I’m continuing on with the ways to use a leaf image week here on my blog.  Why Leaf week, because I can, lol.  No, really I love leaf/nature images.  There is something comforting and peaceful about an image of a leaf.  At least that is how I view them.  🙂  They shouldn’t just be used for fall cards, as I have been so very guilty of in the past.  This creation ended up looking masculine to me, which is a plus in my world, since I’m surround by men.

The images used today are from Innovative Stamp Creations.  Here is a link to their online store:  http://www.innovativestampcreations.com/ischomepage.html

I also made this card, but I don’t have a tutorial for it.  My camera battery died after the first shot when I was making it.  I would probably be willing to recreate it, but only if there is enough interest in the tutorial.  So if you are interested in the tutorial, please leave a comment on this post or if you are getting this by e-mail click on this link to leave a comment.  http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/06/23/isc-wood-and-leaf-tutorial/

Let’s get started on the tutorial.  🙂

Supplies:

Stamps:  Innovative Stamp Creations “Wood Grain” & Fall Leaves

Paper:  SU Whisper White, Basic Black, Blush Blossom & Really Rust

Ink:  Palette Noir Black, SU Basic Black & Handsome Hunter, Adirondack Peach Bellini & Ginger

Assessories:  Prismacolor Markers Forest Green & Spearmint, Brayer, Versamark Marker, Clear embossing Powder, heat gun, Sponges, Brads, ticket corner punch, Piercing tools, White Gel pen, Grunge board hinges.

Stamped leaf on Whisper White card stock with Palette Noir Black ink. 

Note:  I used this ink because I am going to color the image with solvent based markers and the Palette ink will not smear with this medium.

Colored the leaf image in with a Prismacolor Spearmint marker.

Colored part of the leaf with a Prismacolor Forest Green marker.

Colored over the entire image again with the Spearmint marker to soften and blend the colors together.

Added a bit more Forest green at the bottom of the leaf.    I love these solvent based Prismacolor markers because, just like I’ve shown here with just two markers, you can layer the colors to get a whole lot of variation in shading.  Fun huh?

Colored over the entire image with a Versamark marker and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Brayered over the entire card stock with Peach Bellini ink.

Brayered Ginger ink on the right side of the card stock.

Using a large unmounted stamp, such as this Wood Grain stamp, is so very easy.  I just put them on my work surface face side up.  Ink them by swiping my ink pad across the top.  Put my card stock face down on the rubber stamp.  Put a scrap piece of paper over it and rub it with my hand to transfer the image onto the card stock.

Note:  After inking the wood grain stamp, I used a sponge and swiped from top to bottom on the rubber stamp to get more of a stripe in the wood image.

Sponged Basic Black ink heavily at the Right side of the card stock.

Sponged a little Handsome Hunter ink at the left side of the black ink to soften the black edge.

Sponged Ginger ink at the bottom of the leaf image to create a shadow.

Outlined the top of the leaf image with a white gel pen to add some highlight.

I got this Grunge board by Tim Holtz from Innovative Stamp Creations and decided to give it a try today.  First of all, this is not like chip board it is so flexible.  I was amazed at how it took ink too.  I inked my hinge pieces with basic black ink.

Used a ticket corner punch on the corners of my main image panel.

Assembled the card and pierced along the top, bottom and left side of the Really Rust Panel with my piercing tools.

Here is my finished card measuring 5″ x 6.5″.

Thanks for hanging out with me today while I continue on with my Leaf excursion.  Hopefully, you will start to see leaves in a whole new light too.

May your day be filled with the tinkling sound of  Aspen leaves.

Until my next post. . . . . . .

Michelle