Island Hopping – A Fun Fall Paper Set

Aloha, all!

When I opened my first box of goodies from the 2020 Stampin’ Up! August – December Mini Catalog, I couldn’t wait to play with all the fun new Christmas papers. I got that out of my system once I started seeing September dates on my calendar. So today I thought I’d jump in between my regular posting dates and share a fun new set of Designer Papers, the Gilded Autumn Specialty set.

But first, let’s recognize that today, the last Wednesday of August, is the day for my Island Hopping blog with my friend and sister Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, Cheryl Hamilton.

First Things First – Are These Fall Colors!

When I think of Autumn colors, I think of oranges, rusts, golds, deep reds and a darker green. But this year, while Cajun Craze – a rust color – is still a major color in the Gilded Autumn Specialty Designer Series Paper, that’s it for my “traditional” colors. Along with Cajun Craze the major “color” is Mint Macaron. Then there are the neutrals – Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla. The highlights for me are the Gold Foil and Copper Foil accents throughout the set.

My First Try at Cajun Craze and Mint Macaron

My first card using Gilded Autumn features Cajun and Mint, along with all the neutrals. But in this sheet of paper, both the Cajun Craze and Mint Macaron colors are very muted. This creates a soft design that, to me at least, doesn’t scream Autumn. But, as there are no bright colors and the accents are Crumb Cake and Espresso, it doesn’t bring any other season to mind either. It’s more of a neutral background design. So I made it a card that could be sent to anyone at any time of the year. AND, with the Mint Macaron muted so much, the ribbon that seemed to go with the card is Pool Party Sheer Ribbon from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. I think it picks up that light Mint Macaron beautifully!

For the sentiment element I typed the sentiment from the Posted for You stamp set on Very Vanilla cardstock. I cut it and the Cajun Craze mat with two dies from the Ornate Frames Dies set. The rhinestones are from the Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels set.

Now for the Gold and Copper – And Some Fun Marker Work

The same design featured in the Cajun and Mint colored paper is also featured in a sheet using only Gold and Copper foils. I’m not sure if the colors are really going to show in this post. But the darker color is copper and the lighter is gold. Even though I could have used it without color, I went ahead and used the colors that were featured in my first card. I used both the Cajun Craze and Mint Macaron Stampin’ Blends.

I tried to find the same design layout as I used in my first card so that you could compare the two. When all was said and done, though, I think any section of this paper would have been fine.

To decorate this card, I used copper accents. The mat for the colored paper is Copper Foil. The ribbon is the Copper Grosgrain Ribbon that’s one of the two ribbons in the Basket Weave & Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack. It’s one of the products in the Gilded Autumn Suite of products.  The sentiment is from the Seaside Notions Stamp Set and I die-cut the sentiment layers using the Stitched So Sweetly Die set.

What About Some Alternate Colors?

Just for giggles, I decided I try something with more traditional fall colors. So out came my Pumpkin Pie and Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends. When I colored in the last card, I tried to follow the color pattern in the paper I used in the first card. For this one, I colored any copper-outlined leaves using Pumpkin Pie and gold-outlined leaves using Mango Melody. I think that makes a pleasing layout. And the orange and gold colors really made me think of autumn. So why not make this my first Thanksgiving Card of the year! My accent colors for this card are Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso. I died some of the Whisper White Seam Binding Ribbon with my Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker. I also used Early Espresso Ink to stamp the sentiment from the Banner Year Stamp Set, punched with the Banner Pick a Punch.

Experimenting With Products Is So Much Fun!

I started this project out intending only to make one card, the one where I’d colored in the leaves using the paper set’s colors. But then there was an, “I wonder what they’d look like together,” and a “I wonder what other colors would look like.” So the whole thing got away from me. But I had a blast. I’m already contemplating the next project where there will be some “I wonders”!

Happy stamping – and go have some fun experimenting. FIRST THOUGH, CLICK HERE to check out Cheryl Hamilton’s Blog Post. She’s got her own ideas about how to use this paper set and they’re so much fun!