I can't seem to figure out how to get the leaf image in my footer to have a higher z-index (I tried in the inspector, not in my stylesheets). I'd like it to be on top of the section above it and on top of the section below it. I'd be willing to change it to an pseudo element if that would work better.
for it to be appeared on top of the section above you don't need to change the z-index, because your element is after the above element. you just have to let it show the overflow content so add
overflow:visible
to footer tag with this classes: "fusion-footer-widget-area fusion-widget-area"
for the section below it you need to add
z-index: 1
to the footer tag with id: "footer".