Ready to Jump for Joy?

Hi Friends,

Today is a red-letter day for all of us at Foiled Fox!  Laurel Beard and the kind peeps at Lawnscaping Challenge are featuring many of our projects today on their blog. Be sure to go and check it out.  If you haven’t already, subscribe to their newsletter.  You can also have some fun and participate in some of their challenges.  Their blog is always bursting with creative ideas and projects by some very talented folk.

In the meantime, here is a close-up of one of the cards.  Since Fall is nearly upon us who else is better to usher in Autumn than the cuddly forest Lawn Fawn squirrel from the Jump For Joy stamp set.  This adorable squirrel was just achin’ to jump into that big pile of leaves so I had to make it happen.   You just need to move the clear acetate lever at the bottom of the card so Mr. Squirrel gets his wish.

Here he goes….

head first into the giant pile  of leaves.

This card was created using the Lawn Fawn Jump for Joy stamp and die set and the Leafy Tree Backdrop.  All of these sets are from the new Fall release and are filled with all sorts of merriment.

Cutting out the Leafy Tree Backdrop (landscape) was the first step.  This A2 size backdrop really defines the card.  It was cut from the Peanut Butter Heavy Card Stock (also available in the Dark Card Stock, 12 sheet variety pack).  I love this paper.  It’s 100 lb. weight makes for a sturdy base and element.  Included in this die set are cute little leaves.  These leaves were cut from scraps of  the same weight of card stock.  The colors used were Marshmallow Chick (yellow), Circus Peanuts (orange) Peanut Butter Fudge (brown) and Easter Grass (green), but any of your scrap will do.  In fact, you will see I snuck in a few multi-colored ones in there too.  These were cut from a scrap of watercolor paper that I had colored in Autumn colors with Color Bursts for another project.

The background is an A2 size piece of Neenah Solar White card stock (4.25″ x 5.5.”) and was colored with a blending tool and distress ink pads.  I started with the Faded Blue Jeans at the bottom, blended in Broken China,  then finally finished with Tumbled Glass at the top.

The green hill was made from another scrap (a long piece of Neenah Solar White card stock) and colored the same way aas the background with Mowed Lawn distress ink as the base, then blending in bits of Evergreen Bough and Spiced Marmalade to create a mottled look. When the coloring was finished, it was cut with the Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Hillside Borders die set.

The pile of leaves was made by using a single piece of card stock as a base and gluing on a bunch of varied leaves over the top.

Before I forget, the squirrel and rake were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah solar white card stock and cut with the matching dies.  They were colored with Copic markers: E09, E27, E33 and E99

Everything is pretty normal in assembling the card except the lever and interactive part.  I wanted to create an arc so he looked like he was jumping into the pile of leaves with only his wiggly tail showing from the leaves.  That meant I had to cut an acetate circle with an extension on the top and bottom of the center of the circle.  The top extension is for Mr. Squirrel to be mounted on and the bottom one is the lever poking out of the bottom of the card.  After the acetate piece is cut, mount the squirrel on the top and experiment how the squirrel travels to determine where you want the positioning and where to make the arch cut in the blue sky background paper.  The arc was cut with an Exacto knife.  Now, the squirrel (with the circle acetate) was placed on the back of the blue background  and the squirrel was slid through the slot that was cut so he now shows to the front.  To attach him to the blue background, I used a Crop-A-Dile eyelet tool to drive an eyelet through the acetate and the background.  The rivet is down low enough for the hill to cover it.  You could use a brad if you don’t have an eyelet tool.

With the interactive part now done, the start of the assembly is first with the  medium brown card base (6.25″ x 5″ when folded”), attach a 6″ x 4.75″ plaid piece of paper from the Perfectly Plaid Fall Petite Pack to the front of the card, add the blue sky background with the interactive assembly attached.  Then, layer on the hill, then the pile of leaves and finally the Leafy Tree Backdrop.  The last touch was adding the rake, loose leaves and the banner.

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