Birthday leaves

We've definitely settled into autumn in this neck of the woods -- we had our first frost warning last night, and we've even turned on the heat. It's been a perfect day to stay inside and binge watch a TV series (we started Midnight, Texas) while making cards.

I had to take a little break from stamping, though, to share the fall-themed birthday card I mentioned in my last post.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Thankful Leaves Turnabout (Concord & 9th), Versatile Verses
Paper: Thick Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede
Accessories: Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies (Lawn Fawn), Birthday dies and Thankful Leaves dies (Concord & 9th), copper sequins (Craft Medley), linen thread, Quilt Top embossing folder, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I didn't actually use the turnabout portion of the Thankful Leaves Turnabout set for this card. Instead, I used three of the other stamps from the set -- two leaves and a splatter image -- to create a collage-type background on a Very Vanilla card base. Some of the images I stamped twice without reapplying ink in order to get multiple shades of color.

I chose my color palette from the large die-cut leaves, which were left over from an old Paper Pumpkin kit. I embossed one of the leaves to add texture and then adhered both of them near the middle of the card front.

For the focal image, I die cut a small stitched rectangle from Very Vanilla card stock. Then I die cut the "happy birthday" sentiment out of Soft Suede and Old Olive card stock. I cut the full phrase out of each color and then made two cards with the same layout; this card has a Soft Suede "happy" and Old Olive "birthday," and the second card is the opposite.

I glued the die-cut words onto the stitched rectangle and added a small stamped, die-cut leaf in the corner. I used Dimensionals to adhere the panel over the top of the large leaves and added a linen thread bow. Three copper sequins add just a touch of shine to finish the card.

Inside the card I stamped a birthday sentiment using Soft Suede ink. This stamp set, Versatile Verses, is an old classic and was probably one of my first sets. But it has great sentiments, and I've always especially liked this one. To match the front of the card, I stamped a few clusters of leaves around the sentiment and in the bottom right corner.

I really love how this card turned out. It's relatively clean and simple (my favorite!) but definitely not boring. The most time-consuming part was probably making the focal layer. When I first cut out the words, I didn't stop to think that the "birthday" part was actually separate letters. So getting those all glued on was a bit more than I planned for. But I'm glad I stuck with it and didn't change my plan.

As always, thanks for stopping by today!