Simon Says Challenge : Monochrome

Hi Everyone!!
Today I'm making a masculine and "fall-ish" card as the first day of fall was just a few days ago. 
Monochrome is the Simon Says challenge and to me it means Distress Oxide Inks!

I dug out my SU Vintage Leaves stamp set which is one of my very favorites especially when it comes to masculine cards. Flowers for the girls, leaves for the boys!

I knew right off the bat that I was going to some ink lifting for the monochrome challenge. I sponged everything with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide. Made sure the entire paper was COMPLETELY dry before proceeding to embossing the leaves. This means, applying anti-static powder, stamping leaves with Versamark and applying clear embossing powder.....

 .... then heat setting ...

 Now the real fun begins. I sprayed some water on the card and started lifting the color. If you have never done lifting before, you can see my post on color lifting with distress oxide. I also added more ink to the edges to make them extra dark and thus the leaves pop out more...

I stamped couple of the leaves with Versamark on SU Early Espresso card stock (that is the color for the card base as well), embossed them with champagne embossing powder and cut them out. I layered three "celebrate" cut outs to create a thicker die cut. The leaves are glued by their stems only and a foam pop up is used to give  the body of the leaf a little lift. This picture shows the dimension a little bit better.

OK, so this WAS my original card.....

 And this is my adjusted card.....

 

Yes, 'You' got a little embossing face lift! I like it better that way because of the pop! Enjoy!