Autumn Style

Welcome to the first group post for Papertrey's August release. This release is filled with all sorts of autumn elements, which I'm beyond thrilled about, as it's my favorite season, both in general and for crafting. Today, we are featuring a unique brushstroke stamp set called Brushed Off, along with two beautiful foliage dies, Branching Out and Leaf Silhouettes.

Today's featured products, along with the rest of the August release, will be available at 10 pm EST August 15 in the Papertrey Ink store.

I had so much fun with today's projects! There's no single "right" way to use the Brushed Off images, which opens all kinds of doors for creative stamping. 

For my first card, I created a polka dot background by first stamping the partial circle brushstroke in one color, then rotating the stamp 180 degrees and stamping a second color right on top. The combos I used were: Raspberry Fizz with Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss with Ripe Avocado, Enchanted Evening with Plum Pudding, and Canyon Clay with Pure Poppy. 

In keeping with the artsy look of the brushstrokes, I doodled a black circle around each polka dot. Loved that look so much (it reminds me of the super cool doodling that Ashley did HERE) that I added some more polka dots using a small scribble circle from the Circle Scribbles stamp set as well as some black splatter. The finishing touch was a pattern of luxe gold adhesive Leaf Silhouette die-cuts. I know, it's kind of busy, but I like it!

To keep the focus on that crazy background, I opted to downplay the sentiment. I stamped a sentiment from Scripted onto a scrap of Fresh Snow Linen cardstock, notched one end to make a banner, and stitched the other end to the card base.

STAMPS: Brushed Off, Circle Scribbles, Scripted

DIES: Leaf Silhouettes

INK: True Black, Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Enchanted Evening, Plum Pudding, Canyon Clay, Pure Poppy

PAPER: white card stock, Fresh Snow Linen card stock, Luxe Gold Adhesive Sheets

OTHER: Heidi Swapp Black Velvet Color Shine

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For this next card, I stamped the narrow rectangle brushstroke image in different shades of oranges and yellow to create kind of an ombre effect. I varied the horizontal placement of the image each time for a more irregular look to the stroke lengths. 

To get the gilded look, I used a stamp positioner to stamp a second impression of each brushstroke, this time just dabbing a bit of VersaMark ink to the tips of the brushstrokes and then heat embossing in gold. I think the touch of gold just gives the whole background a little more shazam. I also flicked on some water droplets over the stamped brushstrokes (and sort of wish I hadn't).

I have a feeling Branching Out is going to become a go-to die very quickly. I love the large size and full branches, and I also love that you can easily trim off a branch or two to reduce the size, or even trim off a branch to use by itself.  Originally I was planning to stamp a sentiment in the bottom right area of the card base, so I trimmed off the lower right branch to make room. (I changed my mind on the sentiment, but kept the altered die-cut, thus the missing branch.) 

The die-cut "you" was cut with a Scripted die, then coated with Glossy Accents for some shine. The stamped portion of the sentiment was done with the Scripted stamp set. 

STAMPS: Brushed Off, Scripted

DIES: Branching Out, Scripted

INK: Summer Sunrise, Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Orange Zest, True Black, VersaMark

PAPER: white, True Black, and Simply Chartreuse card stock

OTHER: gold embossing powder, gold sequins, Glossy Accents, foam adhesive, stamp positioner

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For lots more Autumn Style inspiration, visit the design team blogs. I can't wait to see all the different takes on Brushed Off! 

Nichole Heady

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Laurie Willison

Lizzie Jones

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Thanks for visiting,