Autumn Leaves for You

The falling leaves are in full swing around here.  We went up the canyon to see the leaves a couple weeks ago and they were just past the peak of their color.  Now the leaves in the yard are starting to fall, unfortunately they aren't quite as vivid as those up the canyon, but they are still pretty.  I love this color combo from Pals Paper Arts this week--Cajun Craze, More Mustard, and Early Espresso.  I have to admit that until just recently, I had not even used Cajun Craze (although I've had it since it debuted).  I'm finding that I use it quite a bit now, and not just when I have to for a color challenge.  It is a great color for this time of the year, and I like how it takes on more of a "red" tone with this combination of colors.

I used the Gently Falling stamp set for my leaves and then the greeting set called A Word for You.  Once I stamped the leaves, I wanted to fill in the empty space so I grabbed my color spritzer and specked the paper with my Early Espresso marker.  I've had a color spritzer for 15+ years and I think I love it more than ever recently--it seems to add just the right touch to some cards!  I mounted my stamped strip on some Early Espresso card stock and then on More Mustard that I paper pierced a dotted line along.  I tied those layers together with some Early Espresso stitched grosgrain and then mounted them on my card base, which is Cajun Craze.   I love adding texture from with Stampin' Up!'s Textured Impressions Embossing folders (and that is the challenge from SUO Challenges right now) so I textured my Cajun Craze card base with the woodgrain embossing folder.  My greeting is punched with the oval punch, then layered on the scalloped oval punch, and finally the designer label punch.