Vibrant Gathered Leaves - Stampin' Up! Gather Together

  Our local vibrant leaves might not be sticking around very long with the wet icky weather we're having today so we'll have to stick with paper leaves on cards!

  This is a card that my stampers made at my last class.  I wanted to show off the Heirloom frames dies and embossing folders that I hadn't used in a class yet as well as make one last fall card.  The texture on the die cuts and the gold sponging are the stars of this card.

  After watching some videos and tutorials on using the Heirloom frames/dies the easiest way is to cut the frame first and then emboss it.  I found Patty Bennett's video helpful and followed her tips and passed them along to my stampers. We cut ours out of Crumb Cake and my stampers had the choice between the rectangle and oval frames.  Once it was cut we sponged a bit of gold ink onto it to highlight the pattern.

  The large leaf is stamped in Soft Suede onto Very Vanilla and colored with a lot Stampin' Blends (listed below).  It's always fun to see how everyone colors when given the Blends and let loose on an image.

  A few more leaves were cut out in Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss and Cajun Craze and are attached to the frame opposite the colored one after sponging on a bit more gold ink.

  The sentiment is stamped on a smaller rectangle of Very Vanilla and adhered to the back side of the frame.  I found this way was easier to line up the sentiment to be centered and straight in the frame.  If it was stamped directly onto the card front 1) if it was a little crooked you couldn't fix it and 2) sometimes darker colors show through just a little on a Whisper White or Very Vanilla card base and I like to avoid that for a more finished look.

  After the frame was put together it's popped on the card front with dimensionals and a Very Vanilla baker's twine bow is added to the larger leaf.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Gather Together

Ink: Gold, Soft Suede

Blends: So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss

Paper: Very Vanilla thick, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Mango Melody, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze

Accessories: Heirloom frames dies/folders, Gathered Leaves dies, dimensionals, Very Vanilla baker's twine