Leaves

Good afternoon, and welcome on a lovely Sunday afternoon. The road trip yesterday was loads of fun. Long day though. We drove to Betty's Scrapbook Room in Greensboro, NC, and by wonderful chance, Betty had decided to run a sale that day. Oh Ho! Spent a delightful few hours there, left with many bags of goodies. Yes, DH was able to enjoy his turkey BBQ sandwich. Betty was kind enough to provide us the address of The Enchanted Cottage, in Lewisville, NC, about 30 minutes away from her store. Since we had never visited there, and it was still early afternoon, off we go. Our caravanning friends had decided they didn't want BBQ, so they stopped at a Wendy's along the way, and we met up with them later at the Enchanted Cottage. More shopping was done. Oh my goodness, I can't do that again soon!!!

Here's a card I had been working on, got finished last evening. Hope you will like it.

- Image was Impression Obsession CC067, Maple Leaves. Stamped on a previously created background with Versamark, used a Copper EP then heat embossed.

- background had been created using diluted Dylusions sprays in green, with a silk maple leaf as a mask. Decided to take some Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon & Wild Honey to sponge around  because I wanted the copper leaves to show really well. Didn't know how the copper would look against the yellow greens of the Dylusions sprays. You can still see just a glow from the green sprays in a few places. The orange colors look very rich against the copper leaves IRL.

- The embellishment leaves were created from salvaging Dr. Pepper soda cans. Using a sharp utility knife (like in your DH's workshop!) make a cut just under the rim of the can (sort of at the 'hip' of the can), then around the bottom to release the center part of the can. Then you can slice this metal so that it is an open piece. No, it won't lay flat! Be careful as the edges are sharp. So far, nobody at our house has cut himself doing this. LOL! Then I used a leaf die on the Big Shot to cut out the maple leaf in a couple of sizes, and this other leaf (not sure what it is). Used alcohol inks in rusts, yellows, some greens, butterscotch colors to color on the silvery side of the metal. I just experimented with the different inks in an attempt to recreate the look of fall leaves. Once there was a base coat, I even put some drops of ink directly on the leaf instead of just using the applicator, then added more colors to smudge. I really like the look of this technique. Another evening I took some Viva Décor Inca Gold to smudge around for more sparkle.

I had bought a set of these tiny pots at a stamp show a few years back. Forgot I had them, then when I rediscovered them, a lot of the ink has dried to a powder. Most disappointing. I talked to Betty   about this yesterday, and she explained that the company's formula has changed since then. I had tried rehydrating with some water, but it's not doing any good. Now the product comes in a much larger container, but is not as prone to dry out. However, I'd never use such a large amount of this stuff, so I'll see if I can go in with a friend & divide up the container into a smaller container. The small size that was in the kit would be a more useful size- in my opinion - BUT not if they are all dried out before you use them. I'm not dissing this product, just letting you know my experience with it. It does give a beautiful effect if it works like it should. I do like the Viva Décor products, just not happy with this particular purchase.

-Turquoise frame cut with a S/binder from a small pack of Coordinations paper.

-Elizabeth Craft sentiment die cut from a trim piece of the main background.

So that's it from me this afternoon. Hope you are enjoying whatever it is, that you are doing today. It's quiet here, and I'm doing bed linen laundry that should have been done yesterday. Thanks for the visit and many Hugs.