SHAVING CREAM MAPLE LEAF

We are having a very fall-like day here in central Wisconsin. This time of the year is hard on me emotionally because this is when I come to realize that my deck sitting days are severely numbered. And my deck sitting days are truly blissful. 

With the fall-is-coming-sooner-than-I'd-like realization, I thought the card for today is quite appropriate. A maple leaf in all its autumn glorious colors.

A really wonderful, easy, messy and fun way to give a diecut leaf fallish colors is to do it with the shaving cream technique. Have you ever done that technique before? It's been around for, like, forever. 

When I do this technique, as long as I have the messiness going, I make sure that I treat several quarter sheets of white cardstock for later use. That is how I created my leaf: I simply die cut one of these prepared sheets.

To do the shaving cream technique is easy, but you need to get prepared before you start. 

Grab a paper plate and squirt out a nice mound of shaving cream -- NOT gel! Grab some bottles of reinkers. For this leaf, I used autumn colors. Drop a few of each of the colors of reinkers randomly atop the shaving cream. Take a popsicle stick or some sort of stirrer and gently swirl through the inks. DON'T be too aggressive in this. Be gentle. Aggressive gives you mud and not much marbling. 

Once you like the marbling you've achieved, grab one of the quarter sheets of cardstock and press it straight down into the marbled shaving cream. Be sure every part of the cardstock comes in contact. Lift the cardstock straight up out of the shaving cream. Using something with a straight edge -- a scrap of cardstock, a clean popsicle stick -- scrape off the excess shaving cream. Finish cleaning the shaving cream off with a paper towel. Set the cardstock aside to dry completely.

After you have your first successful piece, you probably still have some nice marbling left on the shaving cream mound, so grab another piece of cardstock and repeat. Do this until the marbling has gotten too soft and un-marbley looking. At this point, you can drop a few more ink colors and start again. If the shaving cream gets too muddy looking and you are sick of making a mess, call it a day. Either way you have some great unique pieces of paper to work with on future projects.

Now that you know how to do the shaving cream technique -- which I'm sure you'll try in the near future if you've never done so! -- here is a quick tutorial on how to make the rest of the card. Have fun!

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Brown cardstock

Cajun Craze cardstock

Wood textured cardstock

Reinkers in fall colors

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Maple leaf die

2 1/2" circle die or punch

Woodgrain embossing folder

Word die

Shaving cream

Disposable plate

Paper Towels

Linen thread

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Do the Shaving Cream Technique on a few pieces of white cardstock.. Set the pieces aside to dry completely while you work on the card portion.

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

With a 2 1/2" circle die or punch, cut a hole in a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of brown cardstock so the margins around the hole are about even on the top and sides. Run this piece through the Big Shot inside the woodgrain embossing folder.

NOTE: It is very important to cut the circle first. If you do the embossing first, then run it through again to cut the circle, the embossing gets flattened. Ask me how I know this little tip!

Select a piece of woodgrain paper and position it on the backside of the hole you just cut, adhering it in place.

Once your shaving cream piece is dried, cut out a maple leaf with the die, using the portion of the paper that is most pleasing to you. Use a Stampin' Dimensional to adhere it to the center of the woodgrain inside the circle.

Tie a small bow from Linen Thread and attach it above the leaf stem with a bit of glue.

From Cajun Craze cardstock, die cut the word. Add glue sparingly to the word and adhere it below the leaf image.

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Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

- Albert Camus -

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Marbled

Smiles.