Donna Salazar Designs: Create Roses From Fall Leaves ~by Donna Salazar

Hello my peeps! I don't know about you but I'm SO ready for summer to be over! I love Fall and Winter mostly because my favorite holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) are in these seasons but also because I'm just not good in heat and never have been. So since I'm already gearing up for Fall (it's officially only 2 days away... WOOHOO!) I wanted to make something for the house with a Fall theme.

I decided to make a wall hanging for my kitchen using some of the branches collected by my grandson (who we call the "branch manager" because he is fascinated by sticks and branches) as well as the new "Autumn Day" papers from Photoplay. I also have a video tutorial showing you how I created Roses made from Fall leaves (inspired by a photo that I saw on Pinterest) as well.

So here are some tips for prepping a project like this...

Soak your leaves in soapy water for a good 20-30 minutes before making them into flowers. This will clean your leaves but it will also ensure that you don't have any unwanted critters.

Pat the leaves dry between paper towels and gently rub to remove any remaining dirt.

I created 2 die cuts from the same piece of paper in the Autumn Day line called "Think To Remember" (It has "fall-ish" words on one side and plaid on the other) using the Spellbinder's die "Imperial Gold Labels Four". I adhered the two together using 3D Foam Squares from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®.

I inked the edges of the dies as well as one of the stickers from the Autumn Day paper line with Honey Mix'd Media Inx and Sparrow Mix'd Media Inx CHOX (both from Clearsnap®).

I wanted to add the long sticker to the wallhanging but I needed to remove the stickiness from the back so I used my Pigment Powder from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L® to do just that.

I used a soft fan brush dipped in the Brown Pigment Powder and lightly brushed it over the adhesive side of the sticker. When I was done I used a baby wipe to remove any Pigment Powder from the front.

I then cut apart the Burlap Ribbon from my Texture Ribbons pack.

I cut off the sewn edges then cut the middle in half lengthwise then cut those middle pieces in half again so I had 4 pieces that were approximately the same size and width.

I used the Home & Hobby Premium Double Sided Tape in 1/2" size on the back of the Burlap so that I could use it to wrap around the base and stems of the rose.

This is what the rose looked like once I started wrapping.

Watch the video below to see how I created one of the flowers from leaves

(Click on the YouTube icon in the bottom right corner for a larger view)

These are the 3 finished roses.

And here is the finished piece.

Close ups of some of the detail: I used my Grand Peony and Bitty Blossom dies from Spellbinders as well as both of the ribbons in my Lace Ribbons pack from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L® to create the little flowers in the bottom corner. I adhered the die cut title and all of the embellishments using my Dodz™XL because these babies have some crazy holding power!

Another close up of the details. By the way, those little fluffy things on a stick are actually from one of the trees in our yard... it was just sitting on my front step the other day and of course I had to bring it inside to use on a project! ;)