After a few weeks of hot and humid weather, I am ready for fall! It's always been my favorite time of the year. We used to fill our fall days with apple picking, harvest, and pumpkin patches, but in recent years we've been too busy to stop and enjoy the season. This year, even though we all have loads of time, everything is cancelled. To make up for the fun that I'm missing, I decided to do a fall color palette challenge. I've seen a lot of fellow crafters do this, and have never been brave enough to try it. I simply googled orange color combinations, and found one that really sparked my interest. Then, I pulled out stamp sets from my go-to company for scene building: Lawn Fawn.
Lately Lawn Fawn has released several sets featuring mice, and I knew I wanted them to be the stars of my scene. I decided to build them a fall festival of their own, full of all the activities we love!
I stamped all of my images on Bristol Smooth paper, using an alcohol friendly ink. I colored all of the images with my copic markers, and used the coordinating dies to cut them all out. (I ended up stamping more images than would fit on my card, but that's ok! It meant I had choices, and now have enough pre-colored to make an additional scene!)
Stamp Sets Used:
Happy Harvest
Mice on Ice
S'more the Merrier (with Ellen Hutson)
Super Star
Tree Before 'n Afters
Dandy Day
Crazy Antics
Costume Party
Next, I pulled out my Lawn Fawn cardstock and dies. I cut two Large Slimline panels from Neenah Solar White. I cut the large pumpkin from Fake Tan cardstock, using the Outside In Stitched Pumpkin. I also cut the stem and the vine from the die set from Noble Fir cardstock. I used Fog to cut one banner with the Bunting Borders, and then cut the pennants with Peacock and Mermaid cardstock.
Using my paper trimmer, I cut a piece of gray Woodgrain cardstock to 1 1/2" by 1". I also cut a 1 1/2"by 1/4" piece. From scraps I cut two identical lengths of 1/8" thickness.
I had a general idea of the layout, but wanted to make sure that everything flowed. I laid out the images and rearranged them until I found a layout I liked. (You can see in the picture below that I had first tried a dark brown cardstock for the booth, but I thought it washed everything out. Don't be afraid to change your mind!)
For the background, I used one of my cut panels to cut out two grassy borders. I wanted the stitching around the entire base. (Because of the length, I had to partial diecut each border, then move the die and repeat the process.) I used Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink for the grass, and added just a hint of Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink at near the top edges.
With the cloud stencil from My Favorite Things, I added the cloudy sky to my main background panel with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide, and used Broken China around the top and sides. While my inks were out, I also added Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide to the stitched pumpkin, just to give it a little variation and interest.
Next was assembly! I added my grassy layers with a combination of foam tape and
scor-tape. I used a strong liquid adhesive to attach the pennants to the booth and the pumpkin. Images were added on different layers of the card to add depth and to draw attention across the scene.
Lastly, I added highlights to my images with a white gel pen, and added a touch of sparkle to the fire with a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.
This card was definitely a good stretch for my creative muscles! I loved working with a limited color scheme and trying to shop my stash to create a full scene.
Now if only those s'mores were real!