Stained "Glass' Maple Leaf

Hi Everyone!

It's Jenny here and I'm back with another fall themed card, this time using a fun technique that you might have seen on my card shown for the Design Team Introductions blog post here.  I've got a full breakdown of how you can do this technique here, with a bit of twist.

To create this card or one similar, you ideally need a die that has lots of 'compartments' or sections.  I used the Neat & Tangled Maple Thanks leaf die.  They also recently brought out an Oak Leaf die which would work perfectly (it's on my wanted list !)  You'll also need some liquid medium such as Nuvo Drops (here I used Nuvo Jewel Drops in Pale Periwinkle which dries translucent but the solid and glitter drops, or even just Glossy Accents work just as well)

First you need to create a good frame for your drops.  I've tried a number of ways to do this but by far the best way that worked for me was die cutting the shape from thick cardstock (100lb+) four times and stacking them together using spray adhesive (or liquid if you have the patience of a saint. I don't). Once dry, glue them onto your card base.  For my card I actually glued them onto clear acetate - you'll see why shortly.

Then commence the dropping!  Using your drops, add a good blob into every compartment.  This will flatten out somewhat as it dries so you may have to go in again after the first lot has dried.  If you can't get the drops into the corners (usually they do smooth out in the drying process) you can use the tip of a craft pick to pull out the drops to where you want them (make sure they've not dried before doing this).  You don't have to be super careful to avoid going over the edges when you do this.  Here's why:  you die-cut a final piece to lay over the top once it is all dry.  That covers any mistakes you made!

For my overlay piece I applied Versamark all over and dunked it in Rose Gold embossing powder and heat set.  I did this two or three times and when cool, I adhered over the top of my Nuvo set piece. 

I wanted the card to act as a window - almost like stained glass, so I die cut my card base (woodgrain white cardstock) twice with the die again to create a leaf  shaped hole that went all the way through.  For some interest I flicked on some shine mist in gold and brass.

I then pushed my piece in from the back of the front of the card (including the acetate) and adhered down the acetate with liquid glue.  If you don't like to see the glue, you can also line the back with white or patterned paper, just ensuring to die cut the hole again so it doesn't prevent the light from coming through.

To finish, I heat embossed a sentiment from Altenew's Heartfelt Sentiments in gold embossing powder on Kraft cardstock and trimmed it out.  It was adhered with foam squares.

Here's a shot of the card held up to the morning sun.  As you can see, it's a little bumpy, but so is real stained glass!

I'll be returning nearer to the holidays with another fun twist on this idea, on how to create your own tree decorations.

Hope you enjoyed!
Jenny x