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First things first--let's peep some leaves--here's our gallery: TLC974 Gallery
About this time last year I was quoting that delicious line of poetry by Rose Fyleman, "Isn't it lovely kicking up leaves?!"
This year I have a confession to make. I love kicking up leaves, but I have an obsession with PICKING up leaves. It's pretty bad. We'll be out walking and I will pick up one leaf and carry it all the way home. My husband just rolls his eyes and humors me. (I love him...) When I get home, I add the leaf to my nature tray near the front door. Here it is:
Here is my nature collection tray--there are rocks, feathers, a yellow jacket nest, gumballs, vines, and dragonfly wings in there--among other things. That leaf on top is golden. I embossed it with Gold embossing powder.
I love that gold leaf and thought you might have fun making some too. you can put them on cards or put them on display. They would be beautiful decorating a fall table. They would be a fun craft to introduce when the family comes over for a gathering.
I attached some of my cards so you could see what I made. Dexter and I went into the lab again and embossed many things. I overheated my heating tool and thought I had ruined it at one point.
You will see leaves (duh), bits of bark, red bud seed pods, a feather, and insect wings. I tried grass, but it was hard to hold it down. i did get some I liked and may make a card with it later. I also embossed a dried orchid, but it was pretty fragile. Thinking seashells would be cool, but haven't tried that yet. Winged maple seeds would be cool and maybe some acorns for the table. Let's do it!
Here's a quick video on how to iron fresh leaves to quickly dry them for crafts. I did this with several of the leaves used on my cards. The oak leaves were already dry and curly. I was able to use the iron to flatten them enough to put on a card front. I don't know if that would work for any dry leaf, but you can try...
(You basically remove the stems and iron them between sheets of paper.)
The challenge: Heat emboss real leaves (or other nature items)--for your card or for home decor.
A couple of tips...don't get dry leaves too hot. (But I didn't notice that mine had a tendency to scorch.) I did overheat my heat tool, so be careful and let it cool down if you are doing a lot. Also, don't overlook the back. The back side of the leaf can be prettier and more detailed than the front.
Ready set go...Isn't it lovely picking up leaves?!
Don't forget to see attachments below.
If you're not sure how to link your card on the thread here, here's how:
1. Open 2 windows or tabs: one window for your card and one for this thread.
2. In this thread, click on reply and type anything you want to show before the link.
3. Go to your card window. Highlight the address for your card. (It says www. splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto..... and so on)
4. Click EDIT. Click COPY
5. Go back to this thread. Click PASTE.
I bet the maple seed wings would be beautiful. I have gold earrings that are coated sycamore seed wings and they always get comments. I love your nature tray.
I wanted something sturdy enough to stand up to mailing, so I used a leaf from my bay tree - and enjoyed the aroma while heating it. TLC974 A Simple Leaf by Cook22 at Splitcoaststampers
TLC974 Gilded Leaves 10/23/2023
