DIY Fall Card Made Easy with a Cute Fox and Falling Leaves

I started this DIY fall card with Freddy the fox, but the falling leaves brought the design together for me. I used the Polkadoodles Apple Barrel Autumn Fall Fox digital stamp and reused two of its leaves around Freddy to add more dimension.

I also ran into a small colour problem. I wanted a warm orange background, but I didn’t have a dark orange Distress Ink, so I experimented with Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry instead. It gave me the warm orange I was looking for, so I could keep my original idea for the card.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I made the background and coloured Freddy with Ohuhu markers. I’ll also show you how I reused parts of the digital stamp.

For this card, I used a kraft card base, an ink-blended background, the Apple Barrel Autumn Fall Fox digital stamp and the Gnome Men Sentiments set.

• Polkadoodles Apple Barrel Autumn Fall Fox digital stamp
• Polkadoodles Gnome Men Sentiments, using the sentiment “Oh happy day”

I also used parts of the fox digital stamp again later in the process. I used the oak leaf and the larger oval leaf as separate elements to create the falling leaves.

• Kraft cardstock for the card base
• White cardstock or paper for the background panel
• Thin kraft paper for the sentiment
• Printer paper suitable for printing the digital stamp and separate leaves

The finished card measures 10.5 × 14.8 cm. I made the card base from kraft paper measuring 21 × 14.8 cm.

The background panel measures 10 × 14.3 cm; this gives a narrow kraft border around it when you attach it to the card base.

If you don’t have kraft cardstock, use another neutral cardstock from your stash. You can do the same with the white panel. And if you don’t want to ink blend, cream or light yellow cardstock would work too.

For the background, I used:

• Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade
• Distress Ink Dried Marigold
• Distress Ink Mustard Seed
• Distress Ink Picked Raspberry

I did not have a dark orange ink, so I used Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry together to create a warm orange shade.

For Freddy’s orange fur:

• Y69
• Y412
• Y213
• YR19
• YR112
• E58

For the white parts of the fox:

• CG01
• YGY02
• YGY17

For the wooden barrel:

• Y55
• YR06
• E46
• E69
• E614

For the oak leaf in the original image:

• R212
• YR112
• Y28
• Y03
• G49
• R612

For the separate leaves, I used these combinations:

• YG415, G410, G49 and YG06
• R514, YR19, G410 and G49
• R514, YR112, YR19, Y28 and G49

For the apples:

• R612
• R513
• R014
• R210
• R15
• YG06

Y

ou can use similar colours from your own collection instead. Alcohol markers from another brand will work too, or you could colour Freddy with coloured pencils or watercolours. I would stick with warm yellow and orange tones, with some rust and red, rather than trying to match every colour exactly.

• Computer
• Microsoft Word
• Printer
• Scissors
• Paper trimmer or other cutting tool
• Scoreboard or other scoring tool
• Foam tape or foam squares

Foam tape works just as well as foam squares here. You just need something that will lift the pieces from the background.

I built this DIY fall card around Freddy, with a kraft base and a warm ink-blended background. I added separate leaves around him and raised some of them with foam tape. I wanted the leaves to add to the scene without making the card feel too busy.

Let’s get started with this fall card tutorial.

Start by cutting a piece of kraft cardstock to 21 × 14.8 cm.

Score the long side at 10.5 cm and fold the cardstock in half. This gives you a vertical card measuring 10.5 × 14.8 cm.

I like making the card base myself because I can choose the colour and size to suit the card. I also used kraft for the sentiment, so the colour comes back at the bottom of the card.

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 10 × 14.3 cm. This smaller panel leaves a narrow kraft border when you attach it to the card base later.

For this fall card, I wanted a warm yellow-to-orange background. The problem was that I didn’t have the darker orange Distress Ink I had imagined using.

Instead, I tried the colours I already had.

Start with Mustard Seed around the edges of the white panel. Add Picked Raspberry over the Mustard Seed and blend the colours.

The two colours create a warm orange when they overlap. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it gave me the colour I needed.

Continue working inwards with Mustard Seed. Add Dried Marigold to soften the transition, then bring Squeezed Lemonade into the centre.

Leave the middle mostly white. Freddy will sit there later, so I wanted a lighter area behind him.

The colour transition I used was:

• Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed
• Mustard Seed
• Dried Marigold
• Squeezed Lemonade
• White

Tip: What if you don’t have the right orange ink?

Try mixing two colours you already have first. A small swatch can tell you whether the combination is worth using on the full panel.

You could also use a pale coloured cardstock instead of ink blending if you prefer a shorter version of this step.

Print the Apple Barrel Autumn Fall Fox digital stamp large enough for Freddy to be the main image on the card.

I printed him fairly large because I wanted the fox, barrel and apples to do most of the work on the card. The image already has plenty going on, so I kept the rest of the card fairly simple.

For Freddy’s orange fur, I used Y69, Y412, Y213, YR19, YR112 and E58.

For the white parts, I used CG01, YGY02 and YGY17.

For the wooden barrel, I used Y55, YR06, E46, E69 and E614. I used the darker browns to give the barrel more depth rather than leaving it as one flat brown shape.

I also coloured the leaves and apples in the original image using several combinations from the list above. I used slightly different colours for the leaves so they didn’t all look the same.

For the apples, I used red shades with a touch of green. The red gives them a little more contrast against the warm background.

Once the colouring was finished, I carefully cut Freddy out as one piece.

I like this part because it lets me get more use from the same digital stamp.

I chose two types of leaves from Freddy’s original image. I used the oak leaf and the larger oval leaf as separate elements to create the falling leaves.

I also looked at the smaller elements in Freddy’s image. The leaves were easy to crop and resize, so I used them again to make the falling leaves.

In Microsoft Word, I cropped these parts from the digital stamp. I resized them to create leaves in different sizes.

Print the leaves and colour them using the same marker combinations you used for the leaves in Freddy’s image. I wanted the loose leaves to connect visually with the image, so I kept the same colour combinations.

Once you have finished colouring, cut out all the leaves.

This gave me another way to use the digital stamp. I could have used the whole image again, but using just the leaves gave me something different to work with.

You can learn more about this technique in my freebie,

I originally considered using a specific autumn sentiment such as “Fall is coming”.

In the end, I chose “Oh happy day” from the Polkadoodles Gnome Men Sentiments set.

I liked the more general sentiment because I can use the card for different occasions. It still works with the autumn colours without making the card specifically about autumn.

Print the sentiment on thin kraft paper and cut it out.

I used kraft for the sentiment too, so it ties back to the card base. I wanted that connection rather than adding another colour at the bottom of the card.

Attach the ink-blended background panel to the kraft card base.

Place Freddy slightly below the centre. I left some space above him for the falling leaves.

Raise Freddy with foam squares or foam tape. Either works for this part. If you don’t have either, layer small pieces of cardstock underneath the image to lift it from the background.

At the bottom of Freddy, add a few of the coloured leaves. This brings the leaves into the main design and keeps Freddy from looking like he is sitting on his own.

Next, place the “Oh happy day” sentiment below Freddy, with part of it overlapping the lower area of the image. Raise the sentiment with foam tape.

At this point, the card has three main layers.

• Background
• Freddy
• Sentiment

Place the remaining leaves across the background.

I didn’t want all the leaves at the same height, so I glued some directly to the background and raised others with small pieces of foam tape. Some sit flat against the background, while others sit higher on the foam tape. You only need a few raised leaves to get the effect.

I also changed the sizes and positions of the leaves so they didn’t look too evenly spaced.

Tip: Keep the focus on Freddy

The leaves help create the autumn feel without taking attention away from Freddy.

For the final detail, I placed one of the leaves on Freddy’s head.

It looks as though one of the falling leaves has landed there. It looks as though one of the falling leaves has landed there, which makes the scene a little more playful.

I didn’t feel the card needed any more embellishments. One small detail can be enough when it connects directly to the image.

Once all the leaves were in place, the card had this basic structure:

• Kraft card base
• White panel with a yellow and orange ink-blended background
• Freddy raised with foam tape
• Loose leaves in different sizes
• Leaves attached at different heights
• Raised sentiment
• One leaf on Freddy’s head

The finished card is quite simple. Freddy stays at the centre, with the falling leaves adding movement around him.

For me, the main lesson was that Freddy didn’t need much more around him. He already has the barrel, apples and leaves in the digital stamp, so I used some of those leaves again to extend the scene.

Adding foam tape to just a few of the leaves was enough to give the card some dimension. The other leaves could stay flat, while Freddy and the sentiment already had their own layers.

Looking at the leaves separately also changed how I saw the digital stamp. Suddenly, I had more options for the card.

This card started with Freddy and the idea of surrounding him with autumn leaves. The background took a little more figuring out because I didn’t have the orange ink I had in mind. In the end, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry gave me what I needed.

You can make this card your own by changing the marker colours or choosing a different sentiment. You could also pick another small element from a digital stamp and use it in a similar way.

This card was made as part of the Polkadoodles Design Team. If you enjoy cardmaking challenges, you can join the Polkadoodles challenges and share your own creation with the community.

The theme is always Anything Goes, so you can make whatever type of project you like. You don’t need to use Polkadoodles products to join, which makes it easy to take part with the supplies you already have.

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Appel Barrel Autumn Fox Digitlal stamp

A cute autumn fox with lots of little details to colour. You can also use individual elements from the image to create extra embellishments for your card.

Make it yours at Polkadoodles

Gnome Men greetings, quotes and sentiment

A versatile sentiment set with greetings and quotes for a variety of handmade cards. I used “Oh happy day” on this autumn card.

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