Hi, There, Stampers!
Did you hear about Hurricane Ian? Yes, we’re in Florida, and yes, we did get some of the wind and rain. But other than that, things here turned out fine. If nothing else we have well-watered palms!
Did you know that we do, indeed, get a good sense of fall where we live? Most of our trees are Live Oaks, which keep their leaves all year long. But there are still some deciduous trees and plants that grow better in cooler weather. And we have pumpkins! To me, a pumpkin is a sure sign of Autumn, and I’ll have one (or more?) on my doorstep before long. Today’s project reminded me that it’s time pumpkins, and I am happy to have been able to send it to a friend who’s needed a bit of cheering up.
It’s a Tri-Shutter Fold Card
I’m really glad that someone else came up with a name for this fun fold because I sure wouldn’t have come up with that one. But it really does describe the fold with three places where it kicks in. It also flattens and then opens out again, sort of like a shutter. So Tri-Shutter it is!
This really is an easy card to make once you have cut and folded all of the sections. After that it’s all about adding some papers and decorations, and you know we can all do that just fine. I have a sketch at the end of this post so you can, score and fold the base it you’d like to try.
Fall Products from Stampin’ Up!’s Mini Catalog
I love Stampin’ Up!’s annual fall and winter Mini Catalog. This year it’s called the July – December Mini Catalog. But no matter what’s it’s called, it’s always got plenty of products to use in making Autumn-themed projects. One of my favorites this year is the paper set, Rustic Harvest Designer Series Paper. What’s more fall than leaves and pumpkins and Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow and Crushed Curry for colors. Well, add a big of Pumpkin Pie and that’s all I need for Autumn!
For this card, I used Cajun Craze Cardstock for the card base. Before I folded the card, I adhered strips of a Mossy Meadow prints from the Rustic Harvest paper set along the top and bottom 1″ edge of the card. Then I recreased on the fold lines and folded everything. With this fold, you have to kind of works back and forth among the folds, some of which are “valley” and other “mountain,” until all of a sudden they all agree where they’re going. Then crease the heck out of them.
A Leafy Embossing Folder
For the three center sections of the card, I first added a layer of Pumpkin Pie Cardstock. Then I cut three pieces of Mossy Meadow Cardstock and first embossed each of them using the Leaf Fall Embossing Folder before adhering them to the card base.
My last stamping and layering step was to stamp and die-cut three pumpkins. For this I used the Hello Harvest Bundle, which includes the Hello Harvest Stamp Set and the Rustic Pumpkins Dies. Each of the three pumpkins started with a different color of cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze and Mango Melody. Where did Mango come from? Well, it’s an orange-ish color and I think makes a fine Pumpkin!
For my final touches on the card front, I first added a sentiment from the Go To Greetings Stamp Set. Then I sprinkled some of the Gems from the Leaf Label & Amber Gem Combo Pack around, including on the sentiment layer, to create a bit of sparkle.
Where Will I Write a Note?
On the back, of course! For this card, I simply added a piece of Basic White Cardstock, decorated with a strip of the Designer Series Paper that I used on the front. When someone opens an envelop to find this card, they’re also going to look around to find out who sent it. So never that they’ll find your note and signature on the back.
Speaking of sending – this card folds into a perfect 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ card, which slides beautifully into a Stampin’ Up! Medium Envelope.
And Here’s the Sketch
I won’t be publishing a tutorial for this until after the first of the year – think Valentine’s Day! But you’ll get plenty of tutorials for the rest of this holiday season when you sign up for my 12 Weeks of Christmas Newsletter! The signup form is up on the top of the column on the right.
Dashed lines are scoring/folding lines; solid lines are cutting lines.
