Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A Year of Leaves Blog Hop

I am loving Melanie Muenchingers new set, A Year of Leaves! The sized of these leaves are just perfect for so many projects. I think the maple leaves are my favorites. Today, members of the Gina K Senior Design Team, the Center Stage Spotlight Designer Team and Melanie's special guests are participating in a blog hop featuring Year of Leaves. Don't forget to scroll down for all the details on how I made my card.

For even more inspiration, please visit our Illustrator of the Year of Leaves stamp set, Melanie Muenchinger's blog. You'll want to leave a comment on her blog because she is hosting a drawing for her gorgeous stamp set there tonight!

Melanie has asked her two guest designers to join in on her blog hop too:
Selma Stevenson
Karen Knegten

Also showcasing Year of Leaves stamp set samples tonight are these GinaK Designers:
Gina Krupsky
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Theresa Momber

as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Designers:
Geri Utterback
Shelly Wilson
Tina Gilliland


I started by stamping the maple leaf on Pure Luxury White cardstock, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I used Copic Marker, E37 on the veins of the leaf.

Blended out from there with YR07.

Filled in the rest of the leaf with Y17.

Then used YR02 to blended the Y17 into the darker areas.

I added some highlights with my blender pen and then added some tiny dots using E37. Have you ever noticed that sometimes on leafs that have fallen, they frequently have little spots that are darker? I thought it would be fun to simulate that look on my leaves.

After coloring, I cut out the leaf. I wanted the leaves on my card to have a love of dimension and curl up a bit like you would see in nature, so I used my piercing tool to make a crease along the center vein.

Then I used the fat end of my piercing tool to wrap the ends of the leaf around it, making them curl in the opposite direction of the crease. I made three leaves like this.

For the oval background, I used my Nestabilities to cut the oval and then sponged Vivid Tuscan Tan while it was still in the die.

I sponged Vivid Coffee Bean before removing the die, then stamped the sentiment.

I layered the oval with Chocolate Kiss and Pumpkin Spice. When I added the leaves, I used Pop Dots so they would still be curled. It has a lot more depth than is showing up in the photos. I also added some acorns from A Year of Leaves and some mini brads in the corners.

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to stop back on Saturday (or Friday night if you are up that late) for an Autumn Beauty blog hop (and a chance to win your very own set!)

Have a great day!

30 comments:

Lori said...

WOW!! Stunning Theresa!! I love how you do the sponging, I MUST give this a try!!

Misti said...

WOWZERS!!! This is stunning, Theresa!!! I really appreciate the tutorials you post including the copic colors. I follow them, but I don't have the creative genes that you have!! ;)

Tina said...

Completely outstanding!!!!!!

Melissa said...

Amazing card Theresa! I love your style and coloring tutorials so much.

Karen Knegten said...

Theresa, another beautiful one! Love it!

Theresa's Studio said...

Beautiful design. Love the details. Thanks for showing all the steps.

redwasher1 said...

Absolutely beautiful!!

Payne Holler Cards said...

you dont do anything BUT beautiful!!!

Seongsook Duncan said...

Theresa, this is so beautiful card. I wish I could say the word that I can express my appreciation for your wonderful job. Love the way you did with leaves.

SherylH said...

Gorgeous -- love the colours you have used.

Melanie said...

gorgeous!!! love the way you double matted the senitment, and TFS your leafbending technqiue! :)

JessicaK said...

This is beautiful Theresa. The coloring and shading - it looks like the card is lit from the inside - amazing.

Mary Friederichsen said...

Theresa, This card is Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing it with us and for giving such a wonderful description of how you did the coloring!
Hope you are having a great week!

NinaB said...

I am definitely going to try this sponging technique you use on your cards all the time. It just makes a beautiful addition. And the curled leaves are just so clever.

kim.mom said...

Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing all the tips! Can't wait to try it myself!

buggin2stamp said...

Theresa, your card is gorgeous!! I always love seeing your tutorial at the end of your post that shows how you colored your images.

Patti J. said...

Beautiful card Theresa! Thanks once again for the wonderful tutorials! Love how you did the sponging and the leaves!

Selma said...

Another absolutely gorgeous card. This is a WOW card!

6 wacky women said...

Gorgeous card, Theresa.
Beautiful sentiment.

Karen x

Jennie said...

This is gorgeous Theresa! :o)

Carolyn King said...

wow--love this girl!
gorgeous coloring and love how you framed the sentiment!

Donna Baker said...

what a gorgeous card!

Maria said...

Simply Stunning!!

Lee said...

Oh I love the chocolate bg for the leaves!!!

Granny P said...

A beautiful card Theresa but I am so impressed with all your work. Appreciate the tutorials although as yet I only have two Copics I received as a gift. I just don't know which to buy first. Apart from blue autumn colours are my favourite so maybe I should consider the ones you've used here.

Lori said...

This is a gorgeous card! The chocolate looks so yummy w/ the leaves, I really like the way you did the leaves dimension.

CherylQuilts said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I feel the snap in the air!

mudmaven said...

Knock your socks off GORGEOUS! WOW - love this card Theresa. ~chris

Unknown said...

Beautiful card!!!! I LOVE your photos, Theresa - they just glow!!!!

Vicki Dutcher said...

Theresa - fun blog hop! A lot of cards to see - love your envelope! So pretty!