Simple Leaves

Soft Autumn Tones of the Leaf Peeping Season

In Other Goodies! by Lynn Como

I take it for granted each year, our leaf peeping season of warm tones and strong colors.  But perhaps where you live, it’s a softer tone of color, more muted and laid back?  Well, when it comes to paper crafting, we can just about do any color we want, right?  Look at these lovely tones of Autumn on the artwork created by Close to My Heart and see if they resonate with you.

Papercrafting Autumn Leaves We Know You’ll Fall For!

Close To My Heart

Among all the wonderful things we love and look forward to with the autumn season, a standout favorite has to be the glorious display of colored leaves! As we draw closer to this magical time of year here at Close To My Heart, we are excited to showcase some artwork featuring beautiful leaf accents made with the Z8036 Simple Leaves Stamp + Thin Cuts

 

Simple leaves

Taking a look at this unique collection of stamps and metal dies gives you an idea of the amazing artwork you can achieve! This set includes options to create fully layered leaf embellishments, simple outlines, stamped images, or individual leaf vein overlays. Just take a look at these leaves to see these possibilities brought to life!

Simple Leaves assortment

But naturally, these colorful leaves look even better when added to artwork, like the scrapbook page pictured below.

Simple Leaves Scrapbook

As you can see, we’ve incorporated several different types of leaf embellishments on this page. The Simple Leaves Stamp + Thin Cuts is unique in the level of versatility packed into a single set, and this versatility is on full display in this scrapbook page! Take a closer look at the bottom right leaf cluster to see examples of layered die-cuts, leaves stamped directly on the base page (using the rock-n-roll stamping technique, no less!), more rock-n-roll stamping on our Ballerina cardstock leaf, more straightforward stamping with the small Rosemary berries, leaf vein overlays combined over stamped images and leaf outline die-cuts, and even a couple instances where the leaf vein Thin Cuts have been used to cut into the solid leaf creating an inverse effect.

Simple Leaves artwork

Now jump into our other leaf pile in the upper left corner of the page to see what other variations you can spot!

Simple Leaves Artwork 2

Another way to create a striking effect when layering Thin Cuts is by using contrasting colors for the different layers. This card shows leaf outlines and overlays cut using colors selected to create contrast between darker and lighter layers:

Simple Leaves Card

To really bring our leaves to life with this technique, we amplified the effect by using coordinating cardstock and ink colors. By stamping our leaf shapes on the lighter side of our two-toned cardstock, we get even more color variation in the leaves before finishing them off with leaf vein overlays cut from a contrasting color.

We hope today’s artwork has inspired you to mimic the incredible variety of autumn leaves in your own upcoming crafting projects. What layering or coloring techniques are you most excited to try out? Tell me about it in the comments!

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ Autumn Page

 

4¼” x 5½” What a Beautiful Day Card (Horizontal)

my signature