The Story of Autumn – Inspired by the Season

Hi Friends! I’m so happy you dropped by to see what I’ve been creating. It’s the most beautiful time of the year. The smell in the air is glorious and the leaves turn to rich colors of orange and yellow. The sprinkle of deep earthy greens and browns glisten in the sunlight with tiny hints of gold. That’s how I remember the season when I was growing up in Wisconsin. We don’t see a lot of beautiful Autumn colors here in Arizona, unless one travels northward, but my memories are vivid and bring such a smile to my heart. This was the inspiration for my card. I hope it brings a smile to your heart as well. Enjoy!

 

I began with a 5″ x 7″ piece of Ranger watercolor paper and inked it using Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Inks and Oxides. I used the process of spraying the oxides on a glass mat, spritz them with water and picked the pigment up with the watercolor paper by swishing it through the pigments. I dried each layer with a heat tool and then continued with the same process using the Distress Inks. I love mixing the Distress Oxides and Inks because the inks create deep rich tones on top of the oxides. I stamped the background in random areas with one of the designs from the Tim Holtz Fragments stamp set after the watercolor piece was completely dry using Tsukineko Brilliance Galaxy Gold archival ink.

 

I created a cameo frame out of corrogated cardboard and a border strip to place behind the frame and inked the edges of each piece with Ground Espresso Distress Ink. The oval frame in the center of the cameo frame was created using two of the Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals dies and then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I then stamped the frame with the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Ledger Script stamp.

The flowers are from the Tim Holtz Wildflower Stems die set. The stems are colored with Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress reinkers and the flowers are colored with Rusty Hinge and Fossilized Amber reinkers. I put a drop of the ink onto a glass mat by simply touching the eye dropper to the glass on the mat. That’s all the ink you need. I picked up the ink with a water pen and colored the flowers and stems.

 

For the leaves, I swirled pieces of watercolor paper in Distress Inks that I smooshed onto my glass mat spritzed with water. I created sheets of orange, yellow and green using Fossilized Amber, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss and cut out the leaves from the Tim Holtz Funky Foliage die set. After cutting the leaves and their stems, I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The beautiful medallion is from the Tim Holtz 3D Medallion die that cuts and embosses the shape. I colored pieces of watercolor cardstock with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and ran the paper through the Medallion die set. I inked the embossed areas with Tsukineko Brilliance Galaxy Gold Archival Ink and inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink

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To finish off the card, I attached a bow created with Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon that was died with Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I adhered a mini pin to the center of the bow with a story stick that was painted with Mustard Seed Distress Paint.

 

I adhered the entire panel onto a 5-1/4″ x 7-1/4″ inch piece of Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Stock Paperie.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created this colorful Autumn card. Thank you so much for stopping by. I truly appreciate you sticking with me to the end.