Monday, October 1, 2012

challenge: leaf-spiration

Whether it’s autumn and the leaves are full of rich colors, spring and new leaves are forming, or any other season I do love leaves! They show off the season like no other thing, and they come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
 
With so many leaf and tree stamps out there, not to mention stickers and papers, I thought it would be a good time to see if we could dig into our stashes for some leaf-spiration this week.
 
Use a real leaf as a mask or to stamp with, dry out a leaf and attach it to your project, use die cuts, fabric leaves, or a patterned paper with a leaf print. There are a lot of ways to make something for this challenge, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. 

Candy created this beautiful pop up tag in anticipation of her favorite season, Autumn.
This week's challenge theme of leaves immediately took me back to junior high school and a beautiful poem that I have remembered all these years;  "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer.  It's words inspired me to use not only Tim Holtz' Tattered Leaves and Mini Tattered Leaves die cuts, but the entire Branched Tree die cut and Texture Fade in creating this pop up tag. I wanted this tag to reflect the season so I combined Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twig, Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks to create that perfect blend of color.  Rock Candy Crackle Paint and Copper Embossing Powder kiss the leaves and tree bark with that extra shimmer, reminiscent of a heavy October morning dew.

Although Sandra Mouwen wishes it wasn't Autumn already, she really loves the beauty of all the different colors of this season.

The great thing about the fall is that it's such a pretty sight. The changes of the colors of the leaves are so gorgeous. I especially love the red and orange colors, and that's what inspired my card for this week. The Dylusion Inks Sprays are so vibrant and perfect for my background. The leaf border is made with the stunning Luscious Leaves stencil, a Copic Atyou Spica pen and to create some interest I used the White Uni-Ball pen. I love the Ali Edwards Autumn Afternoons stamps from Technique Tuesday, her handwriting is fabulous and perfect for this card! For a bit dimension I cut out the stamped leaf and put it on a Memo Pin.

Tracy decided on an Autumnal canvas this week, showcasing the warm reds and oranges of the season.
Autumn is my favourite time of year, I love the cooler season, the warm tones of the Autumn leaves from warm reds, to rustic oranges and weathered browns, a beautiful sight in any garden.  My canvas showcases those warm tones with the use of the Dylusions Ink Sprays in Postbox Red and Squeezed Orange. My trademark texture appears yet again in my artwork this time around using Gesso through a leaf cut from card with the Tattered Leaves die.

Ashli decided that this week's Leaf-tastic theme was the perfect opportunity to craft a leafy home decor piece for her mantle.
Fall is my MOST favorite season of all. I just love the rich colors and the spirit of thankfulness. First, I headed out to my garden and grabbed some leaves. After tracing them on water color paper, I went to work with my Hero Arts Paint Set, adding gorgeous fall colors. Once each leaf was cut out, they were tied and stapled together, creating one large area to play. I then pulled some lovely Basic Gray patterned papers from my stash and punched several sizes of circles. With my punched shapes, Inkadinkado Mini Leaf Set, washi, and Pitt Pens in hand, I went to town embellishing my leaves. A hand written title finishes off my Give Thanks mantle piece. 

Trace is not ready to let go of summer just yet.

  I really don't want summer to end! So I made a tag that still screams summer to me with the vibrant colours from the Dylusions Ink SpraysThe Three Ferns stamp is a real classic from Hero Arts, I just never get tired of using it! Here I used it as a water mark for a subtle look using Versamark and a water spritz. Then I highlighted one of the ferns with Crackle Paint in Rock Candy by Tim Holtz...I am so addicted to this product! Reality did set in, for in my neck of the woods the leaves are already changing colour and falling. So I added some Wild Honey DIstress Ink to the sentiment tag. I like how it picked up the same colour in the background that was created with a salt and ink technique. I finished off the tag with a few butterflies from this very versatile Tim Holtz Papillon stamp set.


Terry decided to make a Metal Foil Tag with the colors from Autumn.
I don't like Autumn for the temperatures, not for the wind, rain and storms..but for the fabulous colors you see on the trees and leaves. I really love the orange and brown colors Autumn gives us. I tried to capture those colors into the Tag that I made. I started out with the Metal Foil for the background. It is so much fun to work with it and play around with Alcohol inks on top. The colors make it look like it is really old too. On top I had lots of fun with the leaf and colored it with Ripe Persimmon and Crackle to finish it I played with Utee. To express how I was feeling at that moment I placed the Bottle Cap with the fabulous sentiment.


Suzz had visions of the fall leaves hanging on the branches along the old wood fence.
The fall colors are so beautiful with the leaves turning. I tried to capture the cool crisp fall breeze using various colored papers embossing them and adding a touch of bronze around the edges. 
The leaves use the  Sizzix Patchwork Embossing Folder to add a touch of texture with the edges embossed with Copper Embossing Powder.  I used the dies to create the leaves and branches.  I can almost feel the cool breezes of fall right now.


I (May) adore everything about fall, and while still battling summer temperatures I tried to wish myself away to cooler temperatures and favorite traditions that I know October will bring....
The Tim Holtz blueprint stamps seem made just for me - and here I used them both in the background and embossed onto a piece of book paper that I colored with distress inks. Going wild and fully embracing this week's leaf theme, I also used some wood leaves, die cut leaves, and I chose some autumn sentiments from a sticker sheet as well. I'm ready for the apple cider and pumpkin pie - not to mention falling leaves and the great autumn colors!
 
 
Anna-Karin loves autumn with all the rich colours and tried to capture it in a mini-book made for some of her favourite autumn photos.
I made the covers and spine of the book using the Sizzix Eileen Hull ScoreBoards Album die and covered it with white sticky back canvas. For the big leaves, I used the Tattered Leaves die, layers of melted UTEE, different colours of embossing powders and then stamped into the hot UTEE. The cover just had to have lots of leaves and branches, cut from kraft core cardstock and covered with Antique Linen Distress Stickles, as well as three Tattered Pinecones. I also used the new fabulous Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Autumn Blueprint stamps.


Autumn is the season of gift-giving for Dan, so he already has a recipient in mind for this fall-themed giftwrap with matching tag.
All of us in my immediate family have birthdays in the autumn, and the moment that I saw Tim Holtz's Autumn Blueprint stamp set I knew that I could use them to make some great fall-themed giftwrap.  I think that using kraft as the base colour for the paper and co-ordinating gift tag ties in well with that autumn feeling when the air is starting to get crisp and the leaves start changing colour. I used Kraft Resist card for the tag and painted the images with a range of Distress Inks and a water brush.



Sarah was inspired by the Art Parts leaves in her Wendy Vecchi stash and thought they would make wonderful Autumnal wings for her mannequin in her dimensional piece...
I like nothing better than to play around with my collection of Art Parts. I love the wide variety of shapes and designs and how they can be transformed into a different creation every time. I really have a 'thing' for dimensional pieces and like to experiment with the layers and contrasting lines. I wanted to indulge in Fall colours and used my Distress Stains to add the rich tones, followed by lots of wonderful large stamps from many of my Wendy Vecchi sets. You can never have enough of them - or Idea-ology to add the finishing touches!
 
 
I encourage you to check out each of the design team member's blogs for more photos, supply lists, and more. Simply click on their name (above the photo of their project) to visit their blog.

Now that we've shared the team creations - we're ready to see yours! As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, October 7th and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here.
For the full rules, read the "challenge rules" posted in the side-bar here on our blog.

We can't wait to see what you make!




20 comments:

  1. Yes, it sure is pretty in my neck of the woods. The trees are starting to pop with color.
    Having trouble with blogger...hope my linky works.
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've got the problems worked out, but I can't seem to delete my first post #8...can you delete it for me?
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful inspiration from the Design Team again this week. A x

    ReplyDelete
  4. All fantastic projects! What a wonderful season to celebrate! The gift wrap and tag are especially amazing! TFS! I had already made a leaf card and posted it on Pinterest, otherwise I'd enter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your projects are just amazing!!! I love the uniqueness of each one. It is autumn here with the leaves changing colors, so this is a perfect inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The DT seriously rocked this challenge, these projects are amazing!!!! Way to go!

    ReplyDelete
  7. All these fabulous creations just "leave" me speechless! Wow!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh wowwww !!!! LOVE especially the first tag, but all these leaves creations are so fantastic !! Coco x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabulous Design Team work - so inspirational. Nicola x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful dt inspiration!!
    Hugs Hazel xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. always the best DT samples...great work! thanks for the "leaf inspiration" challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gorgeous work from DT.Loving all those beautiful colors.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Absolutely glorious autumnal inspiration from the DT... still green as you like round my way - very strange, but I love this challenge!
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you for the absolutely lovely inspration from the DT!

    Greetings,
    die amelie x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sorry, the first time I linked the blog, not the card. Elly

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great challenge - and lovely inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Omg - the creations from the Design team are just gorgeous!!!
    Simone

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great leaves challenge. Thanks

    TTFN,

    CraftyGirl

    ReplyDelete
  19. As always beautiful stuff from th dr. Great inspiration.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.