Easy Ink-Swipe Technique | DIY Autumn Cards with Stamping & Die Cutting

Hi friends!

Today I’m sharing a batch of autumn-themed cards I recently created for my customers and team members. There’s just something about cozy fall colours – warm oranges, golden yellows, deep reds, and earthy greens – that makes cardmaking this time of year extra special. As sad as I am that summer is nearly over, Autumn has always been my favourite season!

I began with simple stamping using the Autumn Trees stamp set. On Very Vanilla cardstock, I stamped the big tree images with Pecan Pie, Old Olive, and Mossy Meadow inks. Even with just these basics, the cards already had such a warm, rustic look:

To take my cards up a notch, I pulled out my die cutting machine and grabbed the leaf die from the Autumn Trees Bundle. I started cutting leaves from some scrap pieces of Full of Life Designer Series Paper that happened to be sitting on my desk. Rather than using the entire die cut, I snipped it apart and added just a few leaves here and there on my cards. That’s when it hit me – this process was too fun not to share! I set up my camera, pressed record, and away I went. You could say I was “warmed up” at that point, and my creative juices were really flowing! LOL

Instead of using DSP, I now wanted to create my own background paper for my die cuts and I used a fun little trick called the ink-swipe technique: simply swipe Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, and Old Olive inks directly across cardstock. Once die cut, the leaves look beautifully blended and were perfect for my autumn themed cards!

For my next card, I decided to pull in an embossing folder, the tree dies, add some gold embossing to the leaves and additional die-cut accents like the deer:

To colour the deer die cut I used Crumb Cake with my water painters and Stampin’ Write markers to add detail for eyes, nose and for their hooves. I also used my Pecan Pie, Early Espresso and Mossy Meadow markers to colour the bullrushes. A little bit of white gel pen was used to add spots on the fawn, their tails and some highlights here and there.

In my video, I also mentioned that Stampin’ Up! is discontinuing their Stampin’ Write Markers. Personally, I LOVE using my Stampin’ Write (water-based) markers for stamping. While alcohol markers are wonderful (and I use those too), I love the versatility of water-based markers. I’m curious – what about you? Do you still use Stampin’ Write markers? Let me know!

You can watch how I made these cards here:

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I hope these cards inspire you to pull out your stamps, inks and paper and create some cozy autumn cards and projects too! Don’t forget – if you’d like my FREE tutorials and sentiment sheets, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter by clicking on the button below:

Have a wonderful weekend and HAPPY STAMPING!