LEAVES

(OOPS! I did this card thinking it was for C4C3 and it is for the C4C4 Challenge using Cindy Haffners layout. So mine will be out of order for a little while but HEY, I am just learning! Maybe my DH can help me figure out how to move it when I get C4C3 finished and posted. We figured it out and it is NOW in the right order. )

For C4C4, I decided to do something with leaves and fall colors. I went to my local JoAnns and Archivers and found two different papers with leaf prints. I picked the brighter one with yellows, reds, and orange.

My base card is white, with chocolate as my first mat. (I have to admit here that I am not a lover of brown...I don't wear it and don't use the color in my art very often. But this is the third card in a row where I have used brown and they all seem to require brown as a mat. So guess who has to go back to the store for more brown CS? : ) I then added a layer of Bazzill Imperial yellow that has a rough woven texture and used my corner rounder on the upper right corner only of the brown and yellow.

I took the leaf paper which was cut to fit over the mats and I tore off the upper right section, using the leaves as my line so that they would look natural and like they had just fallen onto the card. Because I always make two cards using the same design (one to keep and one to give), I realized with the second card the "hole" left when I tore away part of the leaves would be different from card to card. But they both are acceptable and I proceeded. I adhered the brown mat, the yellow mat and leaves to the base and then added a narrow strip of the Bazzill woven CS in a color called Roasted Pepper. (LOL, reading the names of the colors sometimes makes me hungry!) I used my Cropodile to punch a hole through the strip and other layers and added a brad from the new Basic Grey Indian Summer collection. It is a nice deep rust color. I had saved the torn out leaves and you may not see it too well but adhered them in the lower right corner. I took a little artistic liberty instead of making it square like the sketch from Cindy Haffner. With everything adhered to the base, I felt it needed something, and pulled out some fall colored eyelash yarn from Cello called Sensations that I picked up at Wal-Mart when they were cleaning house and discontinuing a bunch of craft items.

The saying is part of a stamp from Hero Arts and stamped in Momento black. I did not use the small leaves that were above and below the words on the stamp as I felt it detracted from the whole. The line near the saying is a stray fiber from the yarn. I didn't see it when I took the photo and I apologize for my camera skills. They are minimal at best. I have included a picture of my second card also so that you can see the subtle difference between. I believe in keeping cards simple, using the "negative space" design element to advantage and letting the paper give "direction" for what goes with it. I was a school teacher and did a lot of bulletin boards and posters in my day, and I feel leading the eye to the message or image is what my cards are trying to accomplish, not cluttering the card up so much that the eye doesn't know where to look first. I guess you can call this my "philosophy" of design.

Come along and see what you can do with this layout. Enjoy!