F4 sneak plus a Leaf Tutorial **Flamingo Scraps**

I am always on the lookout for a great leaf to go behind the flowers that I make or buy, but to buy a leaf seems pricy (but I still love the look of them).  So here are some easy quick steps to create leaves to fit behind your flowers.  FYI leaves really help give your flower clusters a pop, it gives everything better dimension.

Above you can see leaves I made using a different punch then below.

Handmade Leaf Tutorial

1) Supplies - flower punch, paper (usually green), ink (I like chalk ink by Prima), and scissors.

2) Punch out your flowers with your selected paper.  I like cardstock, but patterned paper works well too.  I like to use scrap paper for this in various shades of green, brown, orange, black, yellow, etc.  I picked a rounded flower for this leaf, but pointed or tattered flowers work great too.

 3) Cut our pairs of flower petals.  This creates a pair of leaves to go behind your flowers.  I find that pairs looks the best.  Single or triple leaves look odd to me.

4) Fold the leaf petals in half, this creates the seam in the middle of the leaf.  

 5) Using an ink color of your choice (it varies from black, browns, or maybe even a red or a yellow) it really all depends on the color of the leaf and the layout pallet, ink the edges of the leaf and also along the seam.  The fold the leaf back along the seam the other way so the leaf seam is inverted and the sides are out.

 6) Tuck leaves under flowers.  Easy!! 

Here is a sneak of my Oct F4 project using my leaf tutorial.  So come back on Oct 25th to see the final project!

Enjoy!!