Hello! I am back from a fall break and probably my last vacation of the year until the holidays. We drove down south to spend some time with the grandchildren during their fall break from school but we also made a couple of fun stops along the way of which I will tell you all about in my next travel post.
I always give the grandchildren gifts/cards for all the holidays/seasons. They don't celebrate Halloween, so I keep my cards/gifts fall themed.
My first card uses a stitching die from Spellbinders. Spellbinders has all these neat monthly clubs you can join where you get their latest product at a discount. I really like the idea of combining sewing with paper crafting and I think their stitching dies are really different so I joined that club. Every month I receive a new die in the mail, and this was September's die "Stitched Sunflowers". Isn't it beautiful? It is perfect for fall cards and thank you cards.
This was probably the most challenging stitched die I received because the floss kept catching on the petals. After a lot of frustration, I finally figured out to turn the die upside down while I was sewing. Also, each petal had to be sewn individually or the thread would be seen as you went over to the next petal. So it was a bit time consuming as I had to cut and tape the thread after finishing each petal. Not all stitching dies are this complicated. But the result is beautiful, and I love it! My daughter went crazy for it too and said "That is one card that needs to be framed".
To make this card I cut two sunflowers out, one flower center, and the leaves. I did some ink blending on everything to make it more natural and interesting, then I stitched away and adhered everything together. I did pop up the top sunflower and the brown center on dimensionals. I used gold metallic floss on the flower and a light green floss on the leaves. Everything was then glued to a blue patterned fall designer paper then I added a few fall gems and a stamped a fall sentiment.
Spellbinders had a huge sale recently, so I saw that as an opportune time to buy a couple of new dies. This die is called "Truckin' Through the Seasons". I love this die for its versatility because it includes other items you can put in the truck bed like presents, Christmas trees, etc.
To make this card I chose a pretty fall patterned designer paper and adhered the truck to the paper. I decided to add a little fall poem about pumpkins to tie in with the pumpkins in the truck bed. I stamped that on a piece of golden card stock then added some flowers and vines from the same die set. Everything was then adhered to a gold foil card base.
I think these die cuts are a lot more work than simply stamping and coloring, so I don't understand why crafters like them so much. I think it might be because people don't like to color, but I've become very skilled at coloring, so I enjoy it. Every single piece you see in the truck below had to be cut in a different color, ink blended, then glue back together. It's a long, pain-staking process in my opinion.
This next card was really hard as that tractor and all its veggies was a lot of small pieces, but I sure like the way it turned out. It's a great card for a little boy and it can also be used for other seasons/events. I can see filling the trailer with Christmas trees for the holidays and doing the tractor in red instead of green. This die cut is called "Thankful Tractor" but I can't seem to find it on their website anymore so it must be sold out.
To make this card, I once again very painstakingly cut all the little pieces out of all the different colors of card stock, ink blended everything, then glued them back together. The wheels were popped up on dimensionals,
I also made some fall tags for all their fall gift bags. If you're wondering where Lazarus' card is, I didn't make him one because he is only five months old and I ran out of time.
The leaves were die cut with old Cuttlebug leaf dies then ink blended. The tags were cut using a Spellbinder's tag die, and eyelets were installed in the holes of the tags
And here are all the little ones holding their fall cards. I know, they look so thrilled 😆 I think they were just anxious to see what was inside their gift bags and I make them open up their cards and take a photo first. Trust me, they do love the cards. They even keep their favorites in little boxes and Alethea even keeps the unicorn shaker card I made for her birthday on display on her dresser.
And here you can see few photos of them being a little more excited opening their gift bags.
I always give them a new fall outfit. They really do enjoy receiving new clothes. The rest of the items in the bag are a few candy treats, some healthy snacks, and little toys/books.
And here is baby Lazarus wearing his new outfit. Isn't he adorable? I love his smile. The sweater goes so well with his auburn hair.
The grandchildren love activity/sticker books. They go through them so fast though! They love them so much, when they get a new one they start working on it immediately and don't stop till it's finished.
Well I hope you enjoyed my fall cards and a little insight into my family. There will be more fall stories to come in future travel posts.
Have A Great Day! Amy
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