Tutorial for coloring Birch Leaves using ink pads and brushes

Hello Paper Crafters,

Susan has a new Autumn Foliage die set in her Birds & Butterfly Garden release.  She has several FaceBook Live videos and YouTube videos on how to color autumn leaves using OLO markers.  I have used OLO markers many times to color my leaves  but I also like to color them using ink pads and brushes to blend colors.  Below I have a tutorial on the process coloring using ink pads and brushes.  

I am posting three seperate blog post, each showing a different leaf in this release - Birch Leaves, Oak Leaves and Maple Leaves.  

Die cut the Birch Leaves using Susan's Autumn Foliage die set.  Use the leaf tool from her Flower Tool Kit to go over the scored lines.   I work on the Waffle Flower Stencil Mat and Blending Brushes.   For me using ink pads and brushes is a quicker method of coloring.  I start by pulling out a lot of different ink pads that I feel will be great autumn colors.  I like to blend a variety of colors, which will be shown in these tutorials, but you can use fewer colors if you want.  I have used a lot of Altenew Ink Pads.  I wanted to let you know that Altenew has a new style ink pad for their inks.  I have linked similar colors of ink pads below.  

Brush Altenew Honey Drizzle ink, or any bright yellow ink,  on both sides of the die cut birch leaves.  (You can see all the leaves I have die cut in the tray at the top of this picture.)  I always like to color a lot more leaves than I need for the project I am working on.  

Bush Altenew Autumn  Blaze (bright orange) ink on lower portion of leaf.  You only need to do this on front of leaf.

Brush Altenew Paper Bag Ink over orange ink and slightly above the orange and around edges.

I like to add dark spots on the leaves.  I have a Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Background stamp I have had for many years that I use to stamp Altenew Expresso (dark brown) ink on each leaf.  (This stamp set is no longer available from Stampin' Up! but can be found on eBay.) You can splatter ink onto the leaf for the same effect.  

To ephasize the veins on the leaf, use a fine line pen and lightly draw the line over the scored lines.  I like to use a grey pen but you can use green or any color you want for the veins. 

To make the leaves realistic, you need to shape them.  Spritz the back of the leaves with a light mist of water and shape using the tweezers in the Flower Tool Kit.  

Shaped Leaves ready for a project.

I will be posting another blog post showing how to color Maple and Oak Leaves.