Textured Thanksgiving Card

 The newest Challenge over at CREATIVE CUTTING CHALLENGE is "Thanksgiving".  I wanted my DT piece to have a ''crispy, leafy look".  Does that make sense?  All I know is that living in the woods in northern Michigan, I have a LOT of colored, dried leaves on the ground and I love their texture and how they get crinkly and delicate.  I tried to reproducer this feeling in my Thanksgiving card.  Here's how I created it:

1. I used kraft cardstock as the base.  Using a mesh background stamp (Unity Stamp Co.), I stamped all over the front of the card using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I blended Walnut Stain DI around the edges.
2. I cut the designer paper (Reminisce "Autumn Harvest") using a file from Arty Accents.  I sized it to fill the front of the card and once cut, I blended Walnut Stain DI all around the edges.  I attached it to the card front with a glue stick.
3. I cut three leaves from kraft cardstock using the maple leaf file from the Fall Leaves set.  Each leaf was embossed with a different embossing folder and then colored with Distress Inks (Forest Moss & Shabby Shutters, Aged Mahogany & Tattered Rose, Rusty Hinge & Dried Marigold).  Then each leaf had Distress Photo and Walnut Stain DI blended around the edges.
4. Using a ruler and stylus, I added veins to the leaves so that I had a place to bend and shape them.  The two bottom leaves were attached to the card using a tape gun down the middle.  The rest of the leaf was attached with a glue dot after I bent and shaped the ends.  (It's hard to show this in the photo)  The top card was attached with foam tape to lift it up from the other two.  A jute ribbon was added with a glue dot.
5. I stamped the sentiment with Archival Ink (Sepia) on a scrap piece of kraft.  The faux stitching was added with a brown LePen.  I cut the edge to make a banner and then attached it with foam tape.
6. I also used the same Distress Ink colors to stamp a border of leaves along the kraft envelope flap.

Here's another look.  Hope you will join us and check out all the great Design Team Thanksgiving inspiration over at CREATIVE CUTTING CHALLENGE.  If you are an electronic cutter who uses SVG or similar files, I hope you'll join in the challenge....we want to see your creations and you just might become a winner!
Entered into the following Challenges:
OPUS GLUEI--#169 THANKS VERY MUCH
HIDING IN MY CRAFT ROOM--FALL COLORS
MARK'S FINEST PAPERS--ORANGE & BROWN
CARD MAKIN MAMAS--#76 THANKFUL TIDINGS
CRAFTITUDE--#52 USE TWINE OR STRING
CRAFTY HANDS--ANYTHING GOES
CUT IT UP--THANKSGIVING
FRILLY AND FUNKIE--THANKSGIVING
SIMON SAYS STAMP WED--ANYTHING GOES
CUTTLEBUG MANIA--AUTUMN
DIE CUTTING DIVAS--#139 ANYTHING GOES
JUST INSPIRATIONAL--AUTUMN FALL COLOURS