Falling for Die Cut Leaves

Fall has arrived, and we're thrilled to welcome a very talented guest artist to the blog to share a pair of cards inspired by the season. Please join us in welcoming Debi Adams! Here's Debi to share both modern and classic takes on Thanksgiving cards with die cutting...

No better way to bring the fall season inside than with the Autumn Icons Fancy Dies by Hero Arts. The diversity of these dies allow them to be made into a trendy, modern look or as a classic, traditional style. Either way, they are a lot of fun to play with and definitely something to “fall” for!

For the first card I used the Sponge Daubers to color the card base with Thanksgiving Letters Layering Ink Cubes. I cut a smaller piece of white cardstock for the top of the card and then die-cut several fall leaves from it. Having all the leaf pieces punched out, I went back in and reattached the leaves with tape to the backside of the area where they had been originally cut. I call this technique the “skeleton” for obvious reasons. I die-cut several more single “skeleton” leaves from a separate piece of white cardstock and adhered them to the mat for a faux-embossed background.

The sentiment from the Color Layering Thanksgiving set (Happy Thanksgiving) was then stamped with Unicorn Pigment ink onto black cardstock to complete the look. Pretty easy.

For the second card I created a 3 3/4” X 5” mat from white cardstock. Using the Thanksgiving Letters Layering Ink Cubes and Sponge Daubers, I created a soft, fall background. For a unique technique, I placed packing tape on the back side of white cardstock and gold poster board and then die-cut the leaves and acorns from the front side. Surprisingly, this prevents the small pieces from falling out but will allow the larger outline to still cut! I colored the one fall Leaf and acorns with ink and left a few leaves white. I attached all leaves including the gold one to the mat using adhesive and foam dots.

The Wonderful Stamp & Cut sentiments were stamped using Intense Black Ink on white cardstock and Unicorn Pigment Ink on black cardstock. I finished the card by trimming the sentiments with the corresponding sentiment dies, attaching them to the mat and attaching the entire mat to a kraft-colored card.

Have you "fallen" for these designs? We sure have! Big thanks to Debi for this beautiful Autumn inspiration. Be sure to come back tomorrow for a second round of cards!