Fall Into Fall Layout

This is my sample layout for my Gypsy class.  My goal is to have 2 classes a month, one a layout and the other a card.  This month's theme is Fall.

I used this leaf from A Child's Year.  I used Hide Contour (see below) to hide all of the veins.  Note:  if you hide the veins on the first leaf, every leaf you copy will have the veins hidden.  Otherwise, you waste a lot of time hiding contour!!!

  I wanted the leaves to point down as though they were falling, so I used the Flip button to flip the leaf.  Note:  you can just cut it out right side up and glue it down upside down.

I wanted 5 leaves, so I used the Copy & Paste button to make 4 copies.  I wanted a top layer of leaves the same size, so I copied one more leaf and put it on Layer 2.  Back to Layer 1, I lined up 5 leaves down the mat by making the x coordinates all the same value.  Then I rotated the leaves alternating -.30 and .30.  I overlapped the leaves a bit and welded them together.

On Layer 2, copy more leaves and arrange them on the mat so you can easily cut out 4 colors of leaves.

I opened Layer 3 and used Don Juan for the title.  This is a great font to use for welding.  I wanted my title to be vertical, so I stacked the words on top of one another and overlapped just a bit.  I copied the word "into" because I wanted to make a second layer in a different color.  Then I welded the title together.

Hide Contour button on the Advanced Menu allows you to hide cuts from your image.  I used this to hide the veins on the leaf.

Flip upside down button.  I used this to flip my leaves.

Rotate Button is used to turn images.  I turned the leaves for my border .30 and -.30, alternating the leaves.  Once you press the rotate button, you can use the arrows or the keypad to change the value.

I inked the edges of the background paper, photo mats and the leaves with Vintage Photo Distressing Ink and my fantastyx.

Here are the leaf borders.  I used two different colors of leaves for interest.

Here are the leaves to layer on top of the border.

Here is the title assembled.

I typically make a 2-page layout and thought it looked the best with the darker borders on the outside of the two pages.

Once I inked everything, I glued it down.  I left some of the border leaves showing (I did not cover all of them up).  I folded the leaves in half before I glued them down to give them dimension.  I also inked the main vein lines.

Here is the second page.  I used the extra leaves to frame the picture.  The yellow rectangle is for journaling.  I recently cleaned out my ribbon stash and found this gold sheer ribbon and decided it NEEDED to go on this page somewhere!!!

Once again, here is my finished 2-page layout for fall.  I can't wait to take some photos to add to this layout....I just love fall colors!