Fall Leaves with Sparkle

I'm doing a blog post only 2 days after the last.  Wow!  The sky must be falling.  Actually it is.  We have had so much rain the past few days, and the forecast is for more rain over the next few days.  Our bridge is flooded and the run off continues to make the river rise.  No fear for our house, as we are in the mountains and up on a hill, but when the river comes up we have to walk a swinging bridge to get to our car in order to get out.  Not too bad if you are used to it, but just talk to the gals who were at my house the other day, they think it is scary just crossing the bridge when the river is down.  (Hi ladies, you should be here now!)

I have been working diligently on fall, Halloween and a few Christmas cards.  I think I can start showing you what I have been working on.  Today's card is a fall card that I used for a challenge.  I liked it well enough that I made several more for a swap.

This card was fun, and I like how it turned out, but making 15 was tedious.  The stamp set is Vintage Leaves (pg 88 annual catalog), which when bundled with the Leaflet Dies, you get 15% off the combined cost.  It is a great deal because of the many different ways you can use these leaves.  I use this set a lot.  And if you want to make an even better set, look at the fun leaves on page 44 of the Holiday Catalog.  The dies also go with those leaves.  Then you have some real versatility.

For this card, I made my own designer paper by stamping  leaves in 3 colors on to Very Vanilla cs.  To glitter the homemade cardstock I used a mixture of Tombo glue and a little water.  I flicked spots of this mixture with a paintbrush on to my designer paper before I cut it down.  Then sprinkle glitter, shake off excess, and wait for it to dry.  I left it over night.  When dry I cut down the paper to fit the front pieces of the card.  I stamped  leaves on colored cardstock in VersaMark and embossed with gold embossing powder.  Flick some of the glue mixture on the leaves, wait until they dry, then use the die to cut them out.  Finish your card by decorating how you like.  I used our gold buttons and some gold cording trim.  I also used a little thin gold metallic thread behind the leaves.  However, you can barely see the thread in this photo,

I hope you like it, and I hope I get back soonest with more of what I have been working on.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy