Hello! It's Sara, from Much Love, Sara. I'm going to confess something to you. I kind of never understood why people thought autumn was so pretty. Where I grew up, we were at just over 6000 ft elevation - in the high mountain desert. In the fall, it would get cold fast, and the leaves would just turn brown (sometimes yellow) and drop. We never got the showy colors that you envision when you think of fall. It wasn't until later years, when I moved away, that I experienced the colors of fall. Now I love the varied tones of the leaves that I can see out my window, and I do find autumn beautiful.
When I first saw the Leaves Die series in this month's release, I knew I wanted to recreate those fun fall tones in a card. I began the card by making a GIANT mess - and it was super fun! I taped an entire 9" x 12" sheet of watercolor paper to my work surface, and then used a combo of yellow, orange, burgundy, green, and brown water colors to paint the surface (using the wet on wet technique). To keep the colors slightly more cohesive, when I die cut the leaves, I painted the colors on in a gradient style.
As the panel slightly dried, but was still damp, I loaded up my watercolor brush, and flicked color over the top. I allowed the panel to dry - and cleaned up my messy desk - before moving on to the next step.
Once the panel was fully dry (it's important it's fully dry, or your die cuts will have fuzzy edges), I die cut out leaves from the watercolor piece. I cut the Oak Leaves Dies in more of the orange/red tones, the Maple Leaves Dies in the more yellow/orange tones, and the Ash Leaves Dies in the yellow/green tones. Then I cut a few more of the leaves from both Gold Mirror paper, and Vellum.
I adhered the leaves to a panel of woodgrain card stock, using liquid adhesive. I made sure to apply my adhesive at the stem portion of the leaves, so that I had the ability to tuck additional leaves in, as well as part of my sentiment strip. Once the leaves were all attached, I trimmed the overhanging portions from the side of the panel.
On a strip of dark brown card stock, I stamped the sentiment from the A World of Octobers Stamp Set in Versamark Ink, and then heat set it in gold. I trimmed the left edge of the sentiment strip at an angle, and then adhered it to the card front, tucking it under a few of the leaves. I attached the panel to a white card base, and then adhered a few Bourban Maple Splash Sequins to complete the card.
I hope you enjoyed the card today. These leaves dies are absolutely stunning, and a must have in my opinion!
Much Love,