EH Pin-Sights - Happy Thanksgiving

Good morning! Here's my card for the current Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge:

I was totally captivated by the rich colours in the leaf photo - from greens to yellows to that deep purple, and I knew I wanted to use those, so I started to experiment.

I started with what I know best - Distress Inks. I blended a full 4.25x5.5 panel of Neenah with Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick, Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey and Forest Moss. I loved the depth of the colours. I then took a leaf stamp and started stamping with water (spritzed the stamp with water, held it on the panel for about 4 or 5 seconds). The immediate effect was less than impressive. 

So I thought I would try Distress Inks on watercolour cardstock to see if the water would be more noticeable. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the same intensity of colour on that cardstock and really, the water didn't seem to work at all. 

Next, I tried Distress Oxides on watercolour. They blend beautifully and the water lifted pretty well, but the colours I have were not quite right.

After doing all this, I looked back at  my first panel and could see that while they effect was still subtle, it really had developed a bit as everything dried. Of all my work, this one was the one I liked best.

I cut a few full leaves from the first panel I had created and then blended a narrower strip and stamped the leaves a little closer together so that they would be visible even on the smaller surface.

I created my sentiment with stamps from two different stamp sets. They have a similar line weight and hand-written feel, so they work well together.

I used: