• Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    If you’re looking for the perfect fall-themed tutorial, this is it! You can use the newly-released Lacy Maple Leaf Illustrations to create this lovely greeting card. For amazing results, send it in a 5.5″ x 5.5″ envelope!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    My personal mantra? Everything looks better with lace! As beautiful as an autumn leaf may be, add a lace illustration, and it really pops. Today, I’m going to show you how to make an amazing fall-themed card! All you’ll need is a printer, some scissors, and glue.

    1. Print Out the Medium Lacy Maple Leaves Illustration

    To make this autumn maple leaf card, start by printing out the Medium Lacy Maple Leaves Illustrations, which you can find by clicking here. I recommend printing it out on 32# laserjet paper, though 70#-80# drawing paper should work just as well!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial
    Note that these illustrations are available for a nominal fee ($4.25). If that’s not in the budget, you can search for an autumn leaf outline and fill it in with your own lacy illustration! You can learn how to draw lace here.

    2. Cut Out One of the Maple Leaves

    After you print out the maple leaves, use a good pair of scissors to create cuts that touch several different points of one of the leaves. Starting out this way makes it easier to cut out the detailed leaf outline!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    Now, get more exact with your cutting!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial
    I love these Studio Carta scissors for making precise cuts in paper!

    3. Trace Around the Maple Leaf Cut Out

    At this point, you’ll want to hunt around your house for an interesting piece of paper. Something that represents an autumn color (orange, yellow, brown) would be ideal! Once you’ve found that piece of paper, use a pencil to trace around your maple leaf cutout on the paper.

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial
    I chose to use a lovely piece of burnt orange handmade paper from a local paperie!

    Once you’ve created the pencil guidelines, cut out this second maple leaf.

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    4. Apply Glue

    For this last step, you’ll apply liquid glue to the stem and bottom of the second leaf!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial
    Be delicate with your glue application; you don’t need very much!

    Then, carefully affix the top (lacy) leaf to the bottom leaf.

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    And voilà! You’ve created a card that’s elegant, beautiful, and perfect for autumn. You can fold the top leaf forward to write a greeting on the second leaf! If you need more space, you can also write on the back of the second leaf.

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial

    Envelopes for This Card

    You can fit your lacy maple leaf autumn card into any A7 envelope, but I think it would be absolutely fantastic in a 5.5″ x 5.5″ envelope! Find a template to DIY this size of envelope in The Letter Writer’s Complete Resource.

    The Letter Writer's Complete Resource: A Guide for Writing Letters | The Postman's Knock
    Note that the maple leaf card will fit in this square envelope diagonally!

    A Quick Word on the Printable Illustrated Lacy Maple Leaves

    The printable illustrated lacy maple leaves featured in this tutorial are an autumn exclusive! They’re fantastic for making garlands, decorating your Thanksgiving table, make fall-themed sketchbook pages and mail art. However, once the season is over, they’ll disappear from the TPK catalog!

    Lacy Maple Leaf Autumn Card Tutorial
    This printable might be an autumn exclusive, but don’t fret: it’s not exclusive to this autumn! You’ll see it pop up again in fall of next year.

    If this tutorial looks faintly familiar, there’s a good reason! It was inspired by the Illustrated Lace Butterfly Card Tutorial. If you’re searching for a less season-specific card tutorial, that’s a great one to check out! I hope that you enjoyed this seasonal tutorial, and that you come up with tons of creative uses for the lacy maple leave illustrations! (I’d love to see them on Instagram!) If you have any questions about this tutorial, don’t hesitate to comment or email me. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!

    Warmly,

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