Gum Leaf Borders again

I am trying to stick to the 'don't buy it if you are not going to use it for at least three different projects' idea. Here are two more cards using the Gum Leaf Border die from Paper Rose. I foresee far more than three projects with it however!

The card shown above and right is my favourite use of the die so far. Same card but different lighting.

The birds are from a Penny Black die set - 'Finches'. I love trying to colour them to match actual Australian birds - though the closest in shape are called wrens here.

Colours used for gum leaves - Distress Markers: fossilized amber, shabby shutters, peeled paint, vintage photo.
Colours used for birds - Distress Markers: antique linen, scattered straw, brushed corduroy, gathered twigs, spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, squeezed lemonade, fossilized amber, black soot.
My tip for colouring is to Google your subject (eg. rufous crowned emu wren) and use an image as your guide, and to lay a light wash of the palest colour needed to define each area to be coloured, then build on that.


Below is the second card I made, playing at a friend's house. The card is intended as a man's birthday card, and I love the play of light through the die-cut panel, casting shadows onto the plain insert panel.
I have backed the die cut area with acetate for stability

Paper Rose Gum Leaf Border Card

I pre-ordered the Paper Rose Gum Leaf Border die from PMT ~ Polly and Meg's Treasures - I fell in love with it the moment I saw it -and have recently received the die. 










I teach card-making as a volunteer at Concordia Craft Corner and wanted something with an Australian theme for the ladies to make this term. I was inspired by a friend's card made using the Kookaburra die over a gum tree background from Kaisercraft.

The kookaburra die came (not recently) from Couture Creations as Ultimate Crafts ULT157332.

To make the card pictured above:

• Card base is Bazzill French Vanilla.
• Background gum tree bark image is a purchased copyright image photographed by Tom Dempsey and available to order from PhotoSeek by clicking on the link HERE. It was printed onto generic photo card. Or you can go out and take photos of gum trees!
• Image inserted into a Word document and sized to fit a card front (10.5cm x 14.8cm)
• The green cardstock is PortaCraft A4 Pearlised Card
• The brown paper used to frame the bird and wording is possibly Stardream or Curious Metallics.
• The Happy Birthday die is from Elizabeth Craft Designs no. 783
• The kookaburra was die-cut from 'white' cardstock (slightly creamy white not white white).
• Distress inks required - hickory smoke, black soot, ground espresso, gathered twigs, rusty hinge and frayed burlap

The printed gum tree bark panel was edged with Distress ink - ground espresso - using an ink sponging tool then adhered with double-sided tape to a folded A5 card base.

The Gum Leaf Border die was cut from the green card to leave a 3/4" strip each side as pictured. This is mounted onto the card front with adhesive mounting foam.

Nestabilities circle dies SM and LG were used to cut the circles behind the kookaburra.

To colour the kookaburra I referred to an image in my bird-watching reference book A Field Guide to the Birds of Western Australia.

Working only with the outer panel of the die-cut I applied each ink used to a craft sheet then picked up the ink with a slightly damp fine (02) water-colour paintbrush. Hint - only have one ink pad open at a time. You need a steady hand.

Beak and eyes had a background layer of hickory smoke then black soot was used for added definition. 

Tail has had fine stripes of rusty hinge applied then stripes of ground espresso put between these. If necessary wash over with a slightly damp brush to blend.

Wings had a layer of gathered twigs washed on then darker repeat layers of ground espresso painted over this.

The branch the bird is on was coloured with a wash of frayed burlap, taking care to leave a white area under the bird's belly.

This part of the die-cut was adhered using PVA glue then the infill pieces glued in.

Once dry, a Versamark ink pen was used to put fine dots on the front edge of the wing. This was brushed over with blue Perfect Pearls which were then polished with the larger soft Pearls brush.

A fine dot of Glossy Accents was applied to the eye using a toothpick when the card was complete.

The wording panel was die-cut then adhered with PVA glue to a brown layer then trimmed to size as pictured. This is mounted onto the card front.