Fall is in the air

I really wanted to make one more card for the Taylored Expressions ninth birthday sketch challenge, so I took some crafty time to play after work, and now I'm whipping through my blog post so I can get in just before the deadline.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Soft Sky, Early Espresso card stock; watercolor paper (Strathmore); 6" x 6" Wood designer cardstock paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Color Burst: Cadmium Scarlet, Gamboge, Burnt Umber (Ken Oliver)
Accessories: Stitched Shapes Framelits dies, Build-A-Scene - Trees dies (Taylored Expressions), Leaves die (Taylored Expressions), Softly Falling embossing folder, burlap trim, Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz), Aqua Painter, Dimensionals, Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

There was a touch of fall in the air today, and since autumn is my favorite season, I decided to make a card featuring some fun fall trees. (In my first entry for the sketch challenge, I used these same tree dies to make some Muppet-like characters.) To make the foliage, I wet a piece of watercolor paper and then gently tapped on a tiny bit of three different Color Burst powders (the pigment is concentrated, so a little goes a long way). I used an Aqua Painter to spread and blend the colors, and when the paper was dry, I die cut the tiny leaves and tree tops. I cut the tree trunks out of dark woodgrain patterned paper, glued the pieces together and adhered them to a Soft Sky circle.

For the background I stapled a piece of burlap trim to a piece of embossed Early Espresso card stock and then adhered the panel on a Soft Sky card base. I used Dimensionals to attach the circle with the trees and scattered a few tiny leaves along the bottom of the card.

I've had a lot of fun playing along with this sketch challenge. This time I decided to rotate the sketch (on the right) to create a landscape card. I made the middle layer larger (almost as big as the card base) and used ribbon for the accent strip. The leaves were perfect for the confetti. If you would like to see my other cards for the Taylored Expressions sketch challenge, check out these posts: "Happy ninth birthday," "A few birthday candles," "Simply Sitting Pretty," and "Stamping friends are the best!"

Thanks for stopping by! Happy birthday, Taylored Expressions!