Hello friends, It's mid-week in the beginning of October and we are fully into the fall season. If your like me, you'll have lots of fall photos and memories to document. And you may be swimming in autumn ephemera, papers, and stamps. We thought it would be a great time to share some ideas for incorporating your fall leaf items in your layouts. First up we have this lovely 12x12 design by DT member Melina. "When the thought for this layout came to mind, I envisioned embossing powder but then I remembered our sequin mix that came in the Flannel & Frost kit!" "I first began with a stamp technique called masking. I put a piece of scrap card stock down on my page base and adhered it with a couple of pieces of washi tape. Then I stamped all around that, on and off the scrap paper, turning the leaf stamps from the kit in different directions to make a leaf frame. After removing the scrap card stock, I added some 1/8” Score Tape adhesive just inside the box frame I created. I sprinkled the sequin mix onto that adhesive to get some dimension, pressed that down and shook off the excess." "I decided after adding the picture, die cuts, sticker clusters and enamel dots that the page looked a little too naked. So, I added some more stamping here and there and a few sequin sprinkles with liquid adhesive leaving a void in the bottom left corner for my puffy alpha sticker title." "I love seeing a thought come together on paper!" Lots of great ideas from Melina with this layout. Our next layout is by DT member Audrey and it too is a traditional 12x12 design. "Did you know that Christine includes sketches in the travelers notebook kit? This month I was completely inspired by her AUTUMN COLORS LAYOUT with the whimsical leaves so much that I decided to translate it to a 12x12 layout. I started with a white piece of paper from my stash and the tan plaid paper from the FLANNEL AND FROST kit. Since the paper from the kit is not 12x12, I had to use two sheets. However, this plaid pattern was perfect as it is easy to continue the pattern and you can't see the break in the paper." "After I adhered the plaid paper, I stitched a border around the edge. I used the design rule of 3 for the border, making three whimsical stitches around the whole page. I then stamped a few leaves on the white side of the paper using Distress Oxide Ink from my stash in fall colors. I used each of the stamp leaf patterns with a different color ink. After, I drew a tail in pencil at the end of the stamped leaf and then stamped the outline of the leaf in brown. Finally, I used the brown Le Pen to draw that whimsical dashed line. And when this was complete, erased the pencil." "I then used the leaf puffy stickers to cascade a border down the middle of the page to break up the rigidness of the white and plaid paper. Notice how I have some leaves coming off of the page and also breaking out of the straight line of the border. I intentionally did this to mimic the effect of falling leaves." "To finish this layout, I popped up my photo of Dennis (my dog) playing in the leaves with pop dots from my stash on an angle, over the leaf border and the stamped leaves tail. I then dabbled a few sequins on the page trickling down on the top left and bottom right to break up the negative space." "This layout was a lot of fun and came together rather quickly. Thank you Christine for the inspiration!" An absolutely adorable layout and a great use of the puffy leaves from the Flannel and Frost kits! Autumn sure looks beautiful don't you think? We invite you to share what you are creating with our kits in our private Facebook group or by tagging @cocoa_daisy on social media. Thanks for joining us today! ~Robin