Despite the Christmas and winter projects I’ve been making recently I’m still not quite ready to give up on summer. We can see the leaves changing colour and there’s a chill in the morning air, but hopefully there’s little more of the season left to enjoy. So instead of my planned autumn project today I ended up with a greener country scene pocket photo album.
COUNTRY SCENE
I began with the pocket photo album I’d purchased recently at the Dollar Store. It’s designed to be used with 4″ x 6″ photos but is slightly larger with a back and front cover insert that’s not very inspiring. So I removed the cover pieces so they could be replaced with new covers.
Using my Paper Trimmer I first cut two pieces of Basic Gray Card the same size as the original cover inserts. Then I slid one of the pieces into the back cover pocket and set the other one aside.
To create my country scene I started with a piece of Seaside Spray Card 1/4″ smaller than my Basic Gray cover. Then I cut a Mint Macaron piece the same size to use for the foreground of my finished scene.
Next I needed to die-cut the Mint Macaron piece using dies from the Home Together Dies. I started by die-cutting the plain curve close to the bottom edge of the Mint Macaron piece. Then from the opposite side of the card I die-cut the trees and ground piece.
TIP – When placing the tree/ground die cut be sure to keep the tree trunks vertical. Otherwise your finished scene will look like all your trees are falling over.
Once I’d finished cutting I decided to add some texture to a couple of the pieces. First I embossed the piece with the trees using the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. When doing this I made sure that the lines of the embossing went up the trees rather than across them. Then I embossed the Seaside Spray piece using the dotted folder from the Wrapped In Texture Embossing Folders.
Unfortunately once I’d embossed the pieces I wasn’t sure I liked how they looked. So rather than waste them I decided to add some ink.
On the Seaside Spray piece I used a Sponge Dauber to add patches of Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Ink as clouds. Then on the tree piece I used a Sponge Brayer to add Mint Macaron ink across the whole piece. Now when I layered up the parts of my scene they looked much more interesting.
Before I could continue I needed a suitable sentiment and I found the perfect one in the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set. So using Tuxedo Black ink I stamped “Life is better with you” in the space at the bottom of the second (un-embossed) Mint Macaron piece.
Finally I was ready to put all the layers together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Once that was done I slipped the completed scene into the front cover pocket of my album and my project was complete.
GIVING BACK
This season Stampin’ Up! has selected the Coming Home Stamp Set as a way to give back to the community. For every one of these stamp sets sold Stampin’ Up! will donate $4 to charities devoted to adoption, foster care and infertility. Money raised from sales in Canada will go to Canadian charities. Whether you order just the stamp set, the stamp set and dies bundle, or the entire suite, every purchase will count.
For some other projects created using the Home Together Dies and Coming Home Stamp Set see these earlier blog posts:
PRODUCT LIST
BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Home Together Dies in a bundle with the coordinating Coming Home Stamp Set (not used today). 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. I also bought the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set in a bundle with the Autumn Punch Pack (not used today). I saved 10% on this bundle too and you’ll find a link to that bundle below as well.
Leave a Reply