayer if that’s easier.

Stamp it using the Stamparatus and then, without moving the cardstock (held down with the magnet), ink up with the next colour. It can be difficult to do this using an ink pad, and can give you a harsh line, which is where the sponges, sponge daubers or brayer come in handy. Even if you manage it with an ink pad, the sponge can soften the line. Stamp and repeat with the darkest colour at the bottom.

Using the Stamparatus allows you to avoid any gaps and go back and add more colour where required.

My first Christmas card of the year, using Yuletide Pasture

I’ll be honest, I’m not really ready for Christmas cards... although you may have gathered that from the sentiment on this card...

But it was a fun opportunity to use three new Stampin’ Up!® products; the fabulous Yuletide Pasture stamp set and some lovely polka dot paper from the Trimming The Town Suite from the new August-December Mini Catalogue and, from the still newish Annual Catalogue, the must-have Playful Alphabet Dies.

I began by stamping the Yuletide Pasture sheep in Gray Granite, then gently colouring her in using Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. It can be challenging to achieve subtle colours using Stampin’ Blends so I did this by using Smoky Slate Light with Ivory on top, then toned it down with the Colour Lifter.

Just so you know, you can’t really use the Colour Lifter as a blender pen because it simply doesn’t work that way. It’s a bit of a misnomer actually because the Colour Lifter doesn’t lift; rather it pushes some of the ink through to the back of the cardstock.

Image coloured, cut out using Stitched Rectangle Dies and mounted on some Old Olive cardstock, it was time to create my sentiment – and this was something I’d had in mind from the moment I saw this stamp set.

Out came the Playful Alphabet Dies and a brand new adhesive to go with them. I have only just purchased the Foam Adhesive Sheets but they really are a game-changer. Stick your cardstock to a sheet (or piece of sheet) and die-cut it all together. It’s an absolute boon with small dies such as these as you get a perfectly cut Dimensional to make it really easy to stick your letters down.

So there we have it. I bought the Yuletide Pasture stamp set with this card in mind and now just need to come up with some other ideas for the rest of the images. Actually, I already have done ... and you can see the Highland Cow in action on Thursday when I take part in another blog hop. Please come back to see the cow like you’ve never seen it before – and are never likely to see again!

Designer Series Paper only ‘almost’ perfect for your project? This is the issue I had here. I loved the polka dot paper from the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper pack but I found the white letters didn’t stand out quite as clearly as I’d like against the white. To keep the pattern without the contrast, I simply brayered over the top using Poppy Parade ink.

No brayer? No problem, just use a sponge instead. No sponge either? Try the direct-to-paper technique, swiping your ink pad over the paper... just be aware that this will give you a much more intense effect, as long as your ink pad is well inked.

Seaside Notions shaker card

I’m really into shaker cards at the moment. And of course, the seaside theme seems topical in the middle of summer, even if I can’t get to a beach!

Around a month or so ago, the seaside mood had already begun but my Whale of a Time Suite was still in transit. What to do? Use the still fabulous Seaside Notions stamp set instead of course!

Can you spot the tiny nod to Spongebob hidden among the sequins of this shaker card? I'm pleased to say the recipient of this card did!

Retiring stamp set: Tropical Chic

 
Is that pink? What's happening to me? I saw a similar card to this created by a crafter called Yana Smakula and couldn’t resist making one of my own with the Tropical Chic stamp set before it retires at the end of this month.

I used Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate to create a DSP-style background. This would be great for a one-sheet wonder!

I also use the Share Sunshine PDF of greetings which has some fabulous sentiments for the current situation. You can download that here and all proceeds go to two very good causes helping to fight Covid-19.

There's a very small sneak peek on there, too – can you spot it? It’s the Flirty Flamingo die-cut on the card on the right. This is from the new Tasteful Labels set and I’m currently using it all the time. It’s going to be really popular, I’m sure.

My Smoky Slate ink pad desperately needed re-inking but, once I’d done so, I found it a bit dark (left card) so created another background by stamping off onto scrap paper first to get a paler look (right card). This is a good way of toning down colours which are too dominant and also a great way of getting more out of your ink pads, as you can get 2-3 shades from each colour.

Meerkat Week: Silhouetted meerkats

I take my hat off to the first person to come up with this silhouette idea. But there are so many versions of this by now that I can’t work out who was the originator.

Begin by masking and brayering a lovely bright sunset, then all you do is stamp your image, then colour the whole lot in black. How easy is that?

Brayering is easy but most people, in my experience, give up too early and are disappointed with their results. The keys are:

1. Start OFF the edge of the paper so you don't get a hard line where the ink begins... AND

2 Keep going: brayer over and over and over again until you get a good even colour distribution. 
 

Painted Poppies Week: Monochromatic Poppies

It’s the last day of Painted Poppies Week here at All Things Stampy but I’m sure this won’t be the last you see of this lovely stamp set!

These four fun cards were quick and easy to make – and I love how you can tailor the design to almost any of our lovely colours.

I borrowed the idea from Lynn Dunn, but simplified her design slightly to use Label Me Bold instead of embossing – I really have to be in the mood for embossing!

My colours are Crushed Curry, Gorgeous Grape (but with Highland Heather stamping), Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana. Which one is your favourite?

Some colours will swamp your poppy heads, which is why I used Highland Heather instead of Gorgeous Grape. If you don't have a paler ink, you can stamp off onto scrap paper first, then this will give you a lighter shade.

Sale-a-Bration Week: Do The Impossible

Which one would you send? I made three versions of this card for my Stampy Buffet last weekend, so I could showcase all three main image designs in the Do The Impossible stamp set. It was well received and some people made more than one design to send to friends.

To turn it into a birthday card, I added a greeting with Itty Bitty Birthdays, which I knew would be of more use to the ladies attending.

Where's the Sale-a-Bration product? That's the Stone Embossing Folder which is half of a bundle you can earn free during Sale-a-Bration. It gives the card a lovely texture.

 

Create an especially neat flag by using the Tailored Tag punch. Simply poke one end of your cardstock strip into the punch to get the flagged end.