Like the leaf veins that her artwork captures, Karee Vaughn says her love for plants runs in her bloodline.

Vaughn’s great-great-great grandfather, who worked as a gardener for the queen of England, moved from England to Independence. Her family once owned the entire small block near Vaughn’s Independence home at 1421 N. Main St.

“So, it must be in my blood somewhere,” Vaughn says, “and then I saw an impression of a leaf and figured out it was in cement, so I started studying cement properties.”

Then, Vaughn just went crazy, she says.

She started growing plants in her backyard that she wouldn’t normally grow because of their leaves’ sizes or characteristics. She’d make 20 to 30 cement impressions at a time.

Known as ‘Bout Leaves, the leaf castings started as a part-time business venture for Vaughn in spring 2003.

She attended shows with the castings in her first several years but hasn’t attended shows since 2006 because of the poor economy. Vaughn says she’s sold her artwork to residents in almost every U.S. state and enjoys seeing others’ responses – especially men.

“It’s astonishing and great to see a man react to something when the wife that’s with him has no interest whatsoever,” Vaughn says. “When you get a man that really looks at it really interestingly – sometimes more so than the women – that’s what it’s really about.”

Any leaf can be cast, but the best leaves are those with larger veins on their backs because they encapsulate the character of the depth, Vaughn says.

“That was the fun part because I’d find myself driving around and I wouldn’t concentrate on the road because I was looking at everything,” she says. “Then, people would start bringing me leaves that I didn’t have. I’d have to refrigerate them because they need to be fresh.”

A leaf is only cast once, Vaughn says. Rhubarb leaves and burdock weed leaves create the best casts because textures leave interesting and special impressions, she says.

The cement will set within 24 hours so Vaughn can work with them further. She only paints the veins in elephant ear plants.

“It’s all in there, so I never know what it’s going to look like until after I turn it over and take that leaf off,” Vaughn says. “It’s like a big surprise every time.”

Because she grew up poor, Vaughn says she taught herself to sew in sixth grade – she watched her mother on a sewing machine, picked up a pattern herself and started in. The only art class she took was in ninth grade, though she was graded low on a particular assignment. In a pencil-sketching exercise, Vaughn was graded down because “she took a different view” by sketching only one corner of an antique desk instead of the entire desk.

Everything that she makes or creates is artistic in some fashion, including the  rehabilitation of her 1920s home, Vaughn says. “I never do anything simply. I always try to elaborate or ‘What kind of wow can I do?’” Vaughn says. “I get bored too easily.”

Through Etsy, a commercial Web site that allows people to buy and to sell handmade items, Vaughn sells her impressions and homemade greeting cards that feature actual leaves. Though she hasn’t received any feedback since she started her Etsy sales in December 2008, Vaughn says she hopes the sales will contribute to the improvement of Main Street as it leads into the Independence Square.

“With me working on my own house, it gets people started,” Vaughn says, “but I would like to go somewhere with that to help improve the old neighborhoods.”