A few long days at work have kept me from my craft room, but tonight I was able to finish a birthday card I have had in progress for a long-time friend.  Tomorrow I am celebrating Paula's birthday.  Paula was my college roommate - many, many years ago.  It's only coincidental that we both ended up in Central Florida, nearly 1300 miles from where we grew up.  I'm looking forward to seeing her for lunch.

My card uses a new set in the Holiday Mini catalog called Gently Falling.  This is a great 2-step stamping set that produces such beautiful results.  The various leaves in the set can be used for numerous occasions so it can be used well beyond the Fall season.

To give the variegated color in the leaves, I started by inking the leaf in Pool Party and then used a sponge daubers to add Soft Suede and More Mustard ink.  I then stamped the outline image in Soft Suede ink to accent the leaf.  I love the variegated look.  So pretty...

Of course you can't make a card and not stamp the inside so here's a quick peak of my birthday wishes:

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm happy to know that I will have time to stamp over the next few days so be sure to stop by again to see what else I've been up to.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Gently Falling, Tiny Tags, Happiest Birthday Wishes; Ink: Pool Party, Soft Suede and More Mustard; Paper:Pool Party, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Spice Cake DSP; Accessories: Spice Cake buttons, Vintage Trinkets, Crochet ribbon, Choc Chip grosgrain ribbon (ret), Jewelry Tag punch Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and Dazzling Details.