Concord & 9th Feature Friday + GIVEAWAY

Good morning!  I cannot believe that August has flown by so quickly!  It has been an absolute joy to create with Concord and 9th this month!  Today is my final Feature Friday post, but the fun news is that Concord and 9th has been kind enough to offer a $25 gift certificate to GIVEAWAY to my readers.  Just click on over to my Instagram account to get entered in to win.  

Today we are featuring two fabulous bundles: Autumn Hues and Freshly Picked.  They are easy and fun to create with and made me all excited for fall.  My cards started with a color palette that I absolutely adore: Midnight, Stardust, Sorbet, Peacock, and Wheat.

I pulled out all of the larger stitched leaf dies and cut each leaf with one color of cardstock and then began arranging them on my background.  

As it happens so often, once I finished the background, I loved it so much that I did not want to cover it up. ;) So I hemmed and hawed with how to finish my card.

Included in the Autumn Hues Dies is a great banner that coordinates with several sentiments in the Autumn Hues Stamp Set.  With a little snip on one end, I turned the banner into a tag and then punched a hole so I could thread it through some twine.  

I used two sentiments in the Autumn Hues Stamp Set, selectively inking just "thankful" on one of them and embossed them in white on Midnight and Wheat cardstock.  Because I like my bows to hang just so, I added a tiny bit of glue behind the bow tails in a few spots, so they lay exactly how I put them.  

I also think it is worth mentioning that the Autumn Hues Bundle also includes the fabulous Autumn Hues Turnabout Stencil Pack, making creating leaf backgrounds and a circle leaf wreath a cinch.  I didn't use it on this card, but you'll definitely see it in the future. 

Okay, my next card uses the Freshly Picked Bundle.  This bundle is loads of fun and includes lots of options to fill the cute basket.  Plus, it has an interactive element that is brilliantly designed.  I used the same color palette as my previous card, but I expanded it by adding Grapefruit and Evergreen.

I looked through the Freshly Picked Dies and chose to fill my basket with pumpkins (which are actually the apple die cut with an oval die added to the center).  They include stems facing both directions, which I always appreciate.

After die cutting a whole bunch of pumpkins, I started on my Peacock colored basket.  The basket is made of five dies plus two handle options, but I promise they are cinch to put together.  The solid and stitched front layers line up easily and they get adhered to the back of the basket.  They even include gluing guides for you, which are especially helpful if you want to include the interactive element.  You can stop with just these three pieces (it looks cute just as is), or you can add the two basket bands and pick your handles.  I chose the short handle and cut it out of a metallic silver cardstock.  

Next, I added the sign and a sentiment from the Freshly Picked Stamp Set stamped with Midnight Ink.  They have several sentiments in this set that coordinate with the different filler options.  

Now here comes the really fun part.  Do you see that little pumpkin in the middle with "pick me" stamped on it?  When you pull it up, it reveals a second sentiment.  

Isn't that adorable?  The track they created to help this slide smoothly is absolutely brilliant and they even have gluing guides embossed into the die cut itself as I mentioned before.  The whole process is very user friendly. 

Then it all tucks right back in.  This makes me smile so much!  Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention...the background!  I chose to use Midnight  as a striking contrast. (I know what you are thinking...who am I am? And where is the typical white background? Haha.)  :) And I used the beautiful Quilted Card Front Die, a previously released favorite of mine.  

This was a long post!  Thanks for sticking with me!  Now, make sure you head on over to my Instagram account, so you can get entered in to with the Concord & 9th gift certificate.  Each designer has one up for grabs, so you have several chances to win.  :)