Thankful for Friend

Yes, the text on the card is not even on purpose.

This card was made especially for a nature-loving friend of mine. I was a little sad the blueprints didn't show up very well, but if anyone can tell what the leaves are without needing to look them up, it's her. I am very thankful and grateful to have her in my life as a friend.

I'm entering this card into four challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Challenge October 2018: Give Thanks!
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Thanks/Thanksgiving
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Thanks/Thanksgiving
and Frilly and Funky Challenge: A Harvest of Gratitude.

Materials
Lawn Fawn Hello Friend Stamps
Lawn Fawn Jump for Joy Stamps
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Mini Autumn Blueprint Cling Stamps
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Great Outdoors CMS321
Prima Marketing, Inc. Cling Stamp #582678 wood grain design*(see warning below)

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor Markers
• for Oak: 050 yellow, 070 orange, 052 bright yellow, 060 brown, and 029 geranium red
• for Birch: 053 yellow green, 051 lemon yellow, and 050 yellow
• for Maple: 060 brown, 022 carmine red, and 020 red
Ranger Distress Oxide Inks in: Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs, and Walnut Stain
Ranger Distress Ink in: Antique Linen
Colorbox Pigment Ink in Rose Gold
Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder in Potting Soil
The Old World Mat Stack paper

Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tools
Tonic Studios - Tim Holtz Paper Distresser
Recollections Paper Flowers
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive: 159723
Metal Tip for Adhesive Bottles: 352854

*I would advise against trying to use this particular stamp. It has never produced a good impression when used with any type of stamping tool or stamp block, despite multiple attempts and much finagling. The only way I got this stamped was to take it off the stamping tool and mash down the center by hand.

Other Materials
card: A7 size, kraft; brown paper; watercolor paper; scissors; paper trimmer; craft mat; heat gun; stamping tool such as the MISTI; Scotch Advanced Tape Glider; and pop dots

Instructions
Starting with your kraft card, ink the edges with Gathered Twigs, lightening as you move inwards. Take a sheet of green-ish paper from The Old World Mat Stack and use the paper distresser on all four edges. Because of the way this paper tears, you may need to use it on both sides of the edge to get the desired effect. Go over the distressed edges with a blending tool and the Distress Oxide in Antique Linen.

On the brown sheet of paper, stamp the wood grain design in Rose Gold and cover with Potting Soil Embossing Powder. Shake off excess powder and melt the remaining powder with your heat gun. Trim to the edge of the stamp impression on the paper. Gently tear off two opposite edges to achieve the ragged effect in the final photo. On the remaining brown paper, stamp the tree cross-section in Walnut Stain and fussy cut out around the outer edge. (You can tell how much my friend means to me; I despise fussy cutting and usually avoid it as all costs, but tree cross-section!)

On the watercolor paper, use the Distress Ink in Antique Linen to stamp out the three leaves. Listed above are the colors for each leaf, in the approximate order that I used them. When the leaves are colored to your satisfaction, cut out each leaf blueprint and ink the edges with Distress Oxide Antique Linen.

Using either the ATG or glue, affix the green paper to the front of your card in the center, followed by the brown wood grain. Before adding other dimensional elements, figure the position your sentiment needs to be stamped in and use Distress Oxide Walnut Stain to do so. Inside the card stamp your preferred greeting also in Walnut Stain; I chose a stamp from the "Hello Friends" Lawn Fawn set (note that it is a retired stamp set). I was glad I used my stamping tool for that because it did take two tries to get the saturation I was looking for in the ink.

Use pop dots to affix the tree cross-section to the bottom right front of the card. Glue the leaves onto it next, and finish with gluing on the paper flowers. Give to someone who means a lot to you.

I kept the inside of the card simple.