Shimmer Sheetz Autumn Leaf Cards
By Judi Kauffman
When autumn arrives I’m a kid again. I shuffle my feet through piles of leaves and collect the prettiest ones to send to friends who live in California and miss the change of seasons. I love how the leaves sparkle in the sun after it rains. It’s pure magic, Mother Nature dressed up for a party! It is the look of those sparkly leaves that I’ve attempted to capture in my Shimmer Sheetz Autumn Leaf Cards.
There are few things I like as much as autumn. One of them is embossing folders, another is cutting dies! I’ve collected both for years. The stash includes many with fall themes – leaves, leaf patterns, words… I thought it would be fun to mix and match a few for my cards.
I chose Shimmer Sheetz in Fire Opal Gemstone, Gold Metallic, plus Yellow, Orange, and White Iridescent, but you can switch the palette to suit your taste! (Ruby Gemstone and Bronze Metallic are other good choices, and Emerald Gemstone is another excellent option.)
DESIGN STRATEGIES
Because no two people have the same collection of supplies, please use the sample cards as a starting point and customize your projects. The key is to combine embossed or de-bossed Shimmer Sheetz rectangles with relatively large Shimmer Sheetz leaves. Add in a die cut sentiment.
Easy? Yes!
Hand- or die-cut your leaves. Alternatively, use embossing folders before cutting leaf shapes (as shown) or use rubber stamps and StazOn or other alcohol-based ink to stamp them. Tip: For hand-cut leaves, trace real leaves onto lightweight paper, scan and re-size as needed, and use the paper leaves as cutting patterns.
If you don’t have fall theme embossing folders, substitute a different background pattern.
Use a dark color glittered cardstock for the card base on all cards. (Shown: Black) What doesn’t show in the photos is that the glitter has many colors in it (a nice fit with the colors that reflect from the surface of the Shimmer Sheetz).
The card shown in the two photos above has a subtle treat at the lower left corner – a Happy Birthday peel-off in black for a tone-on-tone effect. The greeting shows clearly when the card is in hand.
To tone down some of the sparkle lightly sand the embossed Shimmer Sheetz background layers.
To add dimension use snippets of Power Tabs under the cut out leaves.
Here are two more cards and a tag:
SUPPLIES
Elizabeth Craft Designs –
Shimmer Sheetz in Fire Opal Gemstone; Gold Metallic; Orange, Yellow and White Iridescent
A Way With Words Four Seasons and Thanks dies
Els van de Burgt Studio Alphabet 1 – caps (for tag)
Clear Double Sided Adhesive Tape
Fine point scissors
Other –
Tombow Power Adhesive Tabs
Solid color cardstock in fall colors
Glittered cardstock in black
Assorted fall theme and linear pattern embossing folders
Gold cord (for tag)
Sanding block
