I created this fall page on a 12”x12” white page. Color and clay are the perfect accents for a fun trip to the pumpkin patch. Wow your friends and family with this professional looking page that incorporates very simple techniques.

(Click on images for larger view)

Materials:

• 12”x12” piece scrapbook paper
• Autumn Leaf Saying & Fine Leaves Collage Background stamps from Stampmagick.com
• ColorBox fluid chalk inkpad (autumn pastels palette)
• Stipple brush or sponge tip brush
• Premo!Sculpey polymer clays in fall colors (I used Gold #5303 and Copper #5018)
• Sculpey III polymer clay in Leaf Green #322
• Polyform Four Seasons Push Mold Set (#APM40)
• Shadetex texture sheet (Any shallow texture will do. I used Swirly Dots #SAP5 MT-1015 from www.clayfactory.com)
• Straight blade and wavy blade
• Optional: 2” square cutter
• 1 sheet vellum (light color)
• Glue Dots super-strong dots
• Optional: colored brads

Note: Pasta Machine settings are based on the Atlas brand where #1 is the widest setting.

Stamping the Background:

	1. Lay your scrapbook paper on a sturdy, flat table. Turn the Fine Leaves Collage Background stamp upside-down so the rubber stamp area is facing up. Randomly paint areas of the stamp using ClearSnap ColorBox fluid chalks. I applied the yellow, gold, and orange tones until the stamp surface was covered (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1
2. A neat feature of the ColorBox fluid chalk palettes is that you can remove individual colors for stamping. Remove the chocolate brown from the palette. Gently stamp it over the colored surface of the rubber stamp (Fig. 2). Immediately stamp the upper-left hand corner of your paper. (Note: You can skip this step for a more subtle look to the leaves. I like that the chocolate brown makes the leaf veins “pop” -- see Fig. 3 for an example of each type of stamping).
Fig. 2	Fig. 3
3. Repeat coloring and stamping steps until you have stamped each corner and the center of the scrapbook paper. You should have a pattern that resembles an “x”.  Please note: I used 4”x6” pictures for the finished page. If you have smaller pictures you may want to stamp additional areas of the scrapbook paper before continuing. 4. After the ink has dried, arrange your pictures on the scrapbook page. You may have areas where you still see white/light areas of the paper showing. Don’t worry. You will use your clay embellishments to cover these areas. Don’t be afraid to cut or alter your pictures (Notice the picture in the top right hand corner of the completed scrapbook page -- it has been pulled from the picture on the bottom and blown up to highlight the sign). DO NOT glue them down yet! You may want to move pieces around as the page progresses.
Autumn Saying:
	1. Condition and blend together equal amounts of green and gold clays (about ¼ block each). Roll the resulting blend through your pasta machine from a #1 setting to a #4 setting. 2. Run the texture sheet under water and shake off excess water. Place the clay sheet on wet side of texture sheet. Roll through pasta machine on #4 (note: if you choose a thicker texture, dial the pasta machine back to #3 before rolling this step). Peel the clay sheet off the texture sheet and place clay on your work surface. 3. Cut out a 2” square of clay, either with a cutter or with your straight blade. Set aside the rest of the textured sheet for later.
Fig. 4
4. Condition ½ block of gold clay. Roll into a short, fat log (about 3” long). Twist the log until you can see the mica stripes in the log (FYI for newbies: Twisting the gold clay disrupts the mica particles in the clay and makes it looks like stripes inside the shiny gold log). Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand or your fingertips. Roll through pasta machine at #4. Cut out 2” square. Set aside the rest of the gold sheet. 5. Stamp “Autumn…” saying on the square of gold clay using black or chocolate brown ink. Cut edges of stamped square with the wavy blade. Place stamped clay on top of the textured green square. 6. Condition a small amount of copper clay. If you would like to soften the dark copper color, mix in an equal amount of gold clay. Using the Polyform Four Seasons mold, press bits of clay into the leaf molds. Pop out the clay leaves and place several on the corner of your stamped saying (Fig. 4). 7. Bake for 30 minutes at 275degrees. Let cool. Go to Page Two