Fall Leaves 2

This week when my family got together on Sunday we talked about things we are grateful for.  It's so easy to get caught up in the negative that we forget to be grateful for the many things we have to be thankful for.  It was good as we went around the room hearing each others thoughts and comments.  I wanted us to remember those things we talked about, so I created a "grateful" tree.  Everyone was given five leaves to write down somethings they were grateful for and then glued them to the bare tree branches.  We had a fun time and hopefully we can remember those things especially though the Thanksgiving season.

To make your own 

Grateful Tree 

1. Cut branches from tree and insert in large vase.  Secure with fall colored beans, legumes, etc.

2. Cut leaves cut from pages of an old book using the Vagabond machine and the Tattered Leaves die.  I considered using cardstock, but I liked that the leaves looked thin and lightweight on the tree.

3. Color leaves with Distress Ink.  I did them a couple of different ways.  

Technique #1

Apply Distress Ink (I used Barn Door) to your Non-stick Craft Sheet directly from the Distress Ink pad.

Squirt inked area with Mini Mister filled with water

Run leaves though wet ink.  Apply to both sides of the leaves leaving blank areas.

You can do quite a few at a time.

Allow to dry.

To fill in empty areas repeat inking process with another color (I used Wild Honey).  

After applying Wild Honey Distress Ink it looks like this.  Love the vibrant colors and didn't mind if a few spaces were left uncolored.

Dry again using the Heat Tool

Technique #2

Stamp Wild Honey Distress Ink pad directly onto leaves.  

Tip:  Bunch a lot of leaves together while stamping to save time and ink.

Randomly stamp with a second color.
(Don't worry about the edge lines from stamp pad)

Spray leaves with Mini Mister filled with water.  

Colors will run together in some areas which is what you are going for.  

....and end up looking like this

Grateful Sign

I used grungeboard covered with old book pages to make the Grateful sign.

To make the letters, glue a page out of an old book to Grungeboard....

...and run through Vagabond Machine using the Word Play die to make the letters to spell out GRATEFUL.  Ink the edges of each letter with assorted fall colors.

Glue another old book page, this time a blank page to a piece of grunge board, mine was approximately 2.5" x 8".  This will be the base of the sign that the letters will be glued to.  I cut the piece to size, rounded the corners, inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress,
then applied eyelets to both sides of the sign and tied it to the vase with jute.
The Grunge board is heavy yet pliable, which allows it to wrap around the vase.

Extra leaves are sitting next to the tree so we can continue to add more leaves.

Grateful tree

(Please note:  There are three or four real leaves mixed in with the book page leaves)

One more thing....
You have to see the gorgeous fall garland made by clever girl Shelly Hickox using the Tattered Leaves die and coffee filters...check it out on her blog.

Have a great weekend,
deb