Paper Seedlings: COPPER LEAVES

I love it when I discover "strange" and nontraditional "art supplies" to use in my cardmaking!

A few weeks ago, I was at the Dollar Tree, and among their fall decor, I came across something that I could not resist buying for $1.00. Admittedly, the one that I ended up purchasing was not the first one I came across and was about to buy. The first one featured acorns. When I proceeded to pluck it off its hook, I noticed that the one underneath it had LEAVES and a slightly different color palette. Excitedly I rummaged through the rest of the selection and finally settled on copper oak leaves.

What is this woman talking about you ask???

Notice the lovely strip along the left edge of this card. Difficult to describe, but the single piece I bought was enough for I think 12 cards at the size I ended up using. It was a floppy flat piece that contained pale green rhinestones and copper oak leaves. I was able to cut the sheet into 12 sections the size of the one on my card.

Of course, when I got home and started working with the sheet, I discovered a few places that were missing the rhinestones. It worked OK, however, because I only ended up needing eight strips.

This ONE DOLLAR sheet also had a peel-off strip that exposed adhesive on the back!

The card in this post is the one I created for my girls to make at the September Stamp-In Workshop. They were so excited about this piece that several of them were planning on visiting our Dollar Tree to pick up some of their own.

Editor's Comment: I was at Dollar Tree today, and they had them again, only this time with pumpkins and skulls on them! I resisted and didn't buy any Halloween ones.

I added the jeweled strip to a slightly wider strip of a copper metallic cardstock.

Because I was dealing with leaves, thus TREES, I decided to put a modest embossed wood look background in Sahara Sand as the backdrop for the card.

I just so happened to have in my stash this lovely vintage oak leaf stamp, as well as the coordinating die to cut it out. The leaf also was done on Sahara Sand cardstock, diecut and popped up against the embossed background with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Although it doesn't show up at all in these photos, the rhinestones on my expensive strip nicely coordinated with Soft Seafoam cardstock, so that is what the embossed piece rests upon.

Adding a bow created with the new 3/16" Braided Linen Trim (page 174 in the Annual Catalog) and attached to the stem of the embossed leaf with a Glue Dot, gives the card just a bit of soft dimension.

If you keep on reading, I will share with you the supplies and instructions to make a card similar to this. Hopefully your Dollar Tree has some of these jeweled treasures for you to snap up!

SUPPLIES:

Soft Seafoam cardstock

Sahara Sand cardstock

Copper Metallic Cardstock

Vintage Leaves stamp set (retired -- <sob>)

VersaMark ink

Big Shot

Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder (page 199 in the Annual Catalog)

Retired leaf dies

Embossing Buddy

Copper Embossing Powder

Heat Tool

Strip of leaves and rhinestones

3/16" Braided Linen Trim (page 174 in the Annual Catalog)

Glue Dots

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Sahara Sand cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock to the card base.

Run a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Sahara Sand cardstock through the Big Shot inside the Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder. Adhere this over the Soft Seafoam layer.

After tearing the protective strip off, adhere the decorative strip to a 1 1/4" x 5" piece of brushed copper cardstock. Attach this to the left side of the card, leaving a margin of the embossed cardstock at the left edge.

Rub the Embossing Buddy over a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock that measures 2" x 4 1/4". Stamp the oak leaf in VersaMark ink. At the Heat Station, cover the stamping with Copper Embossing Powder, tapping the excess powder back into its container. Use the Heat Tool to melt the embossing powder.

Using the oak leaf die, cut out the embossed leaf with the Big Shot.

Tie a 6" length of the Braided Linen Trim into a bow, snipping off the excess. Use a Glue Dot to attach the bow to the stem of the leaf.

Use a few Stampin' Dimensionals to attach the finished leaf to the embossed area.

If you can't find some of this luscious treasure at your Dollar Tree, you can always replace that piece with a 1" x 5" strip of Designer Series Paper that coordinates with your other elements.