Today has been a bit of a mixed bag. My usual routine has been completely disrupted by a couple of important appointments and I’ve struggled to get back on track. Still, the drive into town was really pretty and I spotted quite a few trees making a head start on their autumn finery. While I often think of autumn as full of bright reds and oranges the early part of the season is more subdued. So this project hints at those subtle changes from green to peach and brown tones.

AUTUMN IMAGES

I began this project with part of the largest image from the Fond of Autumn Stamp Set. If you look closely at the image you can see that it’s actually made up of four separate sections. This makes it very versatile as it can be used complete or cut into four pieces (both using dies from the coordinating Autumn Bouquet Dies).

The acorns and leaves piece forms the centre of the main image which was stamped onto Thick Basic White Card using Tuxedo Black ink. Then I die-cut the image, picked out the centre piece and set aside the others to use later.

To see exactly how the Autumn Bouquet Dies work check out my quick video.

To keep this project quick and easy I decided to colour the image using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I started with light Pale Papaya to colour in the three oak leaves and acorn nuts. Then I went over most of the leaves with the dark Pale Papaya but leaving a little of the light colour around the edges. Then I added some light Old Olive around the oak leaf veins, as well as filling the two additional small leaves. I finished off the leaves with a touch of dark Old Olive down the centre of the leaf veins, and as a shadow on the two small leaves. Finally I used dark Crumb Cake on the acorn cups and completed the acorn nuts with a touch of light Crumb Cake shading.

CANDLE COLLAR

The most complicated part of the project was done so now I was ready to create a collar for my pillar candle. This candle is roughly 2-5/8″ across by 2-3/4″ high so I began by cutting a 2″ x 9″ strip of Pale Papaya Card. After wrapping the card around the candle, I overlapped the ends and fixed them together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

Next from the Boughs of Holly 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack I found the ‘bark’ pattern. I cut a 1-3/4″ x 9″ strip and glued it over the Pale Papaya Card.

By this point I’d decided to introduce some texture with layers of ribbon. I started with some 7/8″ Natural Finish Ribbon held in place with Tear & Tape Adhesive. Then on top of that I added the 3/8″ Satin Edged Ribbon. Finally over the ends of the ribbon I added some loops of gold cord from the Simply Elegant Trim pack.

Now I just had to glue on the stamped piece on top and my early autumn candle was ready for display.

I love creating these little decor items. Just one word of caution… if you plan to light the candle I would suggest sliding the collar off before doing so.

For an autumn table favour project see my earlier blog post Autumn in the air. This one features a different option for oak leaves and acorns.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Fond Of Autumn Stamp Set and coordinating Autumn Bouquet Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. Buying the bundle saved me 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included a link to the Fond Of Autumn bundle in case you want to compare these options.

NEW DIES & BUNDLES! – Until the end of September (while stocks last) there are six new sets of limited edition dies available to purchase. These coordinate with the following stamp sets: Trimming The Tree (AC pg43), This Birthday Piggy (AC pg55), Fresh-Cut Flowers (AC pg65), Waterfall Canyon (AC pg94), Yeti To Party (Mini pg38) and finally Apple Harvest (Mini pg54). If you already have any of these stamp sets now’s your chance to get some matching dies. Or if you haven’t yet got the stamps, buy them and the dies as a bundle and save 10%. Finally we have the early release of the Warm Welcome bundle from the January to June 2023 Mini Catalogue.

For more information about these dies and bundles take at look at the New Arrivals section of my online store. Just remember that with the exception of the Warm Welcome bundle, supplies of the new dies are limited. So if you want them make sure you order as soon as possible to avoid missing out.