Fall Leaf TutorialBy: Jacquie Heffner AfterHoursStamper.com

Given that we are now officially in Fall, I thought it would be fun to have a tutorial on making realisticfall leaves. This technique will give you wonderful results, and you will find that your images will all bea bit different (depending on how you ink your stamp). These leaves are amazing in person, and when Ishow people the leaves they cannot believe that the leaves are not real!

Ink pads

in fall colors: yellow, mustard yellow, orange, red, light brown, green ( I used stampin up : SoSaffron, Creamy Carmel, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Always Artichoke)

Twinkling H20's

in fall colors, especially a nice yellow ( I used Egyptian Gold, Orange Peel and HoneyAmber) If you do not have H20's you can still do the technique by skipping a step (see directions) or use asimilar shimmer type paint.

Paint brush,

I used a water brush

Sponges

to dab into the ink and onto your stamp (I use the triangular makeup sponges)

Embossing ink,

versamark ink pad or versamark pen

Clear embossing powder

(is there really any other kind?)

Heat gunWater mister bottleWhite card stock Leaf stamp

that has good detail (or try this with another fall type stamp that has good detail). You can also trythis technique with a solid image stamp.

For this techniqueyou will need thefollowing things:

Step 1:

Use your lightest color to ink your stamp, (I used Stampin Up SoSaffon, but any light color willwork) cover the entire stamp withthe lightest color. (Note: at the endof this tutorial there is a picture of how each of these steps look on paper)Here is a picture of what I mean by a"detail stamp." Note that there is notmuch open space on the stamp; rather it is filled with rubber detailing.

Step 2:

Take your sponge and ink it withyour next color, here I used CreamyCarmel (a sort of light yellow brown).Pick a few spots on your stamp anddab some of your color onto thestamp. Do not place too muchcolor on the stamp as you have anumber of other colors to add.I typically dab three or so times, invarious places on the stamp. Don'tworry about any blending, at theend all of the colors will blend.And don't be afraid that this stepwill remove the base color, just dabaway.

Step 3

Ink up a sponge with your next color (I use different sponges for eachcolor), here I used Pumpkin Pie(again use what ever ink pads youalready have, just try to use anorange).Dab (two or three times) the ink ontoyour stamp. If you can, try to do twothings: overlap some of the color you just dabbed while also finding somearea that only has one layer (the baseink) to add your orange.Depending on your colors you may or may or may not be able to see whereyou have already added ink to your stamp, don't worry, just dab as best asyou can.

Step 4

Now add your next color, here Iadded Real Red. I tend to add aboutthree or four little dabs of this darkestcolor, you can add more or less of thered, experiment to find what you like best.Depending on your red you should beable to see this ink on your stampwhen you dab it on. If you look atthe picture you can clearly see the redI added.Do not worry about the ink drying asyou are going to mist the stamp withwater right before you stamp ontoyour cardstock.