Fall is coming

The calendar may say September, but summer is not quite ready to let go. We've been having beautiful sunny days with high temps in the 80°s F. Honestly, I don't mind the warm weather this time of year because I know it won't last much longer. Full-fledged autumn in all her leaf-changing, sweater-wearing, apple-and-pumpkin-everything glory will be here before we know it -- and winter will be right on her heels. Today I'm going to share two cards that celebrate one of my favorite things about fall -- the gorgeous colors of autumn leaves.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Very Vanilla note cards and envelopes, Chocolate Chip card stock, gold foil, alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Alcohol inks: Watermelon, Sunset Orange, Sunrise Yellow, Espresso (Ranger)
Accessories: Boddington Tree Border die (Poppy Stamps), Big Shot adhesive sheets, Paper Pumpkin leftovers, gel plate (Gel Press)
Other: Hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

Look -- it's another alcohol ink background! When I made this one it immediately made me think of all the colors of fall leaves. I thought about die cutting the trees from the alcohol ink layer, but I wanted to keep as much of the color as possible. So instead I adhered that piece to a Very Vanilla note card and cut the tree border out of Chocolate Chip card stock and gold foil. I adhered the Chocolate Chip piece to the background and then used the "negative" pieces from the gold foil to selectively fill in some of the openings in the tree border. For the finishing details I raided my stash of leftovers from Paper Pumpkin kits and added a narrow strip of wood veneer along the bottom of the card and two gold pennants at the top.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Very Vanilla note cards and envelopes; Early Espresso, Tangelo Twist, Shaded Spruce card stock; gold foil; alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Alcohol ink: Sunset Orange, Sunrise Yellow, Bottle Green (Ranger); gold paint pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Build-A-Scene Trees dies (Taylored Expressions), Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue, gel plate (Gel Press)
Other: Hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

Why stop at one fall card when I can make two? This alcohol ink background is also reminiscent of fall foliage, although the colors are a bit more subdued than the blazing red orange of the previous card. For this card I die cut three individual tree trunks and treetops from coordinating card stock and gold foil and adhered them in the lower left corner of the background layer. I wanted to bring out the gold, so I added a small gold heart to the green treetop and then used a gold paint pen to draw a border around the edges of the background. Unfortunately, the border isn't as vibrant as I would have liked, so it's hard to see in this photo. I may have to go back and add some gold sequins ...

I can't wait until the real trees outside start to show off some of these colors. Thanks for stopping by!