Guest Designer Spotlight: Cards with Leanne West

Hi everyone! Leanne West here and I’m back again to share three cards I’ve made featuring some of the fall release products. This time I’ve focused on using some of the stand alone dies along with the pattern paper. There’s very little stamping on these cards. Only the sentiments are stamped. I rarely make cards that are this die cut heavy but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I’m so happy with the results.  

First up is a card that features the Nutty For You dies. This was such an easy card to make but really packs a punch with the oversized acorns. Instead of using all solid card stock for my die cuts, I decided to jazz it up a bit by using some of the Amazing Argyle and Gingham Jewel Tones pattern paper for the body of the acorn. I kept the sentiment simple by stamping and heat embossing “autumn” from the Fall Kiddos stamp set and adding the die cut “greetings” from the Greetings Word die. I used some vellum behind the acorns to help them stand out from the A2 sized kraft card base.  

For my second card I wanted to create a fall scene using the Fall Flicks Filmstrip dies. This set contains dies to build tiny sunflowers and pumpkins and I thought it would be fun to make them out of the Gingham Jewel Tones pattern paper. This paper is double sided and I used both sides. The rolling hills were created using the Woodland Borders dies. I decided to also have some fun with the sentiment. I thought the large Happy Word die is such a wonderful contrast in size to the tiny sunflowers and pumpkins. The stamped part of the sentiment is from Fall Kiddos.  

For my final card I’ve created another fall scene, but this time I used some of the Comic Strip Everyday dies. Again I’ve cut most of the pieces to build the scene out of the Gingham Jewel Tones pattern papers. I think the gingham paper makes beautiful fall foliage for the trees. The stamped sentiment is from the Beautiful Autumn stamp set.  

I wanted to share a few tips that helped streamline the process of all the die cutting for building these scenes. When having to make a lot of cuts with tiny dies, I found that a small die cutting machine like the Sizzix Sidekick was very convenient. I was able to have the Sidekick right next me on my desk. I also found it very helpful to have the card stock and pattern paper I was using for each card trimmed down into small pieces - about 2” by 4” in size. That size fits perfectly through the Sidekick and I could still get many cuts out of it.  It’s good to have a pair of tweezers or a jewel picker to handle the die cut pieces. I used a quick drying liquid adhesive in a bottle with a needle nose tip for gluing the pieces together. This was especially helpful with the parts of the house since they are extra tiny. And if you are like me and have trouble deciding on colors, just go ahead and cut out more than you need in multiple colors/patterns. That way you can play around with the pieces like a puzzle until you get just right combination.  

I hope I’ve offered you some fall inspiration for using these fabulous new products from Sunny Studio. These cards were so fun to make and I now have big love for tiny dies!! Thanks so much for joining me today! Happy Crafting!! 

Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Gingham Jewel Tones 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Amazing Argyle 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Beautiful Autumn Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Comic Strip Everyday Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fall Flicks Filmstrip Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Fall Kiddos Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Greetings Word Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Word Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Nutty For You Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Woodland Borders Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio