Happy Fall, Y’all! Yes, I know the temps are still crazy high down here in Texas. It is still scorching, but the calendar says that it is officially fall, so I am going with it! In honor of my son’s favorite season, I am going to share a layout super rich in the autumn colors. When I think of fall, my mind immediately thinks of carving pumpkins and rustling leaves. I also think back to when my kids were little and we visited pumpkin patches for photo shoots! Of course, there is so much more to this beautiful time of year, but these are among my favorites!
To do a proper autumn layout, you have to have the right colors! The CutCardStock store is full of the deep colors that will all your fall projects! I used a large pallet, with a heavy focus on the browns, oranges, and golds of the season. I also tossed in some deep reds and purples for a splash of color.
Cutting it All Out
I knew that I wanted to create an autumn wreath to showcase a few special photos. The most efficient way that I have found to get this many leaves in a variety of color is to split my mat. To begin, I cut a 6×6 square of all the colors that I wanted in my wreath. With this many colors, I had to do this more than once, but it was quick. With the perfect leafy cutfile from Peartree, I set my cricut up and let it do all the work!
When all my leaves were cut, it was time to crisp them up! I doused them all with glimmer mist, wadded them up, and let them dry. Once they were dry, I opened them all up, and they were gorgeous! They looked like real fall leaves! Well, as real as I needed them to look anyway! When they were all opened up again, I sprayed a light blanket of chalk colored mist over the top of them all and let it dry. I think that was the WOW factor that they needed! I LOVE these leaves! This photo does not do them justice! Just look at those CCS Gold Glitter leaves and the STUNNING deep red of the Stardream Metallic Mars! WOW WOW WOW!
Assembly Time!
The most difficult part of this whole layout is now complete! DONE! After inking the edges, my leaves were now complete, and ready to be arranged onto my background. I used the Alena collection from 49 & Market, and it didn’t need ANY prep-work at all! The colors are gorgeous, the distressing is perfect, and there just happened to already be a wreath paper included in this collection, so I enhanced it. How easy is that!? I tossed on some leaves just to see if I needed any more than I had already cut. While I did need to cut out a few more leaves, I was ecstatic about how it was going to look!
From this point, it was just a matter of assembly. With the leaves are cut and distressed and the photos chosen,all that was left was the title. Since the title was also a cutfile, I used Curious Metallic Gold Leaf to cut it out. Next, I backed it with Curious Metallic Violette and topped it with Curious Metallic Peacock to pull in the colors from the background paper.
Final Masterpiece
Once it was all assembled, I added in a few more personal touches. One thing I add to all of my layouts is hidden journaling. I like for it to be hidden for several reasons, but mostly because I am SOOOOOO long winded! I knew I would have to be creative with hiding journaling in the center of this wreath. Hmmmmmmmm?
I figured it out! Rather than just placing my photos in the center, I strung some jute and used tiny clips to hang them. By doing this, I eliminated the need to permanently adhere the photos, and I could make them LIFT to reveal the journaling. I could even make the journaling paper that I chose do double duty as the mat for my photos. YES! I loved this!
The journaling is where I struggled with this one. The photos that I had selected for this layout were of my oldest son. He passed away in 2016 and I am just now able to talk about him without choking up, and scrap about him with out tears streaming down my face. This kid is the reason I started scrapbooking and the reason that I still do. He may not be beside me today to look over my shoulder and tell me “Hey Mommy…you’re missing a leaf” (as he is stealing it off of my layout!) but he will forever live in my heart, my memories, and in my albums. I couldn’t bear to leave these beautiful photos of him stuffed in a box any longer. He is Totally Unforgettable, and my albums will ensure that.
Preserve Your Memories!
Thank you for stopping by and looking at my layout today! I hope that I have inspired you to preserve your precious memories and not just toss your photos into a box. I once had a a very bad habit of taking pictures and tossing them into a box and forgetting about them. Now, instead of a box, it is social media. Trust me, after you have passed, no one will want to sit passing a phone around to look at your pictures to reminisce. I urge you all to print those photos and put them in an album!
CutCardStock has the perfect supplies you will need to get you started preserving your memories!
