Real Leaves Stamping

 

Hello, welcome to my blog!! 

I want to start out by thanking everyone for the support and nice comments you all leave for me. I truly appreciate the support of this blog!! I enjoy card making and bringing my creations to you, this wouldn't be possible without your support, so again, thank you!!!

Today I have something fun for you! This is a technique I learned from watching a video from Gina K. a couple of years ago. You can watch that video by clicking HERE. We live on a lake in northern Minnesota and have many different kinds of trees with leaves of every size which makes this technique so fun!! I will detail the steps and pictures of my first card explaining the technique. For the other two cards, I will explain what I did to complete each card as the technique for the stamping is the same. I will be using Distress Oxide Ink to ink up my leaves, mist them with water then press them onto watercolor cardstock. This is such a fun technique, let me just warn you right now that it is hard to stop, you will want to stamp "just one more"! I kept my cards very simple, mostly just adding a sentiment as I wanted to highlight the technique. Let's get started!!

I will be doing all of my work today on my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat.

To start, I cut a couple of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panels and one 5" x 5" panel out of watercolor cardstock using my Tim Holtz Guillotine Paper Trimmer. I went outdoors and collected several different sizes and types of leaves, I picked many more than the picture shows! It's best to pick them from the tree so they are fresh, not dry and crumbly. For my first card I chose a bigger maple leaf. I will be inking the back side of the leaves as this is where there is the most detail with the veins. I will be using several colors of ink and like to start with the lightest color first. I start by inking the back side of the leaf using Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink, pressing the corner or edge of the ink pad onto the leaf. I then add Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Ink, pressing the corner or edge of the ink pad randomly onto the leaf, adding a bit of ink to the stem as well. I then add Fired Brick Distress Oxide Ink, Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink and Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide Ink. *I don't ink the entire leaf, I just press ink onto it here and there. Once the leaf is misted with water the colors will spread a bit. 

Next, I take my Distress Sprayer filled with clean water and lightly mist the back side of my leaf, spraying 2 - 3 times. You want the color to bead up a little but not too much. I then take one of my 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panels and place it over the top of my inked leaf so that the leaf is coming out of the top at an angle. I hold the panel down with one hand then press and rub all over the leaf with my other hand. I then carefully peel the leaf from the panel and let dry for a few minutes.

Once my panel is dry I take the biggest stitched die from the Master Layouts 2 Die Set and adhere over my panel using Purple Tape. I then run them through my Big Shot Die Cut Machine.

To add a little interest to my panel, I press Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide Ink and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink onto the white area of my Glass Mat. I add a little water to the ink and pick up with a small paintbrush and spatter over my panel and let dry for a few minutes.

To create a sentiment for my panel, I cut a 1 1/2" x 5 1/4" strip out of Vellum using my Guillotine Paper Trimmer. I then place it into my MISTI Stamp Positioner and prep using my Anti Static Powder Bag. I then line up two greetings, both from The Best Flowers Stamp Set and stamp them using Amalgam Obsidian Ink. I add Black Embossing Powder and heat with my Heat Tool.

I add some Adhesive Dot Runner to the back lower sides of my leaf panel. I then center my sentiment over the lower front side and bend the ends of the vellum around to the back of the panel, securing onto the adhesive. Using the biggest die from the Master Layouts 2 Die Set I cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock, running them through my Big Shot. I use Terrific Tape, making sure to add over the vellum and adhere the two panels together.

I place a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Plum Punch Cardstock into my Scor Buddy and score at 4 1/4" creating a side folding card base. I add Foam Tape to the back of my panel and mount it onto the card base and this completes my card.

For my next card I ink my leaves with the same process, using Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink, Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Ink, Fired Brick Distress Oxide Ink, Candied Apple Distress Oxide Ink and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink. I spray with water then place towards the corner of my 5" x 5" square panel and cover with a scrap piece of paper, rubbing my fingers over the leaf and stem. I spray my next leaf and place next to the previous leaf overlapping a bit, I place a piece of scrap paper over the leaf and rub my fingers over the leaf and stem. I repeat this process with each leaf until my panel is filled. *I like to ink up all of my leaves at once then mist them one at a time as I use them. It's okay if the ink dries a bit as once the water is added it will reactivate the ink.

To turn this panel into a card, I trim my panel down to 4 3/4" x 4 3/4". I then cut out of Black Onyx Cardstock a piece slightly bigger than the panel and adhere to the leaf panel using Terrific Tape. I then adhere onto a 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" Jelly Bean Green Cardstock card base using Terrific Tape. I stamp a sentiment from the Fancy Greetings Stamp Set using Amalgam Obsidian Ink onto a piece of watercolor cardstock. I then take the medium size die from the Single Stitched Circles Die Set and cut out my sentiment, running them through my Big Shot. I add Foam Tape to the back of my sentiment and mount onto the center of the card front and this completes my second card.

For my last card I ink up a cluster of three leaves using Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink, Peeled Paint Distressed Oxide Ink, Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Ink, Candied Apple Distress Oxide Ink and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink. I follow the same process, spraying with water then laying over my watercolor panel covering with a scrap piece of paper and rubbing over the leaves with my fingers. I take the second biggest die from the Master Layouts 1 Die Set and cut out of my leaf panel, running them through my Big Shot. I stamp a sentiment from the Natural Silhouettes Stamp Set onto the front of the panel using Amalgam Obsidian Ink. I then cut out of Edible Eggplant Cardstock using the biggest die from the Master Layouts 1 Die set, running them through my Big Shot. i use Terrific Tape to layer the two panels together. I add Foam Tape to the back of the panels and mount onto a White Cardstock card base and this finishes my third and final card.

I hope you enjoyed today's card project. Gina sure came up with a great technique using real leaves for stamping! Using Oxide Inks gives such a unique look to these leaves. With so many color choices the combinations are endless! I love the way the inks react when misted with water, the oxidation really gives these leaves a fantastic look!!

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Happy Stamping and God bless!!

Jeannie