Autumn Blessings

It's time for the monthly Papertrey Ink blog hop!  I've been on a stamping marathon lately, it seems.  It's been so much fun this week!  So the challenge for August is as follows:

This month's inspiration is all about autumn patterns, textures & textiles.  Think warm & cozy woolens, houndstooth, tweed, burlap, felt, corduroy. herringbone and even argyle.  You can create your own custom patterns & textures with stamps or impression plates.  Or you can incorporate actual fabrics, felt, yarn and other textiles in a creative way.  Have fun experimenting and perhaps stepping out of your creative box.

I stumbled across my herringbone embossing folder while making other cards this week and knew immediately that I wanted to use it for this challenge.  It's perfect!  Isn't that texture absolutely luscious?

I pulled out my Leaf Print stamps and dies for this project, since autumn always brings thoughts of colorful foliage.  It's my favorite time of year!  How could I not use them?  The dies made it super easy!

I grouped the leaves together on top of the embossed chocolate layer and then added a strip that was stamped with a different pattern than the embossing.  The combination reminds me of a man's dress shirt and jacket, which fits perfectly with the challenge.  I added more texture by distressing the edges.  So cozy!  Then I just sponged my sentiment mat and added two more leaves on top to frame it.  It came together pretty quickly.  I spent the most time arranging the leaves.  lol

Stamps:  Leaf Prints, First Fruits, Background Basics: Geometrics (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Rustic Cream, Fine Linen, Harvest Gold, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Fine Linen, Harvest Gold, Ripe Avocado, Canyon Clay (Papertrey Ink)
Misc:  Leaf Print dies (Papertrey Ink); Labels 18 die (Spellbinders); Herringbone embossing folder (Cuttlebug); distresser tool