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I've been having so much fun making my own autumn leaf embellishments with a stamped image, watercolor paper, re-inkers, clear UTEE, and a bit of beading wire that I thought I'd share my method with y'all. It's actually just a twist on the cracked glass technique--the glass minus the crack, if you will.
I listed the steps on my upload, but here they are:
1 stamp the leaf image
2 cut out the leaf
3 submerge the leaf in water and crinkle into a ball
4 un-crinkle the leaf & apply re-inkers to super wet paper (I used the backside as I didn't want the stamped border to show.)
5 dry thoroughly in a coffee filter with a heat gun
6 draw faint vein lines with a pencil
7 press leaf onto Versamark pad
8 apply clear UTEE to leaf and heat in a coffee filter
9 quickly apply second coat of UTEE and reheat
10 once cool, go around the outside edge with a goldleaf pen
11 wrap beading wire around leaf and form stem with the ends (I used 24 gauge gold)
That's all there is to it. Hope you have as much fun with it as I did! Let me know what you think.
For steps to a similar technique using vellum, re-inkers with water, & salt see THIS card that I made last year.
__________________
~ Debra
Inspired Creativity Through the Ideas of Others
Last edited by UnderstandBlue; 10-07-2012 at 08:47 AM..
OMG, I have to try this. I bought the Utee and the heating pan and made some flowers, but it was with flowers on paper. I love this idea and definitely will try it. Thanks so much for the directions. Tami
For those who've been asking the obvious question about mailing...
As with most embellishments, this one is fragile and may not hold up well through the mail. I shopped three stores and one USPS looking for those corrugated heavy-duty CD mailers (that I used to see EVERYWHERE) with no luck. This seemed to me a good choice for keeping my leaf from being crushed in transit. As I didn't have one on hand and could not find one anywhere, I improvised and mailed this card in a SU! spot box. It was snug, but it fit and did the trick.
I later found/ordered THESE via Amazon to keep on hand for mailing future cards with super fragile embellishments. An A2 card (5 1/2 x 4 1/4) inside of an invitation-sized envie (4 3/8 x 5 3/4) just fits lengthwise, so be careful with your measurements if you decide to go this route for mailing!
The final cost of these mailers with s/h and tax comes out to about $1.20 each. An insane amount of money for mailing a card, but if I've gone to all the trouble of crafting something like this, I want it to arrive unscathed. Not sure yet what the cost of postage will be. Whoever started the silly rumor that making greeting cards is cheaper than buying them was clearly delusional!
Hope this helps. If y'all have any better/more economical ideas, feel free to share 'em.
PS Shop around. Some places that sell these online are MUCH more expensive than others.
Hmmm...try a cool and beautiful new technique or finish watching Sunday night football with hubby. Honey, do you need anything from downstairs? I'll be "right back." :lol:
Debbie Do's Autumn Leaf Embellishments
