Concord & 9th has a new release out (August 2024) and my order just came the other day.

I’ve seen SO many beautiful cards with this inlay die on Instagram, but really wanted to do a version in navy blue and a bright yellow green. I added some other shades in between, of course.

Choosing Colors:

• I started with my two main colors, and filled in the color range between those two for the right balance. I wanted Lemongrass to be the bright pop of contrast against the Midnight blue. By shifting most of my other color choices toward the blue side of the greens, that allowed Lemongrass to really be the star and show off the brightness I love it for. (Had I used the more yellow greens instead of the blue-leaning ones, it wouldn’t have been quite as strong. Still would be a good, but a different look.)

Colors Used:

• cardstock: Concord & 9th Lemongrass, Parsley, Clover, Peacock, Midnight. Neenah Solar White.

Techniques:

• By backing the die cut greeting (which is white) with a layer of Midnight (matching the background) it gives an extra boost of visual separation with the leaves without me having to try to use dimensional tape to accomplish that. It is lined up with the white words, but adds a very subtle shadow layer that helps keep the two distinct.

• If you look at the inlay background, you can notice the Visual Triangle created by the main Lemongrass elements on the card, as well as another with the next step down in brightness greens - the Parsley and Clover. Also notice, that I chose these so they’d frame the sentiment.

As I was working on the first card, I realized this Autumn Inlay die would mix well with the Stitched Leaves die from a previous release. They both are leaves, so the shapes work, and they both include some interior leaf lines for the veining, but the biggest factor is that they are so similar in terms of content, but are a different scale. (Scale is one of the design principles/techniques I’ve been pointing out, and this is a great example.)

Techniques:

• This was a very quick and easy card because I just used leaves left from the card above, and added them to an A2 panel cut with the Stitched Leaves cover die.

• I raised the Lemongrass leaf with foam squares to give it extra emphasis, though it also has some simply because it is such a bright and energetic color, and is the only one on the card that is.

• Using metallic gold cardstock plays off the warmth of the background, and adds a layer of interest with the coated shine. I added a few gold enamel dots to carry that through.

• Adding a Mushroom die cut offset from the gold one helps ground that sentiment and offers just a touch of extra detail to this pretty simple card layout.

• You can see the same visual triangle that I pointed out above on this card also, with the leaf placement.

• Enamel dots and the angled position of the leaves add movement and flow to the design.

Colors:

• cardstock: Cayenne, Lemongrass, Midnight, Charcoal

• enamel dots: Concord & 9th Lemongrass, Midnight, and Gold metallic

Thank you for visiting! I hope you get some time to create something soon.

Links are below if you’re interested in any of the products I used.

Supply list*:

(Listed by company, with links to Simon Says Stamp and others. Simon Says Stamp links are affiliate links*.)

*Affiliate links do not cost you any more when you shop, but it is beneficial to creators when you use them, so thanks in advance!