I have to laugh at the amount of leaves I pressed that year. It was lovely to have so many to choose from when I made this book, and I did use some in ATC's, but I must have pressed hundreds - really, several hundred - and I couldn't possibly have used more than fifty altogether at the time. I still have a drawer full of them, sadly fading, and probably destined to fade away to brittle bits. When that happens, I'll just go out collecting and press a couple hundred more.
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| Gold envelope for rubber stamped tag, maple leaves. |
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| Pocket for tag, postage stamp, tassel, rubber stamps. |
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| This page was another clear envelope with additional transparent pocket and vintage photo. |
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| Handmade paper with leaves embedded. Blackberry on the left. |
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| Postage stamp, and the same leaves as in the envelope. |
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| I edged this page and the next with latin names of my favorite trees. |
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| Postage stamp, rubber stamps, small envelope |
It was surprising how some of the prettiest leaves when pressed were quite unimpressive. The biggest surprise was how blackberry leaves kept a dainty red border. I found a laceleaf maple in glorious red and orange outside a Starbucks with very tiny leaves and I think I used every one of them in one project or another.
When I conceived this book, I went through all my materials and scraps to pull everything leaf-related. The process itself was great fun, but more importantly it reminded me what else I had waiting tucked away for other projects. It is often a joke among my friends how I continuously organize, sort, and arrange all my materials, but just going through them is an enormous inspiration - every bit as much as books and magazines.
