One card, two ways

There seem to have been quite a few "Your favourite stamp" challenges recently so this lovely old horse chestnut leaf stamp, which I've used so often the writing has worn off the wooden block, is never far from reach (although it's in danger of being usurped from top spot by the Katzelkraft grumpy cat stamp!). It's perfect for the season too.

I've used it to make a background, watercoloured by smooshing  the craft mat with distress inks and spritzing with water, then when dry stamped all over with the leaf, die cut into two matching ovals and then used in two very different ways.

For the first one I have kept it very CAS - just added another leaf that has been heat-embossed using a tapestry embossing powder that comes in mixed brown and green shades, then picking up the main colours with a row of Candi dots.

I am sharing this one with
Addicted to CAS - Favourite Stamp
CAS watercolour - Autumn leaves

Now for the second card, which is a lot more complex. I added a background of kraft card, run through a woodgrain embossing folder and lightly inked, and as well as the embossed leaf as above I added a second one stamped and embossed onto a thin metallic sheet (it's much more of a brown-terracotta colour than it appears in the photo) and cut out, plus two leaves stamped into squares of hot "Almost leather".

Almost Leather was a product available 20-25 years ago, A4 sheets that looked rather like fun foam but changed texture when heated to give a leather-like finish. While still hot, it was possible to stamp into it using permanent ink like Stazon, to give a result very much like tooled leather. It was lovely stuff, great for key tags and bookmarks, and I really can't think why they stopped making it. I'm down to my very last few tiny scraps now - none of them even big enough to take a complete leaf image!

I am sharing this one with

Mix it up - ATG & watercolouring
Country View - Mixed media with autumnal hues
Stamping Sensations - Autumn Glory