Inspiration Week: Introducing Autumn Splendor Fall Leaves Set

Hello there!  Welcome to day 2 of our Fall Release Inspiration week!  Today I'm showcasing our new Autumn Splendor set coming out on Friday!  :)

I've been itching to do a solid stamp set for awhile now and I love the idea of a bold layering set that is perfect for so many different techniques (I promise you'll want to tune in on Friday when there will be loads more ideas for it).  ;)

For my first card I wanted to create a pretty border showing the set in all it's glory.  As an accent next to the sentiment I used one of my favorite images from the entire set: the little acorn!  I love how it looks when it's all layered together!

For my next card I started by cutting two V's using the Fishtail Banner and Fishtail Banner II dies.  I then layered the images from the set to create a bouquet of sorts for the center of my card.

This set comes with two sets of berry images with shadows on each side of the berry depending on how you plan to use it.  Sadly please ignore the fact that I should have adhered them the opposite way on my own card though--Oops!  ;)

For my next card I wanted to do something light and airy with a clean & simple design.  I used the alternate interior layering pieces for my two leaf sizes.  For the bottom of my card, I stamped the base using one of the scalloped borders from our Sunny Borders Stamp set and then die-cut it with the coordinating dies.

I then inked up the middle portion on the left side of the card with some Tumbled Glass distress ink to highlight the leaves and make them stand out. I finished my card by adding a jewel to the center for a touch of bling.

For my last card today I chose to forgo the shadow portion of the images and to heat emboss my stems in gold for a classy look.  It hard to tell in this picture, but I love the way the gold stems look in person!   I finished off my card by die-cutting my panel with our Fishtail Banner II dies and inking up the bottom portion of the card with a a color to match my red leaves.

While I ran out of time to make a video, I did snap a couple quick pictures sharing my favorite way for stamping a bunch of leaves at once.  I started by die-cutting each leaf from a piece of scratch paper as a template.  I found that stamping onto the die-cut gave me an extra way to help line up my stem which was especially helpful for the berries (vs. stamping and then die-cutting).  

I then used my template in my MISTI stamp positioner so I could pop in my actual die-cut and position my stamp for quick assembly line style stamping.  You can take this concept one step further and stamp 4 templates all at once with one in each corner.  I had a blast cutting out & stamping a bunch of leaves in different colors for all my cards in one sitting (with plenty of extras for a rainy day).  

Here's a full look at the Autumn Splendor stamps and coordinating dies...

   

And here's a little visual I put together to show all the ways the stamps can be layered since I know they can look a bit strange on the stamp sheet without all the pretty colors. 

For those who are curious about which color combos I used on my leaves today, I actually picked from a variety of ink brands in my stash which I've listed below.  Luckily you really only have to find two colors that look good together so your options are truly endless.  ;)

Red Leaves:
Hero Arts Red Royal Shadow Ink
Ranger Adirondack Cranberry

Orange Leaves & Berries: 
Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie
Hero Arts Just Rust Shadow Ink

Yellow Leaves:
Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight
Stampin' Up Crushed Curry

Green Leaves:
Hero Arts Green Hills Shadow Ink
Simon Says Stamp Green Leaf

Red Berries:
Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush
MFT Cherry Crisp

Stems:
Simon Says Stamp Dark Chocolate (for the lighter version)
Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip (for darker version)

Acorns:
VersaFine Vintage Sepia (for bottom portion base)
Close To My Heart Oak Brown (for bottom shadow and top base)
Stampin' Up Chocolate Ship (for top shadow)

I would love to hear your first impressions.  Thanks so much for stopping by.