I Love Fall Most Of All – Autumnal Mixed Media Card

I love Fall / Autumn and the excuse to make more seasonally themed cards is always welcome, so I decided to finally use these leftover pieces that I didn’t end up using in that card as the card took off in a totally different direction.  So now that it is Fall I knew I wanted to use them in a card, and was just waiting for the opportunity.  The opportunity came when I was working on the Day 15 prompt for the gelli print challenge I am doing this month.  The prompt for the 15th was “FALL” – perfect!

The Finished Card

 

In the beginning…

After making several many fall themed backgrounds (see separate post), the idea for this card started to develop so I pulled out the stag head and the leaves and started to arrange them on my workspace, thinking about how I wanted them to look on the card.

One of the best tips I can ever give is to take photos!  Take photos whether you intend to use them or not, and especially take photos when you have arranged something just the way you want it.  That way, when it comes to gluing it down, you can refer to your photo for placement.  Another good use for photos is when you are trying to decide which looks better, in this case, which coloured background…

I really couldn’t decide just by looking at them (well OK I did have a couple of favs) but when you can look at them side by side, it really helps a lot.  These backgrounds are all made with my gelli plate for the fall prompt, some using stencils, some using stamps etc.  I decided on the teal background from the top middle.

I chose this dark chocolate cardstock from Gina K for my card base, and then I cut the background down to size since it was printed on A4 paper.

I wanted to frame the stag against the background so I opted for one of my favourite go-to frames, this one from Spellbinders, and cut it using an Altenew specialty paper which is actual Cherry Wood cut paper thin.  Here’s a link to a description of the Birch version.  It’s really quite beautiful and die cuts perfectly.

I stamped out this I LOVE FALL MOST OF ALL sentiment from an older Concord and 9th stamp set, and heat embossed it in white, then I decided to heat emboss the stag with the same Ranger White Embossing powder just to give it a little more oomph since it had been cut from watercolour paper and unpainted, was a little off-white.  Then I glued the frame to the background and all the little leaves, mushroom and stag to it.  After that, I planned to attach the panel to the card base but just before I did that, I decided to add a little something to the card base so I sprinkled some embossing powder around the edges and then heated it from underneath so it wouldn’t blow away.  This one is called Plantagenet by Cosmic Shimmer, and it reminds me of speckled Blackbird eggs.

The end…

After the card was fully assembled, I added a few drops of Nuvo Gloss in Mustard Yellow and clear just to finish it off.  I really love how this card turned out, especially using leftover bits and pieces (it pays to never throw anything out!) that match perfectly with this gelli printing background!

 

PROJECT RECIPE:
Gina K – dark chocolate cardstock
Sizzix – stag, funky foliage, funky florals (all from stash)
Gelli printed background (paper, acrylics, Altenew Leaf Burst stencil)
Spellbinders frame die
Concord & 9th Sentiment stamp
Nuvo deluxe adhesive, Nuvo drops Mustard, clear
Ranger white embossing powder
Cosmic Shimmer Plantagenet embossing powder

 

Entered in the following challenges:

Mix it Up Challenge Blog – Anything Goes with Optional 3D Project