Hi all! While Laura is out galavanting around the country, I'm here crafting away. I played around with using leaves as stamps and had a lot of luck. I ended up making two cards with the prints, and I'm sharing the first with you today. I used a variety of leaves found just outside my door, but of course I was partial to the grape leaf prints!
Supplies you'll need to make this card:
- leaves - choose ones without many holes in them and that are still green and fairly pliable. If they are dried, they will just crumble as you attempt to use them.
- dye ink - I used Distress Ink in three shades of green and a brown
- sponge
- water spritzer
- white cardstock (cream would work well too)
- newspaper
- optional: sentiment stamp - mine is from TCP
- scratch paper
Step 1
(Please ignore the fact that this is a sassafras leaf - none of my inking photos of the grape leaf turned out very well. The process is the same no matter what leaf you use.)
Turn your leaf so that the underside of the leaf is facing up. Brush off any dirt or fuzziness with a soft cloth or paper towel. Then press your inks onto the leaf in random spots. As a rule I generally work from lightest ink to darkest ink so that I don't contaminate the lighter ink pad with a dark color. Cover the underside of the leaf with ink.
By the way - that strip of cardstock is lightly attached to the leaf to use as a handle of sorts. I can use the 'handle' to pick up the leaf and not mess up any of the ink on the leaf.
Step 2: I don't have a picture of this step, but you'll want to spray a very fine mist of water onto the leaf so the ink colors blend together. Don't spray too much though or you'll lose a lot of the detail of the veins. I held my spritzer bottle about an arms' length away from the leaf and waved the leaf through the mist about three times. Practice on scratch paper to get a feel for how much water to spray.
Step 3:
Lay your leaf ink side down onto white cardstock (you could use watercolor paper for this too, but regular paper will probably be too thin to withstand this technique).
Step 4:
Cover your leaf with a scratch piece of paper and press down firmly all over the leaf, being careful not to move the leaf under the paper. You don't absolutely have to use the scratch paper, but it makes an easier surface to slide your hand around and it keeps your hands slightly less messy.
However, as you can see from my fingernails, you'll probably get at least a little inky. Dye ink washes right off your hands though and in the mean time you'll look very artsy!
Step 5:
Remove your scratch paper and lift up your leaf. Admire how this technique magically turns a sassafras leaf into a grape leaf print! :)
Repeat this process as many times as you would like leaves.
Step 6:
I carefully tore around the edges of my favorite leaf prints, then sponged the edges with brown ink.
Step 7:
Cut a piece of white cardstock to 8.5 X 5.5 inches. Fold this in half to form a card. Then play around with the placement of the leaves on your card.
I decided the white background was a bit too stark, sooooo....
Step 8:
I covered the front of the card with a piece of newspaper. Then I sponged the front with more brown ink.
Step 9:
I wanted to put a little sentiment on the card, so I stamped 'just a note' with one of the green inks onto a scrap of white cardstock, tore around the edges and finally sponged the edges with brown ink.
I attached the sentiment with foam adhesive so it was raised a bit off of the leaves and glued a twine bow onto the card for an extra little detail.
Here's another look at the finished card:
I think this would look great using fall colors too, so let your imagination loose.
I hope I've inspired you to look in your own backyard for crafty materials. If you don't have dye inks (and don't feel like running out to buy a few), never fear! My next Crafty Katie entry will show you a different technique using leaves and paint, so stay tuned. (Which might be tomorrow if Laura is still on the road!)
Happy Trills,
Katie