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!