Simply Seasonal

Ahhh, the leaves are starting to fall in our neighborhood...

...and we're preparing for the onslaught! We live in a beautiful neighborhood full of enormous mature oaks, maples, and tulip trees and that means that we rake bags and bags (and BAGS) of leaves every fall. I love the trees though, I wouldn't change it.

With the first of the leaves drifting down, I was inspired to create a simple card to use at my home gatherings for the next month or so. As a happy coincidence, this week's challenge over on Heart 2 Heart Challenges, one of the blogs that I follow, was to make a project using leaves or trees! hooray...I can play!

I often find it a challenge to create a project for a home gathering because it has to be simple enough that beginners don't get intimidated but advanced enough that my experienced crafters don't get totally bored.

For this project, I wanted to show off our new papers and the brand new bulk circle card bases. (Love these!!)

I chose Olivia paper, of course, for fall, and added the leaf element which is done with more advanced stamping techniques (to keep those experienced ladies interested) but it can also be simplified to the beginner level by using just a single color of ink.

To get the leaf to look like this, I used second generation Pear ink as the base of the leaf. Then, I used Rock & Roll technique with Sunset ink to make the edges dark, and, finally, I used tissue inking to create the lighter touches of Sunset in the middle of the leaf.

You can't really see it well in the photo, but I popped up the leaf to add a little dimensional interest to the front of the card. I used the Flourished Blessings stamp set which has two sentiments (blessings and thanks), so my guests can choose how they'll use the card.

I really think it turned out well and it certainly accomplished my dual goal of simplicity and interest in the same project. Thanks so much for visiting...let me know what you think of it!