Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card

Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card featuring Ellen Hutson Fallish Stamp and Die Set

To say that it’s feeling like fall here in Los Angeles might be a bit of a stretch in comparison to other parts of the country, but the projects coming out of my craft room are giving all sorts of fall vibes right now. In last month’s Essentials by Ellen release, the Fallish Stamp and Die set was one of the highlights for me, and I’ve been creating with it ever since.

Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card featuring Ellen Hutson Fallish Stamp and Die Set

Today’s project is one I created for a friend whose birthday is this month, and since she’s already received it, posting today won’t spoil the surprise. To get started, I ink blended over 3 plain white card panels – one with a combination of pinks/reds, another with orangey-yellows, and the third with a few different green inks. (All ink pads were from Catherine Pooler, and I’ve linked them up below.) This was very, very quick ink blending, where my plan was just to leave some random areas lighter than others. From here, I used the Fallish die set to cut out a whole bunch of pieces from the 3 panels. Having done the ink blending before, I was able to position the dies over areas that had interesting color variation.

After die cutting all the shapes, I used one of my cut-up blended panels as a stamping jig in my MISTI. This is my preferred way for batch stamping because it eliminates the need to repeatedly reposition dies over stamped images. I’m also able to ensure that each image is going to stamp right in the center of each die cut every time.

Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card featuring Ellen Hutson Fallish Stamp and Die Set

At this point I had a pile of fall foliage to create my card (and several others) with. I decided on a vertical layout where the images cascaded down the left hand side of a trimmed card panel, so after arranging all the little pieces exactly where I wanted them, I stuck them down with liquid glue. Some were intentionally left overhanging on the edges for a more organic look. After the glue set, I trimmed those extra bits off and was about to mount the panel to an A2 card base with foam tape when I decided it needed a little something else. Enter the gold twine!

Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card featuring Ellen Hutson Fallish Stamp and Die Set

Taking a long piece of gold and white bakers twine in my hands, I secured one end behind the panel with tape and wound the rest around width-wise in a random criss-cross fashion. After securing the end behind the panel, I did my usual foam tape mounting which really helped to secure the twine exactly where I wanted it.

Finally, it was time to finish the card with a sentiment. Thankfully I had a TON of these foiled and ready to go, thanks to an earlier mass-producing session with the Way With Words hot foil plate. I chose a matte gold foiled one on Evergreen cardstock (I love a good contrasty sentiment!), adhered it with liquid glue, then placed a few heavy books on top overnight. That pressure helped secure the sentiment strip to the twine, and in the morning, it was lovely and flat, ready for mailing.

Handmade Fall-Themed Birthday Card featuring Ellen Hutson Fallish Stamp and Die Set

Now excuse me while I go put my leftover Fallish foliage to use on a few more cards. Like I said, I can’t get enough of this set! Thank you so much for stopping by today. I’ll see you back here soon!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and by purchasing products through these links, I earn a small commission. Thank you so much for supporting the incredible companies I’ve partnered with.

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