Elizabeth Craft Designs General Els van de Burgt Studio Joset Designs ModaScrap

Leaves of Gold – Layout and Card by Riikka

August 6, 2017

 

Hello everyone! How are you? Can you believe it’s August already? Luckily it’s only the start so it still feels like summer, but autumn will soon be slowly creeping in. Not that I have a problem with that. I rather like the beginning of the autumn with the long, warm evenings and the golden light that makes the pine trees appear to be deep red. And the leaves, the colorful leaves that start to turn to red, orange, yellow and gold and then rustle under your step. A wonderful time!

This time I did a layout to celebrate autumn and a card using the same techniques. Add a dandle or two to turn it into a birthday card, or send it just to make someone’s day, no special occasion needed!

Let’s get started with the tutorial so you can make your own golden leaves to greet autumn!

Step 1. Apply clear gesso to your background. You can also use white gesso but remember that it changes the color of your background! Use a silicone brush or a palette knife to make an even coat on the paper. Air dry or use a heat tool to speed the drying process.

Step 2.  Choose a couple of autumn-like alcohol ink colors and add them to the paper. Use an applicator tool if you feel more comfortable that way, or drop the inks directly onto the surface. (That’s what I did.) The gesso layer prevents the inks from soaking into the paper and keeps the colors relatively vibrant.

Step 3. Mask the edge of the inked area slightly with some stenciling. Choose an ink in a color that coordinates with the rest of the project and apply ink through the stencil.

Step 4. Add some golden glimmer to the page. Sprinkle grains of coarse gold embossing powder to the page and heat from underneath to melt the powder. The key is to melt from underneath, otherwise the heat tool will blow the grains away.

Step 5. Randomly and unevenly stamp onto the background, adding some visual texture to the page. Use one of the sayings from the stamp set and then just stamp it multiple times. Don’t worry about being precise – the idea is to create texture and the words don’t need to be readable – overlap and layer them as shown.

Step 6. Die cut the Honeycomb from two materials, brick color cardstock for the outlines, pages from an old dictionary or other discarded book page for the hexagons. Tip: For sturdier hexagons, back the page with white cardstock before die cutting.

Step 7. Mix some patterned papers and corrugated cardboard and make layers behind the photo. (Through The Lens – Wood works well with the ModaScrap Grand Canyon dot patterns.) Add some thread and twine as well. Use a stapler to attach the paper layers to each other. Add the photo on top, using foam dots for dimension. Adhere the cluster to the page using Kids Choice Glue.

Step 8. Make some golden leaves to embellish the page. Using the Pair of Leaves 2 die set, cut some leaves out of cardstock and double emboss them using gold embossing powder. (Double embossing meaning you coat them with embossing powder, melt the powder and then repeat. This creates a a fluffier look and lots more dimension than a single layer.) Attach the leaves with staples or glue.

Step 9. Make the title using the alphabet die and kraft brown cardstock. Adhere to the page. Use a gold pen to color the word “gold”.

Step 10. To finish the layout, use the Circle Background die to cut a thin sheet of cork, backed with Clear Double Sided Adhesive Sheet prior to cutting. Sprinkle some of the circles onto the page. Save the background and leftover circles for other projects.

Like always, you can use the same steps to make a card or other kind of project, not just a layout. Below is a card done with the same steps and techniques – the alcohol ink background, stenciling, stamping, honeycomb, hexagons, and cork circles. And there is a golden leaf as the focal point.

There you have it – a layout and a card to celebrate the beginning of autumn! Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you like the projects and find them interesting.

Psst…Don’t tell anyone, but even though I love the golden leaves my favorite thing in these projects are the cork circles! They are so fun. Until next time, maybe I’ll play with the cork some more.

  

Supplies:

Elizabeth Craft Designs:


Other:

Heat tool

Prima Marketing: Clear Gesso

Ranger: Alcohol inks in Terracotta, Watermelon, Sunshine Yellow

Ranger: Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade

Ranger: Archival Ink in Jet Black

Wow Embossing Powder: Metallic Rich Gold Ultra High and Regular

Wow Embossing Powder: Embossing Ink

A Flair for Buttons: Vintage Butterfly flair set

Book pages

Corrugated cardboard

Kraft cardstock

Twine and thread

Cork sheet

Gold glitter gel pen

Pencil

Foam dots

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  • Kirsty Vittetoe August 7, 2017 at 3:00 pm

    Wow, what a gorgeous layout!

  • Bethann d August 6, 2017 at 10:04 am

    This is stunning, inspirational, beautiful and makes my fingers itch to try to replicate both the LO and card. Thank you

    • Riikka Kovasin August 6, 2017 at 10:13 am

      Thank you Bethann! <3 It makes me so happy that you find the projects inspiring and worth having a go of your own!

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