Autumnal Sunshine By Wendy Walters

My inspiration for this blog was the season we are in Autumn, who doesn't like the colours of all the leaves this time of the year.

I started off with an 8x8" white card blank and matted a layer of kraft paper measuring 7 3/4' x 7 3/4" on to it.

Next I cut a piece of Polar White Elite Card to 7 1/2" x 7 1/2.".

On one side I lightly drew a line with a pencil from the top corner to the opposite bottom corner.

Then along the bottom edge I marked every one inch; I did the same starting at the bottom going up on the lefthand side as well.

Why you ask? If I want to score a pattern onto my card, I like to draw it out lightly on the reverse so I know where I'm scoring.

So on that note on to the scoring......

Place the top right hand side of your Scoreboard somewhere near the middle.

Make sure that the bottom of the line that you have just drawn, lines up with the same scoreline as the top - score this.

NOTE - Do not move the card just yet.

Keep your score tool at the top of the score line which you have just done, and then slowly move the bottom around to the next one inch mark you made and score.

Repeat this process on both sides of the centre score line for all the marks you have made.

When you turn it over, it should look like the bottom Photo 3 (show above).

When it's finished, glue it on top of the kraft paper and onto your card blank.

Next I took some Elite Card in Sunbeam Yellow and Tiger Orange which I then stamped with the Latin Script Stamp in Squirrel Red Quick Dry Pigment Ink.

For the next step, I cut these along with some Bumblebee Yellow Elite Card using the Cosmos Flower Die; I cut 3 lots in each colour.

I then created my leaves using the Cosmos Leaves Die, of which I cut out 3 lots each in Meadow Grass Green, Heritage Green Elite Card and kraft paper.

NOTE - The reason I cut out 3 lots, was to give more choice in which ones I want to use.... as you will see, nothing goes to waste!

After cutting out all of these flowers and leaves, I took a honeycomb sponge (the type you use in the bath with lots of holes in it).

I cut off a couple of sections so I could distress over the top of some of the leaves and flowers, but not all of them.

Now to the fun part the shaping of the flowers........

This time I used a Ball Tool and made circular movement on the back of the petals with the tool. After doing all the flower shapes, I then decided what combination of colours I wanted by picking different colours .

When I was happy with the combination, I glued them together using Clear Drying Glue.

NOTE - The excess flower elements whcih I didn't use were popped into a plastic wallet ready for another card creation!

I just love flowers... and I'm a "flowers first kinda lady," so they take priority when I come to building my arrangements on a card.

Now I always go for odd numbers in flowers as this looks more balanced.

This might just be the flower arranger side of me coming out lol.

I place the flowers on the card along with a few bits of foliage, and move them about till I'm happy with the layout. Then I take away the foliage and glue my flowers in place .

TIP - With the foliage don't be afraid of snipping bits to create the look you want; and also bend them a little to give them a bit of shape.

For the last step... and all important sentiment!

I chose the "Thinking Of You" Die Set and the backing plates for them.

Again, I cut out several of the backing plates in all the colours of Elite Card which I had used in the flowers and foliage. I played around with colour combinations untill I found one I liked.

Like with the flowers and foliage, I saved the ones I didn't use and put these into the storage wallet for use on another card at some time.

I hope this card brings you a ray of sunshine.

Thank you for having a read of this week's project, keep an eye out for my next blog post - Next Monday. Wendy