WLS Oct#1 - Shades of Autumn

Good Morning everyone

The first sunday in October so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme for this month is a nice easy one

SHADES OF AUTUMN

So dig out your stamps and have fun with all the colours of this beautiful season

Long ago in the January sales i bought a fab scarecrow & pumpkin stamp set and a layered leaf stencil both by Studio light which ive used here. Ive used a rich gold pearl card for my base and background and after testing inks decided to use acrylic paints for both the stencilling and stamping as they gave a much crisper image than all my different inks.

After doing the background (see below) I put the panel in my stamp platform and lined up the scarecrow stamp.  Onto a mat i put black and navy blue paint and using a sponge dabbed lightly onto the stamp and stamped, letting it settle for a while to allow the paint to transfer, it did need a 2nd coat to get a nice deep colour to cover the background - so the stamp press ideal here for a second stamp.  I then stamped the birds onto his arms the same way.

I loved how the black and navy paint naturally mixed and gave the effect of light and details in an old scarecrow outfit rather than it being a flat colour.  I added a little more light detail with a pastel yellow posca pen - using a white pen for highlights here would have been too harsh.

I then dug out all my offcuts and snippets of card in autumn colours for stamp the pumpkins on, again stamped with paint. These are shilouette stamps so when i cut them out i cut a border around the edge to help them stand out. I then arranged them around my scarecrow.  

Sentiment stamped onto cream card and die cut, adhered to the top and added one of the little pumpkins to finish.

The rich gold pearl ive used as a subtle leaf pattern already embossed into it which sadly was impossible to pick up in the photos, although you can make it out a bit better here, it is amazing when the light hits it.  It is beautiful and Ive had it years from an old company called 'payper box' where you could pick and mix card

The background.  I stencilled the first layering stencil of the leaves onto the pearl card with acrylic paints in yellow, orange & a little touch of green and the acorn bodies in warm browns.  Once dry i stencilled the next layer of the leaf veins in burgundy, the acorn hats in dark brown and the 'confetti' in a pale green.  You definitely need small detail stencil brushes here as the elements were all quite close to each other on the stencils and a bit fiddly when you have the shakes. 

Items Used:

Studio light stamp set 'pumpkin' #SL-ES-STAMP877

Studio Light Stencil set 'Leaf background' #SL-ES-MASK372

Clearly Besotted sentiment stamp set 'seasonal sentiments'

MFT Xstitch rectangle die

Stitched fishtail banner die

FolkArt Acrylic paints

Rich Gold pearl card (from payper box now closed)

Various coloured card

Posca white pen

We have a fabulous prize this month so do hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning 

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-280-anything-goes-woptional.html

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https://lilredwagon.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-878-autumn-colours.html

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/10/fall-season-october-2026.html

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https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2026/09/autumns-beauty.html

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/09/challenge-859.html

https://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/09/inkspirational-challenge-377-visual.html - pumpkins, leaves & birds