Autumn Themed Card - Step by Step Tutorial

Hello, another week has gone by so fast, these hot lazy days of summer won't last and soon it will be Autumn.  In preparation this week the Design Team are working on the themes of Autumn or Custom Backgrounds and are working with a Special Offer ‘Gold Sandgrain’ card , the featured stock card this week is ‘Mocha Brown’.  I have chosen the autumn theme using the Gold Sandgrain, Mocha Brown, and White Linen card along with some simple stamping and water colouring to create a Thank You card.
The Sandgrain card is a lovely gold colour and has a beautiful textured effect, it die-cuts perfectly through my Big Shot machine (even with my worn out plates) and doesn’t lose any of its texture.  I have used it here to highlight the leaf panels, adding a touch of luxury to the design and complementing the gold detail embossing.  This is a really great card to have in your stash and will be especially good for Christmas makes as well as autumn and all year round really.

Step by Step:

Take a scrap piece of card (I am using an offcut of PMD White Felt embossed from my stash)  Apply Watercolour inks in autumnal shades swishing over the card randomly, I am using Oak House Studio Bramley Apple Green, Vintage Sepia & Juicy Orange diluted with water.  Use a brush loaded with diluted vintage sepia and flick it onto the card to create extra splashes of interest.  Leave card to dry or speed it up by using a heat gun.

 Using versamark ink, stamp 3 different leaves onto the water coloured card.  Sprinkle with gold detail embossing powder, tip off excess powder and emboss using a heat gun until the powder has melted.

Use Scissors or a craft knife to carefully cut out each leaf leaving a small border all around.  Using nesting dies (I’m using FE torn edge dies) cut 3 larger squares (approx. 2 ¼”) from Papermilldirect Gold Sandgrain and 3 smaller squares (approx. 2”) from PMD Mocha Brown Card.

Layer the smaller squares centrally on top of the gold Sandgrain squares using glue or d/s tape.  Add a leaf to each matted square using 3D foam pads.  Shape the leaves a little so the edges ruffle up to give texture.

Create a card blank by scoring & folding an A4 sheet of Papermilldirect White Linen card and trim to create a 5” x 7” standard card base.
Cut a strip of Papermilldirect Mocha Brown card and cut a fancy edge along the bottom using decorative scissors (I’m used Victorian Edged).  Stamp a Thank You sentiment at RH side using versamark ink and heat emboss with gold detail embossing powder.  Adhere strip across bottom of card using double sided tape.   Arrange the 3 leaf panels on card front overlapping them and the the sentiment strip.  Glue down when happy with placement.

This is a simple card design that could easily be adapted for other occasions, the autumnal colours would work well for a male themed card. 

Materials Used:

Gold Sandgrain – Special Offer Card – Papermilldirect

Mocha Brown – Featured Card – Papermilldirect

White Linen Card – Papermilldirect

Torn Edge Nesting Dies – First Edition

Victorian Edged Creative Scissors – Dovecraft

Bramley Apple, Vintage Sepia, Juicy Orange – Pure Colour Chemistry Inks – Oak House Studio

Winter Leaves Stamps – Oak House Studio

Script Sentiment Stamps – Oak House Studio

Gold Detail Embossing Powder – Oak House Studio

Plus, D/S Tape, 3D Foam Pads, Glue, Versamark embossing pad

Autumn Wishes... with Papermilldirect

Waving hello and welcome to another Blog post, Autumn is now with us and crafters find lots of wonderful inspiration with all the colours that brings.  

This week over at +papermilldirect  the special offer is a really nice A4 size 270gsm Ivory Stucco card, I have a particular liking for the textured cardstocks and this Stucco effect is especially nice, very similar to the hammered effect.  This week you can get your hands on a small box of the Stucco for just £4!! it is also available in the Midi box size too at just £11-50, but be quick as I believe there is only a very limited amount available (link here:)

I thought the lovely texture of the Ivory Stucco card would work well to create this autumn themed card with the help of my Cricut Explore. (DS link below)  You can see that although it’s a textured card it cuts very cleanly and is able to take a sentiment written directly to it.  I used an A4 sheet of Ivory Stucco to create a card base measuring approx. 5.5” wide x 7.5” high, this size fits into a C5 envelope.  The 270gsm of the Stucco card means it is perfect to create a sturdy card base and carry embellishments.

I used my Cricut Explore and images from within the subscription to design this leaf pennant focal point with extra leaf and an acorn design.  I have included my Design Space link below so that you can create this card too, everything will be sized and colour co-ordinated so it is all ready for you to cut.  The card base is included in the design just remember to insert a black pen into the pen holder so that your Explore can write the sentiment for you.  I have ‘attached’ the sentiment to the card shape and so it is all ready to press ‘go’.

After cutting you should have 1 base card (Ivory Stucco) with sentiment ‘Autumn Wishes’ written upon it, 3 layers to the Pennant, 2 layers to the leaf and 2 layers to form the Acorn. 

Score and fold the card base in half so that the sentiment is on the front of the card.  Glue the layers of the pennant, leaf and acorn together on top of each other to form the 3 shapes, I used a clear drying glue to make this easier and give a neater finish.

To add some extra definition I outlined the cut out sections of the brown card using a versa mark pen, I did the same to the leaf and to the acorn to add some extra detail, if you don’t have a Versa mark pen then you could use a marker, chalk, or ink, or leave it plain if you prefer.

Take the Pennant Shape and add a length of Jute ribbon across the top and secure the ends on the back using double sided tape.  Wrap 2 lengths of paper twine or cream coloured twine across the top of the Jute Ribbon and secure ends on reverse side.  Add 3D foam pads to the back of the pennant and attach to card front near to the top, so that it doesn’t cover the ‘Autumn Wishes’ sentiment.

Add 3D foam pads to the back of the leaf and acorn and arrange on top of the jute ribbon, adhere when happy with placement.  I also added some of the waste pieces of card cut from the inner leaf and the pennant background to add some extra interest.  To finish I glued 3 sequins and a little bow of paper twine.

Materials Used:

My Project Link: https://uk.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/31387757  - Cricut Design Space

Ivory Stucco 270gsm Offer Card –papermilldirect

Mocha Brown, Ruby Red, Buff, Forest Green,Apple Green – Colours – papermilldirect

Cosmic Shimmer Clear Drying Glue – Creative Expressions

Double Sided Tape, 3D Foam Pads

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 

• Barbara 
• Lisa 
• Ruth 
• Sylvia 
• Sandie
• Nessa 
• Nicole
• Papermilldirect Inspire Blog 

Autumnal Colours - Oak House Studio September Challenge

Hello, today I'm sharing a card I have made for the Oak House Studio September Challenge, the Theme is Autumnal colours.  (As always the materials list and links are at the end of the post).

Lately I have been playing again with Gap Cards, they have always fascinated me and I thought it would be nice to incorporate a subtle gap element to set off some lovely floral stamps from Oak House Studio.

I first needed to create a background for my card.  I chose papermill Ivory Smooth card and randomly blended distress inks in 3 colours across it (Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye, and Squeezed lemonade), spritzing and working with water to help blend.  (I don't have any Oak House Studio inks at the moment but they are very much on my wish list).  I then over stamped this piece using one of the flowers from the 'Flowers and Circles' stamp set, and stamping with all three of the distress ink colours used on the background.

 I scored and folded papermill Mocha Brown card to make a card base and removed a strip of card from the front to create the 'gap'. The finished stamped background was then cut to shape to fit onto the front panels of my card front.  I did ink around each panel with 'Tea Dye' to add definition before fixing the panels to the front with double sided tape

Now to create the focal point and means to hold the card together.  For this I chose 2 of the flowers from the 'Flowers and Circles' stamp set.  Stamping them with gilding glue onto Mocha Brown card, and then gilding with flakes and burnishing to remove the excess.  These gilded flower heads were then carefully die-cut into circles and 3D foam mounted onto larger circles.  These larger circles were punched from Ivory Smooth card and then inked with 'Tea Dye'.  Carefully positioning these 3 circles to span the 'gap' and also hold the card together by using cosmic shimmer glue on the parts that overlap the card panels.  Hopefully I managed to evenly space the circles too. I then created a sentiment by again stamping with gilding glue and gilding as before onto 'Mocha Brown' card.  I chose to use 'Best Wishes' which is from the 'Script Sentiments' stamp set, a really useful set too as the font is lovely and the sentiments cover all occasions.  The finished sentiment was die-cut into a tag shape, matted onto 'Tea Dye' coloured Ivory Smooth card to create a layered tag shape.  A double bow of cream and brown paper twine and a small pale orange faux gem provide the finishing touches.

 I really like how this card experiment has turned out.  The stamps of course stamp out beautifully and first time too, which is really important, especially if using glue and flakes, you know you can rely on them stamping evenly and so no waste. I can highly recommend Oak House Studio stamps and my wish list keeps getting longer.  If you've not tried them before, then why not pop over to their Blog or facebook page to find out more, perhaps you may even be inspired to enter their regular challenges too. 

**Update, so thrilled that this card was picked as a winner!!**




Materials List:
Flowers and Circles stamp set - Oak House Studio
Script Sentiments stamp set - Oak House Studio
Ivory Smooth Card - Papermill Direct
Mocha Brown Card - Papermill Direct
'Brighton Pier' Gilding Flakes - Indigoblu
Gilding Glue - Imagination Crafts
brown and cream paper twines
Small pale orange faux gems

Baize is for Autumn, Snails and Beauty!!

Hello and welcome to this weeks blog post featuring DT makes for a fabulous offer card from papermill direct.  This week it is a Baize Green 270gsm card.  (A small box of A4 costs just £5-50 and that gives you 75-80 sheets to play with!! )

As Autumn is our main theme this week, I thought I would start with this 'Autumn' 'Gap Card'.  The card base is the 'Baize Green' offer card. Leaves have been cut from Bright Orange and Buff card and embossed with cuttlebug embossing folders.  I have positioned the leaves to span the 'Gap' along the lower section of the card.

I stamped letters to spell the word 'autumn' onto Bright Orange, Buff and Christmas Red papermill  card and layered them up and attached with 3D foam pads.  Dark red paper twine and green & white bakers twine wrapped around panel and tied with bows to finish.

For my next card I thought it would be fun to use a little snail character from a set of stamps I bought recently, I also used one of the sentiments from the set 'Snail Mail'. Card base is the Baize Green offer card, front panel has been embossed with a cuttlebug dots folder. Snail image is from a stamp set by Clearly Besotted and stamped with 2 colours of whispers inks onto Ivory Papermill card. This panel has been die-cut into a circle and matted onto a circle of Baize green and then onto an embossed panel of Buff card and then a final panel of ivory card. 'Snail Mail' sentiment has been stamped with memento ink and die-cut into a tag shape. Green and white bakers twine and eyes have been added to the snail to finish. I think this is my favourite card this week.

And lastly 'You are Beautiful inside & out'. Card Base is Papermill's Plain white card. For the embossed panel I used a Sizzix embossing folder on Papermill's white linen card, then matted and layered onto Maroon and then Baize Green card. The Peacock Feather has been cut using a Cricut Mini from Baize Green offer card, with a little yellow, pale turquoise & maroon card. Stamped greeting 'You are Beautiful inside and out' is from a stamp set by Clearly Besotted and has been diecut into a tag shape and attached with pale green ribbon. Stickles glitter glue in 'mercury glass' to decorate the feather and 2 faux gems to finish.

So all very different designs, but all using that fab Baize Green card.  You can see it is sturdy enough to be used as a card base, cuts really well with both manual and electrical die cutters and embosses beautifully too.  So which design is your favourite?  As always I love to read your comments and answer any questions you may have, and a big thank you for popping by today.


Materials List & Links:
Baize Green 'offer' card - papermill direct
Bright Orange, Buff, Christmas Red,Pale Turquoise and Maroon card - papermill direct 'colours' collection
Ivory Smooth, Plain White & White Linen card - papermill direct 'essentials' collection
Alphabet Letter Stamps - PaperArtsy
Script & Dots Embossing Folders - Cuttlebug
Snail & sentiment from 'Build a Bug' stamp set - Clearly Besotted
Sentiment on peacock feather card is from 'Flight of Fancy' stamp set - Clearly Besotted
peacock feather card embossing  is from 'Bohemian Botanicals Set' - Sizzix
'Mercury Glass' stickles Glitter glue
Cricut Mini to cut leaves (Flower Shoppe cartridge) and feather (Art Nouveau cartridge)
Black memento ink, Brilliance dewdrop 'starlite black', whispers coloured inks
Ribbon, paper twine,bakers twine,gems from stash


Why not pop over and see what my fabulous papermill teamies have got up to this week?:
Barbara
Lisa
Ruth
Sylvia
Sandie
Sharon

Almost Autumn!! (and time for another fabulous papermill offer!!)

Hello, today I have an Autumn themed project to share with you.  When thinking of Autumn, it's all about the colours and the sounds of leaves crunching underfoot.  I am lucky enough to live not only by the sea but also by a park which has some beautiful trees.  From my crafting space, I can look out over the park and watch as they change with the seasons, and whilst we are not quite at Autumn yet, it is just around the corner and is the inspiration for this weeks make.  
(as always materials list, links and any challenges entered are at the end of the post).

Papermill Direct have some fabulous autumnal shades in their colour collection.  rich and beautiful in their own right, I wanted to see what I could do to create some textured leaves for my very first attempt at an Autumn Wreath.  And right now is the perfect time to stock up as there is currently 15% off a mixed box of 5 different Autumn colours.  A small box is just £5-73 and the midi box just £17-00 (link here)

I started out by creating a base by drawing around a couple of plates and cutting out.  I covered the base with white card and inked it over with Distress Ink in 'Tea Dye' when this was dry I over stamped it randomly with a small acorn design stamp and some brown ink.

Next came the fun part!!  I cut leaves in various designs from papermill cardstock in Mocha Brown, Forest Green, Orange, Buff and Maroon papermill card.  Then I had a play with different embossing folders and inking. For my Mocha Brown leaves I embossed with a script folder, swiped versamark over the raised impression and brushed over with 'Orange' pan pastel.  The Maroon leaves were embossed with a dotty folder and had gold gilding wax rubbed over the raised dots, (I always find it easier to apply gilding wax with a babywipe rather than just my fingertips).  Orange leaves have been embossed with 2 different folders, one had swirls and the other a nice stylised pattern upon which I used distress ink. As for the Forest Green leaves I found an embossing folder with a snakeskin type effect and used it with the de-bossed side uppermost as I preferred that look and a plain versamark inkpad was used to bring out the design a little and also distress ink around the edges.

The wreath needed something else, but what?  I thought berries, hmm maybe?, then I thought Acorns!!  Yes I had used acorns on the base and I had a little image on a cricut cartridge of an Acorn,  so I cut it in 2 pieces from Buff card and then dabbed versamark ink through a stencil mask to add some pattern to the body of the acorn.  The top piece was coloured with distress ink in 'tea dye'.  

Assembling the wreath was fun,  I shaped the leaves first by gently bending them into shape, and used some paper twine and button twines amongst the leaves, most of it was glued with cosmic shimmer glue and I also used some 3D foam pads to add height to some of the pieces. Natural seam binding was dyed (along with my fingers) with 'spiced marmalade' and 'Tea Dye' distress inks, spritzing with water to blend the colours, letting it dry before adding more inks until I was happy it would co-ordinate with the rest of the design.

Hanging holes are in the top, used a 'pokey tool' to gently make those and a length of button twine provides the strings to hang it up.

Overall a very fun project, took more time than I thought it would at the outset, but then I did decide to use a few different embossing folders and ink techniques. This is one of those projects that just seemed to create itself as I went along.  My favourite way of making, and yes I managed to get the distress ink off my hands in time for the photos :D

Why not take advantage of the Autumn Colours offer at Papermill Direct, you'll find it in the Special Offers section 'here', and see what designs you are inspired to make?  As always I love to read your comments and answer any questions you may have.

Materials List: 
Mocha Brown, Forest Green, Orange and Buff card - Autumn colours sale box - papermill direct
Maroon card - colours range - papermill direct
Tea Dye and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks
Rich Cocoa memento ink
Enchanted Gold Gilding wax, 
versamark, 
Orange pan pastels,
Natural Seam binding, button twine, paper twine, embossing folders, acorn stamp. cricut to cut leaves & acorns

Why not pop over and see what my fabulous papermill teamies have got up to this week?:
Barbara
Lisa
Ruth
Sylvia
Sandie

Sharon