Paper Trees

With the ATC swap that I am hosting this year I have tried to get the themes to match the seasons so that there is lots of topical inspiration around when creating. Following on from my last post about our visit to Sheffield Park and seeing all of the gorgeous, rustling leaves I wanted to get that same feeling in the October cards which have the theme, Autumn Blaze. With the leaves crunching underfoot, they sound quite rustle-y, and I did consider trying to use actual leaves somehow in these cards but decided that it probably wouldn't be lasting as the leaves would disintegrate fairly quickly. 

Instead, I have used papers, trying to get a selection of different textures and colours to create more of an interest. Having considered hand cutting hundreds of little, tiny leaf shapes, I decided instead to take the slightly quicker route of using a hole punch and basically creating paper sequins to stitch down and layer. My only concern is that they might look a little like fish scales? I'm hoping not too much though. 

I have stitched a few single ones part way down the trunks to represent falling leaves, as I had a couple land on me when walking round Sheffield Park, and also a little floor of leaves at the bottom of the card. 

I do really like the fact that the punched circles kind of rustle if you run your hands over them. They are only stitched with one little stitch on one side so they kind of stick up a bit and can be manipulated slightly so there is good fun to be hand with the rustling aspect. One of the papers was also shiny and a little see-through so it is a nice contrast to the heavier handmade papers or the brown and orange sugar papers. 

I know the theme was Autumn Blaze and there is a lot of colour connotation with that but I'm wondering whether I can have too much autumnal colour in one card? I think I'm just going to edge the fabrics that still have visible raw edges, and maybe add some french knots to the leaf litter, but other than that, these are pretty much done!

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with for this swap. The September swap is a little late being sent back out to everyone as we have been waiting for cards to come in around various illnesses and postal strikes delaying things!