As autumn approaches and a chill is in the air I think of a hot cup of cider, plaid, and pumpkins. Taking a look at all the wonderful autumn-themed products in the Stampin’ Up! catalogs gave me lots of inspiration. And the sentiment from one of my favorite stamp sets, Country Home, just brought everything together.
Aren’t these products beautiful?
I created several cards just by changing the plaid. But the crowning glory is the pumpkin.
Here is my color palette for creating the pumpkin paper.
- Very Vanilla Thick cardstock: 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″
- Bumblebee cardstock: 3-3/4″ x 5″
- Plaid Tidings DSP: 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″
- Vellum: 2″ x 4-1/4″ sentiment strip
- Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper: 5″ x 7″
- Gilded Autumn DSP: punch gold and copper embossed leaves
Stamp the Good Morning Magnolia image onto the vellum panel using Basic Gray ink. The lines will be blurred by the Stampin’ Blends and the alcohol to create a faux watercolor effect.
Color the image starting with the lightest color. Use Dark Daffodil Delight for the center. Dip a fine-tip paintbrush into the rubbing alcohol and gently move the color. I added Champagne Shimmer Paint to my rubbing alcohol.
Next, color non-adjacent petals with Dark Flirty Flamingo. Gently blur the stamped line. Let dry and repeat on other petals. Do the same for the leaves. TIP: Blow into a straw to gently direct the ink flow in the desired direction.
Add a second layer of color after the image is dry. Repeat the process of alcohol painting and gently blowing the ink.
OPTIONAL: Pick up some clean rubbing alcohol with the paintbrush and flick it over the image. This will create small droplets that will lighten some areas by moving the color outward.
Adhere the vellum panel to the Basic White cardstock panel using Stampin’ Seal or a light amount of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Add to Basic Black card base.
Stamp the sentiment in White Craft ink and heat emboss with with embossing powder. Trim to you liking. Add to card panel with small black Dimensionals.
Customize the message insert and the envelope with some flicks of color from the brush end of the Stampin’ Blends.
Pumpkin
- Gather the Fluid 100 Watercolor paper and all the reinkers in the color palette above. This step is best done the day before you want to start embossing and punching out the pumpkins. The paper needs to dry completely.
- On a large craft mat or non-porous surface, add about 6 drops of the lightest reinker in different areas
- Spritz drops of reinker liberally with water
- Then spritz the watercolor paper with water
- Take your finger and make ‘Z’ motions around ink to break up large pools of color. OR use the edge of an acrylic block instead of your finger.
- Smoosh the watercolor paper into the ink. TIP: Try cupping the paper, roling it or just pressing it into the ink. Use a slightly different method for each layer. EXPERIMENT!
- Dry with the heat tool. TIP: You can move the puddles of ink on the paper with the heat tool.
- Repeat with each color going from light to dark. TIP: The colors will become more vibrant as the paper dries
- After the paper is dry (preferably the next day), use Versamark to stamp with the retired Crackle Paint background stamp and heat emboss with gold embossing powder. ALTERNATIVE: Use the Stacked Stone background stamp.
- Stamp the pumpkin lines with Cajun Craze ink using the Harvest Hellos stamp set.
- Punch out the pumpkins using the Apple Builder. TIP: Make sure the pattern of the heat embossing lines up top to bottom for a more ‘realistic’ pumpkin gnarliness.
- Punch the stems from Gold or Bronze Foil DSP and adhere to the back of the pumpkin. TIP: I like the wider part of the stem ‘up’.
- Optional: Tie a double bow with linen thread and adhere to the stem of the pumpkin with a glue dot.
To see more on the smooshing technique, check out this post.
Leaves
- Punch leaves from the Gilded Autumn DSP using the Autumn Punch pack. See my little cup of leaves ready to go?
- Add 2 leaves to the top of the pumpkin.
- Add Dimensionals behind pumpkin.
Sentiment
- Use Versamark to stamp sentiment from Country Home stamp set in the center of the Vellum strip.
- Heat emboss with Gold Embossing Powder. TIP: I use a very fine artist brush to ‘clean-up’ any excess embossing powder on the cardstock. You need a steady hand. I find holding the cardstock against a vertical surface is easiest for me. Experiment to find your preferred method.
- Die-cut the sentiment using the Stitched Rectangle dies. Choose the one that covers the card panel.
ASSEMBLY
- Assemble as shown
- Add punched leaf behind pumpkin.
- Attaching Vellum is tricky. Use a little adhesive behind the stamped image. I got a little overzealous behind a couple and you can see the adhesive. You can also add a very very small amount of liquid glue behind the letters.
- Personalize the envelope and the message insert and you are ready to send to your favorite person/s.
Are you excited to try the smooshy ink technique? I like to prepare several sheets at one time then have them available for fun projects. Wouldn’t this be great for leaves? Try shades of black and gray and navy for whales. Or greens for foliage (you know this is my absolute favorite). If you are going to get inky, make it worth it. LOL!
So now to be all set for plaid and pumpkins combinations, head over to my shop and purchase everything you will need. I will send you a card and a small gift for any purchase over $75. Thank you for spending time with me.
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I’m all about that crackle! What a brilliant design element. CASE-ing that technique for sure. Thanks (as always!) for the inspiration.
🙂 Go get inky and have fun. Thank you for all your encouraging comments.
Those pumpkins are everything! I love these cards, Ann! The crackle is so gorgeous when paired with these pumpkins. LOVE!
Thank you! I hope that you decide to get inky and try it.