Love

 Last weekend was my in-law's 44th wedding anniversary!  This is the card I created for them:

I stamped the tree stems first and then the leaf images in both red and orange, stamping a second time without reinking to create the multiple shades.  Then I had the most difficult time creating that vellum sentiment strip!  I first tried heat embossing the black part and then adding in the gold embossed words, but I ended up with a little smattering of extra black embossing powder that just bothered me too much to ignore.  But as each of the gold words is a separate stamp, it was a lot of work to do all the embossing again, plus, it really warps the vellum.  So, I just tried stamping the main sentiment with a nice, dark, crisp black and then embossing the gold words separately.  This time it looked sooooo much better.  BUT, the vellum piece was so warped there was no way to adhere it to the panel and have it look good at all!  Extremely frustrated, I decided to try a trick I learned from someone (Jennifer McQuire, perhaps) and stuck it under a really heavy book and left it overnight (luckily I had started far enough in advance--which isn't always the case!).  The next morning, it was almost perfectly flat!!!!  Yeay!!!  So, I adhered the pale gray fence and strip on the top directly onto the vellum and then added liquid adhesive to the back of those pieces to attach it to the card.  Success!  In the photo below, you can see the sparkle and shine from the gold embossing powder; so pretty!

Supplies:

Stamps: CAS-ual Friday's "Calm and Gentle" tree and leaves; PaperTrey Ink "Inside & Out Love"

Dies: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps fence die

Challenges:

CAS(E) This Sketch #390--sketch

Paper Funday #21-anything goes with the optional twist: autumn/fall

Crafty Gals Corner #211--fall colours

Cuttlebug Mania--anything goes

Crafter's Cafe #251--seasons

Mod Squad Challenge--fall foliage

Double D Challenge--don't fence me in

Aud Sentiments #260--anything goes

YNS #148--Fall Festival

Crafty Friends #145--autumn colours