I showed you some really cool, real-looking leaves that Sandi Dailey shared with us at Creative Convention last month, and I've had several people asking for more details on how to make them. They are really easy…and definitely Too Cool!
If you're a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, you probably recognize this! It's the packing paper that comes in our Stampin' Up! shipments and it makes AWESOME leaves! If you don't have this, you can use a thin weight kraft or butcher paper, or even a lightweight brown bag (not the heavy grocery store ones, the thinner kind).
You can run several layers of this paper through the Big Shot, so I folded my packing paper back and forth about 8 times, then ran it through with the Autumn Accents Die. You can crank out lots of leaves very quickly like this!
Now, we're going to color the leaves to make them all Fall-like! I started by sponging on some More Mustard ink randomly over the entire leaf.
Next, I sponged on Cajun Craze ink, mostly around the edges.
Then, I crumpled up the leaf and pushed it onto the top of a Crumb Cake Firm-Foam Ink Pad. If I remember right, Sandi was using Early Espresso but it was one of the old felt ink pads. That dark of color will look fine with the old pads, but the new ones have way too much juice and it ruins the effect. I liked the results better when I used the lighter Crumb Cake Ink with the Firm-Foam Pads.
Click on photo to see the details better!
For the last step, I added some Shimmer Mist Spray (made from Champagne Shimmer Mist Paint and rubbing alcohol mixture) with my Stampin' Spritzer.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat…
…and you'll have a whole pile of autumn leaves to use on projects or scattered around a table as decorations.
Wow! I love how they look so realistic! Well…kinda realistic…
I decided to see just how realistic they were, so I gathered up some of the leaves that I didn't mow over today and took a photo. Most of the real ones were still very yellow, but there were some fun red and green ones, too.
I should have gathered these beforehand and used them as a color reference! I definitely could have added more color and I think the key is actually adding more distressing to them. Next time I'll crinkle and tear the edges and dip the edges in darker ink. I could even add some flecks with the Color Spritzer! That would be perfect!
Still, I think they turned out great and they look awesome on the projects I was making them for…you'll see those tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Angie
love it!
I can’t believe how realistic these look! I’m always looking for new arts and crafts projects to do with my kids. Now that fall is here we have done some leaf collection and have been using them for different projects. It should be interesting to see how realistic our fake leaves look like compared to all the real ones we have lying around the house!