starrgazer creates: tattered leaves

Fall is certainly my most favorite season ever. For some reason, it just really inspires me. With this in mind, I set out to create a fun Fall Journal to record my thoughts, memories and maybe even a few poems.

I will be sharing a few techniques along the way today as well. On the cover you can see some great imagery from Alpha Stamps. For a full list of all the goodies I used from Alpha Stamps you can go right here. Another easy addition to this cover are French Country stickers from Graphic 45.

I love this cute little tiny oak leaf garland. Also notice the great texture I got by layering stencils. Here I used matte medium with my honey comb stencil and then aged it once the medium was dry.

Here you can see the detail of leaves I made with glossy card stock, alcohol inks and the tattered leaves stamps from Tim Holtz.

I started by choosing a few warm colors of ink. I dropped them on the glossy paper and then blotted with a ink dabber doused with blending solution.

This is a few of the papers I made. I did not mind that I still had some large spots on the paper, it ended up adding great interest to the finished leaves.

Here are the leaves after stamping them with permanent ink and then fussy cutting them out. I am always happy when I can create my own embellishments from what I have on hand.

This tag below highlights the amazing texture you can get from using the different pastes that are now on the market. Here I chose to use molding paste along with my stencil.

I started out by layering with my spray inks and stencils.

I then added layers of stain and inks. It helps to water down the stains before swirling the tags in the color. I don't mind when my inks smear either, it adds interest to the piece.

Another way to add a layer of color is with an ink pad and an ink applicator. This way it provides a softer and more reliable pattern.

Here are a bunch of my tags after playing with my inks and stencils. Notice I have gone back and added inks or stains to most of the edges of my pockets and tags. This adds a great frame to any element.

Once there is a base layer of color and pattern, I take it a step further and add more texture with the paste. An inverted spatula works really well for this.

I like to use deli paper when I am doing this type of work. I can mess up a sheet and easily clean up my spot with a quick toss. Be sure to clean up your stencils promptly after applying pastes through them!