The Colors of Autumn

I'm so excited to get to do a fall card today for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  Fall is by far my favorite season.   I love the vibrant colors against the crisp, cool temperatures that call for hot tea or hot chocolate.

For this card I started with a side folding ivory card base.  Next I took a piece of Canson 140# Watercolor Paper and did the background using the ink "smooshing" technique.  I inked up each color, one at a time on an acrylic block starting with yellow.  I don't think there is much yellow left visible, but I'm okay with that because I think the background is so beautiful.  After inking up my acrylic block, I gave it a spritz of Perfect Pearls Solution then turned the block over and "smooshed" it on to my watercolor paper.  Then I repeated the same process for coral and then my deepest red ink.  I walked away for a bit to let that dry so I could see what I had to work with or if I was going to use this background at all.  I always love the shimmer that a solution of Perfect Pearls gives to anything I am working on and this was no exception.

Next I used a stamp set called "Autumn Splendor" that I already had from Close To My Heart.  I selected four different leaf stamps and stamped them randomly one shape at a time over the color in Brilliance Archival Galaxy Gold Ink trying not to overlap too much.  This set of images has lots of detail in them, so they weren't suitable to watercolor but I love the veins that show all of the details in the gold ink against the vivid colors of the background.   I was surprised at how visible the leaves are!  

I set that aside for a little bit while I stamped the greeting and heat embossed it with Simon Says Stamp Embossing Powder in Ultra Fine Gold on Vellum.  This is another Close to My Heart Stamp Set called "Happy Autumn".  For the solid color background I used Calypso Coral cut with the Sunshine Layers Designer Die.  Next I cut the watercolor with a different die from the same set that has the rounded corners.  Since they are from the same set, the size is perfectly proportioned.



I wrapped the vellum around the smaller panel and adhered it to itself on the back side of that piece.  I punched a couple of maple leaves from the watercolor leftovers using a punch that I have had for a number of years and attached them with a foam square cut in half, corner to corner.



All in all, this was a pretty simple card and the background was very easy.  The hardest part for me was actually walking away to let the ink dry on the watercolor paper.  *Ü*

I was unable to get a good picture that really shows the shimmer in the paper.  I even treat my solid color paper so it has it too.  I always love to hear feedback on the cards I post so if you've got a minute, drop me a note here in the comment section. Thanks for looking!