Now autumn has definitely arrived in Nova Scotia and I’m enjoying watching the amazing transformation in the garden. It’s the same when I travel around the area where the farmers get on with their harvest and begin to prepare for winter. So it’s hardly surprising that once again I was drawn to autumn colours and the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set. Today my colour palette was all about warm red and orange.

ACCIDENTAL COLOURS

It may not be obvious from the main photo, but this colour scheme wasn’t what I originally had in mind.

I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Crumb Cake Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

Next I cut a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card and chose Cherry Cobbler for my stamping. Then from the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set I chose the triple coneflower image and stamped it coming in from the right-hand side. With that done I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix the layer inside the card base.

To continue the coordination for my project I stamped the same partial image onto the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.

Now I needed to work on the background layer for the front of the card.

Instead of using patterned paper (DSP) I decided to stamp the background using the spatter image from the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set. Still using Cherry Cobbler ink I randomly stamped the image directly onto the card front. However while I quite liked the effect, I didn’t like the Cherry Cobbler ink on the Crumb Cake Card. So I grabbed a Blending Brush and added a layer of Cherry Cobbler ink over the whole card front.

What a transformation! It wasn’t like any colour in the Stampin’ Up! range and I loved it. Then to add even more interest I used the brush tip of a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to flick some fine speckles over the surface. With that, I set the card aside while I concentrated on the focal point for my card.

NATURE’S HARVEST BUNDLE

This project was all about the coneflower image from the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set and this time I stamped it onto Thick Very Vanilla Card with Cherry Cobbler ink. Then I coloured the leaves using light and dark Old Olive Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers.

Next I chose the bright pink of Magenta Madness Stampin’ Blends for the petals. Taking each petal in turn I coloured the whole petal using the light marker. Then I used the dark marker to colour from the base of the petal but not completely to the tip. Once all the petals were done I went back and darkened the base of the petals still further using a dark Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Blends.

Finally I coloured the ball-shaped flower centres with the light Cherry Cobbler marker and set the image aside.

Now all I needed was a sentiment, and from the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set I chose the simple “Thank you”. Then using Cherry Cobbler ink once again I stamped it onto a scrap of Thick Very Vanilla Card.

At last I was ready to begin die-cutting.

Using my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine I cut out the flowers first with the coordinating die from the Harvest Dies. Then I used the small label die in the set to cut out the sentiment.

FINAL LAYERS

Before attaching the flowers and sentiment to the card front I wanted to add another layer. So I cut a 2-1/8″ x 3-7/8″ piece of Cajun Craze Card and a 2-1/4″ x 4″ piece of Cherry Cobbler Card. Then I fixed the two together using liquid glue.

Next I pulled out the the Matte Decorative Dots pack. This pack contains different sizes of self-adhesive dots in four different colours, and each colour varies from light to dark. I found ones that were close to my inked background and chose three different sizes. Then I added these in a line down from the top right corner of the assembled layers.

TIP – When adding embellishments to a layer it’s often easier to get a good fix if you do this before you add Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back.

Using liquid glue I attached the right side of the die-cut floral piece to the left half of the assembled layer. Then I added the sentiment over the top with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

With that done I flipped the whole thing over and added more Stampin’ Dimensionals to the back, before finally attaching the completed piece to the card front. Job done.

There were a lot of stages to this card but I love the finished result. The background colour is quite unusual and I may have to experiment with this idea some more. What do you think?

For another project featuring the coneflower see my earlier blog post Nature’s Harvest and Harvest Dies together.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Nature’s Harvest Stamp Set and coordinating Harvest Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore that option further.