IÂ made this for today’s Technique Challenge (TLC601) hosted by my sweet friend, Karen, over on Splitcoast. The challenge was to take something from the yard and make an impression of it to use on your project.
So….what I learned from trying to run various leaves/flowers thru my Big Shot..
1. English Ivy leaves do not work. At all.
2. Geranium leaves really don’t work much better.
3. Sweet potato vine leaves work too well. They make a mess.
4. Geranium petals work, but they also make a mess & they do not want to release from the paper.
5. Japanese maple leaves work perfectly! But after the mess of #3 & #4, I put everything between paper towels & funny enough, the paper towel impressions look the best! (See comparison below.)
For my card, I used the 110# white c/s impression for the top layer & the larger one done on plain ol’ 24# copy paper. I even found a few Japanese maple leaves that had turned red! Since it has not been cool, I’ll assume it’s from heat stroke. Added a couple of dusty purple layers & a few die cut purple leaves (to cover an unfortunate embossing incident w/ the stitched die), & a greeting.
Here’s a look at the inside.
And here are the side by side comparisons. I’m definitely going to be using the paper towel versions in the future…love how they kept the reds of the leaves.
The leaves on the right are the ones I used for all of these samples above. Only the paper towel & the tissue paper pressings retained the red color. On all the others, the red turned to shades of purple.Â
Below: Â watercolor ppr, textured w/c ppr, 110# white c/s
On the first one, the geranium petals did NOT want to let loose of the paper (the original color is a bright fuchsia..see pic below).The second one, they came off a little better, but I had to really scrub. The maple leaves on plain white c/s came off easily, but the bright red leaves turned purple.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
| Stamps: Serendipity Stamps – All Those Golden, (inside- Autumn is Second Spring) |
| Paper:Â Staples #110 white, dusty purple |
| Ink:Â Â Versafine onyx (Memento elderberry- inside) |
| Accessories: Serendipity Leaves Reverse die, Spellbinders A2 matting basics A & B,  stitched rectangles |
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I love your finished card. I also so appreciate your showing the pix of your variety of results! You make the most beautiful and colorful cards! Love them all.
This is stunning Julie, I love the various trials shots too 🙂
makes me curious what things in my yard would do.
tfs
How interesting that the towel and tissue best retained the colour, that’s a huge difference. I would have expected the watercolour paper to act similarly. I wonder how fugitive the colours will be. Thanks for sharing your experimental photos, Julie, I enjoyed seeing them.
What a fantastic post! Thank you so much for showing the comparisons of the paper and describing your various results. I too tried geranium petals earlier this year as well as marigold petals (it looked like baby poo!). I’ll be hunting for some Japanese Maple leaves – might have to settle for Silver Maple….love the little die cut leaves from the new Leaves Reverse Die – so cute!
What a beautiful card. I enjoyed reading your comparisons. As always you fill us in on all the details which I appreciate. I’d like to try this technique. Your card is so professional looking.
Wow, I just had to come over form SCS and see your examples. Thank you for listing what each type of paper you used, along with details on the leaves. Fabulous work!
This is brilliant Julie, I have been trying different plants and different papers too 🙂 so, this was good info for me. I love the after shot too. ~Stacy