Leaf Background

Hello fellow stampers,
Today I am showing a leaf background I recently did for a card. Stamping on a piece of heavy watercolor paper, I stamped the Hero Arts Maple Leaf stamp in four colors of Memento Ink. I started with the Grape, then Potters Clay, Pear Tart, and finally London Fog. I tried to stamp the images in a random pattern, with the darker colors near the center and the lighter colors near the outside edge. When the card was filled with the maple leaf stamp, I took my stipple brush and the Potters Clay Memento Ink.

The stipple brush is a round shaped brush with all of its bristles flat that will touch the surface of the paper. To "stipple" take the brush in your hand like a pen, and tap the bristles into the stamp pad gently. The more times you tap, the more ink you will pick up on the brush.  Then gently tap in the vacant areas between the leaf stampings to get the "stippled effect."  Of course, you may do many layers of stippling to increase the color intensity if needed, but I usually go by the rule, "less is more!"

To finish this background, I used a colored Spica glitter pen matching each color of leaf, and put just a hint of sparkle on each leaf. You can then add a sentiment to your background if using it to make a card.
Stay cool, and have a happy day. Keep Stampin'!