I Be-leaf in You

Lawn Fawnatics is having a color challenge at their blog. I don't have most of the ink colors they suggested as matches, but chose some Distress inks that looked pretty close. I got the inspiration for my design from this card I found on the Lawn Fawn website. I created this card to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids, hopefully to cheer up a hospitalized child.

For the background, I cut a panel of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I used Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, & Evergreen Bough Distress inks to ink smoosh on my panel. Once I had covered the background with color, I felt it was a little too bold for what I wanted. So I squeezed a little white acrylic craft paint on my non-stick mat, thinned it with a bit of water, & smeared it onto my paper with my finger. I wanted just a little more color, though, so when the paint layer dried, I ink smooshed a bit more Evergreen Bough onto the panel. I dried it with my heat tool, then set it aside while I worked on the other elements for my card.

I die cut several leaves from watercolor paper, using the "Stitched Leaves" & "Small Stitched Leaves" sets from Lawn Fawn. I ink smooshed them with the same colors as the background, adding in Fossilized Amber & Shabby Shutters Distress inks. The Shabby Shutters came out a bit too pale, so I smooshed those a second time with Mowed Lawn ink. I did 2-3 colors on each leaf, just for interest.

I stamped my images, from Lawn Fawn's "You Autumn Know" stamp set, onto Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. I used my Prismacolor pencils to color them, then die cut them with the coordinating dies. I also cut a few more plain die cuts for each image, then stacked them behind my images. This gives them some dimension so they stand out a bit from the background.

I glued my leaves around my background, as in the inspiration card, & cut off the bits that overhung the edges. For the frame, I used the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" & "Small Stitched Rectangle" die sets. I nested the smaller inside the larger, and ran them through my die cutting machine with white cardstock. I added a few cardstock strips behind the sides of my frame to beef it up a bit, then adhered it to my card. I glued my images in place, overlapping the frame slightly. I stamped the greetings onto white cardstock. I don't have any banner dies to cut on that particular curve, so I penciled an outline around each & cut them out with scissors. I went over the eyes of the mouse on the leaf with a black glaze pen to help them pop, glued my banners in place, & that finished this card.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts Challenge #502: "Anything Goes"

The Paper Funday Challenges #57: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Die Cut Divas September challenge: "Anything Goes"

Send a Smile 4 Kids September challenge: "Cute Fall/Halloween Cards 4 Kids"