Natures Autumn Glory

     Challenge number Seven at The Male Room is Nature and what could be better right now than all the glorious colours of Autumn, so put your thinking caps on and come up with a masculine card featuring Nature, we'd love you to join us.
      For this card I had a topper my Mum gave me that was just perfect for our theme but I couldn't find a backing paper I liked, so I made one.
 

      I collected some pretty leaves from around the garden, shrubs, creepers and weeds (got plenty of them!) and laid them all out on a piece of watercolour card, then I covered them with another piece of watercolour card and put the whole thing through my Bigshot. I have used both tabs one and two in my sandwich but you may need to experiment a little depending on your leaf thickness and your machine.

      I've been playing around with this technique and discovered that the underside of the leaves give a stronger colour when pressed than the top side so I put all my leaves the same way up, this will give one bold patterned card and one slightly muted. You will need to put the card, with leaves removed, and the leaves aside under a heavy book overnight to dry out, I would suggest a few sheets of kitchen paper top and bottom to help absorb the moisture.

     Once dried out you will have have some leaves to use as well as your patterned paper.
     I have used the leaf paper as my background with a few copper stamped leaves added to tie it in with the topper. The edge of the card is coloured with Forest Moss Distress Ink and the edges of the leaf paper have also been coloured with green ink.
     The easel is held up by another leaf shaped topper mounted on foam pads that just says 'Autumn Magic' so this card could be used for any occasion.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Heck Of A Challenge - Autumn Colours

Feeling Crafty Challenges - Autumn

Crafts 4 Eternity - Autumn Leaves

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - Autumn NOT Halloween

Lady Anne's Challenges - Autumn