Make Beautiful Fall Leaves with Alcohol Markers

After completing the Magical Maker Techniques class with Altenew Academy, I was inspired to use my Altenew Artist Alcohol Markers. I recently placed an order with Altenew and I got the Crispy Leaves die set as a freebie. Who doesn’t love a nice leaf die? Especially when we are transitioning into fall and you’re waiting for all the pretty color changes in the tress. Well, you don’t have to wait. You can make your own fall leaves anytime you want. I had never tried to color fall leaves with alcohol markers so I lit my fall candle and sat down to give it a try.

I started by cutting quite a few leaves from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock. Then I grabbed some of my alcohol markers in colors that made me think of fall. I’ve got those listed out below.

Artist Alcohol Markers

I colored each of my leaves using various colors and blended together using circular motions, going back and forth between each marker. To really understand how I did this, I recommend watching my YouTube process video for this card. It will be linked at the end of this post. I tried to create a mix of red, orange and yellow/green leaves. Originally, I had a completely different design in mind but changed my mind halfway through because I wasn’t liking the look. Sometimes what we see in our head doesn’t exactly work out in real life. So, I changed course and there was very little cardstock lost in the process.

My sentiment was die cut using the Mega Thanks die. I cut that once from Altenew Citronella cardstock and then twice from Green Gold. You must be wondering why the one layer of Citronella and the answer is….I didn’t want to waste that die cut after decided that’s not the color I wanted to use. Remember I said very little cardstock was lost in the process. I glued all three layers together using liquid glue, putting that Citronella layer at the very bottm.

For my card panel, I cut a piece of Stampin’ Up Mossy Meadow cardstock to 5 and 1/2 by 4 and 1/4 inches. I wanted the edges to be quite a bit darker to allow the lighter center to highlight the sentiment. I used Pure Graphite Fresh Dye ink to blend those darker edges using a blending brush. You could use a darker color of green ink but I’ve found using black achieves a more dramatic look and with less ink. I placed my die cut sentiment onto the card to get an idea for where I wanted to stop my ink blending to create that highlight. When I did that, I realized my sentiment felt flat so I grabbed some Brushed Gold cardstock and cut another layer then glued that to the top of the others with liquid glue. Much better.

With my panel ink blended, I placed my sentiment where I wanted it to go but didn’t adhere it down. I grabbed my leaves and started figuring out where I wanted to place them. Once I decided on the placement, I carefully glued those leaves in place and then adhered my sentiment with liquid glue. To embellish, I used Trinity Stamps Gold Coin embellishments. Then I glued the entire panel to an A2 card base from the same Mossy Meadow cardstock.

For the inside, I used a piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb cardstock cut to 5 1/4 by 4 inches. I chose my sentient from the Classic Greetings stamp set and stamped with Sicilian Amber Fresh Dye Ink. Then I glued a couple of my leftover leaves in the bottom right corner. That completed my inside panel and I glued it to the inside of my card base.

If you want to see my process video, click the YouTube link below. I think my first try creating fall leaves with alcohol markers was a success. Fall leaves are very forgiving to color because they are very uneven and varied by nature. I hope you’ll give it a try. Thanks for stopping by today! Now go get crafty.

Products Used:

Supplies Used:

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