Published Permissions

Friday 31 March 2017

Discover....


Good morning!

A change of scheduled post this week as I've made this card as my contribution to the current Cards in Envy challenge of "Black and white" and I want to get it entered! - Cards in Envy is my absolute favourite challenge blog!.

I know that you automatically think of die cutting when you think of black and white but of course, I'm a stamper! So here is a stampers version of black and white!

I have only used white Sheena Stamping card, a black Momento ink pad, white structure paste, black gesso and an amber illustrator marker for the whole card which was fun.

So, from my blank piece of stamping card I stamped my focal image of the wonderful balloon in black Momento (Bee Crafty Art Stamp).  From there is was to concentrate on my background which has been done by simple wiping the ink pad across the page from both directions, pressing and drawing that ink pad inwards.  I just stamped some of the clouds from the main image (being careful not to catch the basket) and extended the clouds a little bit both sides.

The birds are from Lavinia Stamp.

Then structure paste (white) was pressed through an Indigoblu dinky stencil and some black gesso through another stencil (which was a great big swirl and I've used on a small portion of it).

The sentiments are cut down from some art journalling stamps by Indigoblu.

I then highlighted those with a bit of colour as the challenge suggested with an amber illustrator marker.

Another masculine card! Wahay!!!

Mat and layered with black and white card stock.

I would like to enter this in to the Cards in Envy challenge of "Black and White":-

Hope you've enjoyed a lesson in black and white today!

Thanks for dropping by today,
Leanne xx


Wednesday 29 March 2017

On Mother's Day Mum - This time it was to my Mum!


Good morning!

Here I am with my second make for Mothering Sunday - this time it's the card that I made for my Mum!

This card came together really well, I started with an A4 piece of Sheena Stamping card that I had coloured with distress inks and some Archival re-inkers.  Due to the card stock being very porous though, the re-inkers didn't travel, they just sank straight in to the card leaving splodges of colour in places. I then cut this A4 sheet in to a 6 x 6 inch square (to work on) and two smaller pieces that you can see that I have used in my mats and layers behind.

Ok, now the main image was stamped (Stampendous - Classic Roses).  This was stamped in blue Versafine ink and then painted in with some Distress Ink and finished off with some chalk paint. 

Some stencils were used next with some Distress Ink and then a couple of other stencils with some clear embossing paste so that they didn't detract anything from that main image.

As with the Mother's Day card on Monday, I have used the Clarity Stamp alphabet stamps for the sentiments.  This time I stamped them on to vellum and set with clear embossing powder again.

An organza bow and some mats and layers to the main artwork and then I just added a mat to that backing piece as well.


Took this photo to show you the lovely glisten of the clear embossing paste.


So here was the card that I made from me and James .........


....... and here is the card that went to Nan from my daughter Katie! - now this is VERY UP MY MOTHER'S STREET!!!!!!! This is of course with one of my all time favourite craft manufacturers - Sheena Douglass stamps and stencil.

Needless to say, she loved them both !!!!!

Hope you've enjoyed my Mother's Day makes over this post and on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xxxx









Monday 27 March 2017

On Mother's Day Mum............


Good morning!

Thought I'd share a card with you today that I made for my Mother-in Law for Mothering Sunday yesterday.

Must admit, this was made a while ago now so calling on my memory banks to recall what I did with this one!!!


I only took the two photo's while prepping this one so I'll talk you through it as always.

This card started life as a piece of coated card stock (shiny surface) that I'd had great fun with using some spritzed Distress Ink and "swooshed" the card stock through on the craft mat.  Due to the very nature of the shiny card stock, the water and ink makes a wonderful effect when it "sits" on there - dried it off quite quickly to get some nice run effects.

The head image was then stamped (Indigoblu) with black versafine ink and as this is oil based of course, it wouldn't dry in a hurry so I covered it with a layer of clear embossing powder and heated to set it.

The butterfly border came next (Carabelle Studio) and was stamped again in versafine and set with clear embossing powder.


You will notice that I have stamped one of the butterflies on to some white copier paper, cut it out and pieced it on to that original stamped border to let that one stand out a bit from the rest.

The sentiments have been stamped from the Clarity Stamp alphabet and I had great fun with some stencils and some Indigoblu super thick slap it on and their luscious powders mixed in too.

Matted and layered.

Thought the colours on this one were really effective with such crisp and bold stamping.

Pleased with this one! (Hope she liked it too!).

Thanks for stopping by today,
Leanne xxx






Friday 24 March 2017

My five Christmas cards for March!


Good morning to you!

Well, here I am, right on form with my offering of my five Christmas cards for March!  

My news years resolution was to complete five Christmas cards every month through the year and so far, I'm right on track!

Again, just like any batch make, the cards are similar but not identical so I've taken photo's of all five so that you can take a closer peak:-




These have all been made using my gelli plate, I have stamped the trees straight on to the gelli plate (I think that these are Clarity Stamp) and also the snowflakes but they were stamped WITHOUT INK so that they actually picked the ink back off of the gelli plate (so that you can see white snowflakes in the background).

Now, I've done all sorts of different things with the trees! Some I've enhanced a bit with my polychromo pencils, others I have coloured in with the some Momento pear tart ink pad but all I have covered in the most gorgeous chunky glitter!  My beautiful stag (Inkylicious) has been stamped in versafine ink and a tiny bit of soft charcoal pencil applied to the ground where he is standing to ground him.  More snowflakes were stamped directly on to the finished artwork and again, directly on to the 7 x 7 card - I thought that looked quite pretty when all layered up - well, I say layered up, I've not actually layered anything!!!!! I've used a black alcohol pen and edged around the artwork so that it looks like I've used a black mat!!! - saved on the black card stock!!!

There, month three, mission complete!!!!!

Hope you liked your visit today and picked up some new techniques,

Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xx





Wednesday 22 March 2017

Visible Image - Stay Curious............




Good morning!

A short extra post this week for you and especially for my friend Sandra!

Here are my efforts with one of the new release stamp sets from Visible Image.

I have put my take on two different pieces of artwork.  I wanted to keep the paint work quite "loose" on the first one and I didn't use the whiskers in the stamp set as I felt I wanted to paint my own on there - make them bigger, make them more dramatic! So I made this card nice and busy with the face coming right through the middle at you.

The second card came from a completely different direction in that I started with more of a mixed media feel in this one with some old torn pages, putting the cat amongst the flowers with the butterflies - looking like it is up to complete mischief - just like my cat "Charlie"! I have enhanced the eyes and put more of a"face" to this one.

It's so fascinating to me, how we can see how our friends interpret the same stamp but come up with completely different ideas with it - this is a fabulous stamp set to own and it's possibilities are endless.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today and hope you like what I've done with this stamp set.



Thanks for stopping by,

I'd like to enter this in to the following challenge:-
Craft Stamper - Anything Goes -

Leanne xx













Monday 20 March 2017

Learn To Dance In The Rain!


Good morning!

Here is something a bit "fresh" looking for you today!

How is this card to keep you in a positive mind set! " Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain" - absolutely! There is too much in life to drag you backwards these days, I'm a very positive person and I always look to the bright side (that glass is always half full!) and when I came across this sentiment stamp in my stash I decided to use it!

Lets take our journey and see how I got there....


OK, I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping card that I'd had a previous play with using my gelli plate.  Here I have used my misti to place down my rubber stamp of some blotches where I wanted it to look like rain was falling. Have to confess, I have no idea the maker of the stamps here!



I have stamped my image of the girl here - Inkylicious - (second generation stamp so that it wasn't too bold - I wanted everything to look a bit "washed out!".  I then placed some blobs of watercolour paint at her feet and blew them outwards with a straw so that it looked like she was splashing in a puddle.  The raindrops were stamped on (Designs By Ryn) and some glossy accents have been added over the top of them. The sentiment was last which matched perfectly (again, Inkylicious). 


A couple of mats and layers and I was done! You can see the glossy accents on the raindrops a bit better here. I have swiped some ink across the page using an ink duster sprayed with water to give that impression of wet ground.

Quite a quick card to produce for me but great fun, quite "loose" work, I achieved what I wanted -  the feeling of water all around.

Hope you've enjoyed todays journey,
Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xx



Friday 17 March 2017

It's not what you look at that matters.............


Good morning!

Thought I'd have a go at the Cards In Envy latest challenge of "Keep it Simple" - couldn't be further from the norm for me could it?!!!!!!! - I like messy and complicated!!!!!

OK, so simple it was and of course, simple would generally be a bit of a faster make too so lets see how I got there shall we?:-


Right, here we go, I've got myself a piece of 6 x 6 Sheena Stamping Card and I've used some low tack stencil tape to mark off the area in which I want to work.  To ensure I wasn't "on the wonk" I actually measured down the sides of the card stock so that I could place the tape on perfectly.

I stamped my eye image (Inkylicious) and then just masked the eye off with masking fluid.


Just loved doing this! Then I stamped out all of the tiny peg stamps (Rubber Stamp Tapestry) with Momento dew drop ink pads - I've had these stamps for years and years and actually thought that the company wasn't still active but it is!

I then used an ink duster to add some background colour between those lines of stencil tape and stamped some of the lovely little wooden peg stamps around the eye.

Then rubbed away the masking fluid from the eye.


Stencil tape removed and colour applied to the eye and glossy accents over the top. Stamped the sentiment (also Inkylicious) and I was done!

Matted and layered on to white layers.

Perfect for a woman of any age!

I would like to enter this in to the Cards in Envy challenge - Keep it Simple:-

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great weekend,
Leanne xx









Tuesday 14 March 2017

Flowers Whisper What Words Cannot Say............


Good morning!

I've created this card using watercolour pencils - had a whole lot of fun so lets see how I got there....

Spring is in the air don't you think?!!!


Instead of taking photo's along the way I've taken one of how I get there with watercolour pencils - and I'll explain!

I first marked out my square which in this case is 7 x 7 inches in pencil. I am working on a watercolour block pad (the pages are sealed to help with minimal movement of the paper).

Now, to get that wonderful light background I have actually used three colours of Inktense watercolour pencils and have shaved off some of the pencil tips using a craft knife.  You don't need that much of the pencil tip shavings to create your lovely "loose" background.  So, once you've got your shavings on there just spritz gently with water and see it move!

I stamped my image (Sheena Douglass Magnolia stamp) first of course and have then gone in with the pencils with the three colours from the challenge swatch.  The joy of having such a lovely watercolour pad and the large page size is that you can always use the rest of the page as your testing palette.  Here you can see how I experimented with the pencils and tried them out first before putting them on the actual design.

The sentiment (which I think was a Justrite one) has been stamped using Spectrum Aqua Markers direct to the stamp, spritzed gently and then stamped - it gives you this lovely watercolour effect to the sentiment.

I have added some flowers that also came in the same Sheena Douglass Magnolia stamp set - again, you can see how I've tested those on the page before going direct to the artwork.

When I was happy with the water colouring, I added Glossy Accents to the petals of the flowers.


You can see the Glossy Accents a bit closer here.


Matted and layered on to two mats which have been coloured with Spectrum Aqua Markers in matching colours. Oh, and I doodled some of my own designs on there too!!!!

I thought this shouted Spring or even Easter?

Hope you like this one and particularly how I work with watercolours and test before adding to the final result.

Thanks for stopping by today,
Leanne xx

I would like to enter this in to the following challenges:-

Rubber Dance March Colour Challenge:-

Artistic Stamper - Springtime:-

The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes:-

Stamplorations - Sketch and Stamp - Stamps and Spring:-












Sunday 12 March 2017

Modes of Transport...........for Fashionable Stamping Challenges.


Good morning!

Well, here I am with my inspiration DT piece for Fashionable Stamping Challenges and our new theme for this month "Modes of Transport".

I've gone along with the theme by using an Explorer and his hot air balloon!

I have started here with watercolour card stock and firstly stamped my explorer ((Kanban Crafts).


I then covered him with drawing gum to mask him off.





Then out with my Aqua Tints!  I swept over the page with the colours and then went for some lovely drips from the top and stamped my hot air balloon.


Here I have added some script on there, a compass and the word explore (Clarity Stamp).


Made those drips a bit deeper in colour and added the words North, East, South and West (Kanban).  Also added the trees in the distance (I think these are Inkylicious) and made some Aqua Tints run a bit so that it looked like those trees were grounded on a hill.

Painted in the explorer at this stage too.


There!  Matted and layered on some newspaper print card stock and I was done.

Please join us over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.

REMEMBER - the focal point of your artwork must be rubber stamping - no digi stamps.

Thanks for stopping by.
Leanne x






Friday 10 March 2017

The greatest revelation is stillness.....


Good morning!

I've had a go at the current Chocolate Baroque challenge with their colour swatch and inspiration:

Had fun with this one but boy, am I untidy and messy when paints come out of the drawers!!!!

I've taken a few photo's along the way so lets take our journey and see how I got there with this one.


I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping Card and painted a complete layer of green chalk paint over it to give me a base.  I then started stamping, stencilling and simply sponging with some mixed media stamps and the other two colours from the recommended colour swatch - also in chalk paint.


OK, at this point I had stamped my Buddha (Chocolate Baroque)  and embossed in Copper Wow embossing powder.  I felt I needed to give her a sense of stillness of her own so I used some Indigoblu Luscious powder mixed in to their ultra thick slap it on paste and stencilled all around her.  Some Luscious powder was mixed with water and I painted in her robes in the same colour (Penny Dreadful - a beautiful copper).


My mats and layers also needed to match the colour swatch so I used the same Luscious powder to paint the first mat and one of the chalk paints to paint the outer mat.


The joy of using metallic colours!!!! They look fantastic but taking photo's of them is a different story!!!!!  I've popped this one on so that you can see the beautiful shine from the copper metallics used on here. I added some stamped Lotus flowers and the sentiment (all Chocolate Baroque).


There, that's as good as I could get!!  You can now see those lovely mats and layers all matching in.

She looks peaceful and still don't you think?

Well, I hope you enjoyed how I got there, I should have taken a photo of my craft table when I'd finished!!!!! ooooh, some cleaning up and wiping down to do I think!!!!


I would like to enter this in to the Chocolate Baroque Challenge 32 :-

Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xx










Tuesday 7 March 2017

Let Your Heart Be Still and Hear The Whisper of Wings......


Good morning!!

Here is my offering for the current challenge over at Country View Challenges "Inspired by Tim Holtz".

I got straight on with this one so didn't take photo's along the way but I'll talk you through how I got there.

I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping card and used two distress inks and simply swiped them across the page - effective isn't it?.

I then stamped the nest and to stop it looking like it was completely floating I extended the branches with a micron pen.


Now, the eggs caused me a slight dilemma simply down to their size!  So I thought that I would stamp one of them three times on to shrink plastic and shrink them down to fit the nest! I cut a slit in the nest with my craft knife and popped them in there with some glue.


So, bringing you back to the main image, my eggs are now sitting nicely in the nest! I stamped my birds, the one on the left is stamped with versafine ink straight on to the card stock and the one on the right has been reversed by stamping it on to tissue paper first and then attached to the artwork with decoupage glue and then tinted in.

I stamped my sentiment which I thought was perfect for this piece.

The main mat has been stamped with the egg (full size) and the feather that comes in the same Stampers Anonymous set again using the same distress inks.

I finished with some feathers that coordinated with the colour scheme and just tinted the very outside edge of the card with the distress ink.

Yet another card that would be suitable for both a female or male recipient !

I would like to enter this in to the Country View Challenges "Inspired by Tim Holtz":-

Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xx



Sunday 5 March 2017

The Sky Is The Limit.................


Good morning!

A quick post this morning to show you this card that I have made for the Cards In Envy challenge of "Red and Blue".

I started this card with a cloud stencil that I brushed with distress ink and just kept moving the stencil down the page until I got this lovely sky full of clouds.

You will see that about 2/3 down the page I changed so that the landscape became hills but kept to exactly the same colour scheme.

I then stamped my planes (For The Love of Stamps - Enjoy the Journey) and painted them in with distress inks.

Using exactly the same distress ink I stamped my compass twice and the sentiment which are again from the same stamp set.

A few splatters and birds and I was done! - another masculine card - brilliant!

Hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by,

I would like to enter this into the Cards In Envy challenge of "Red and Blue":-

Leanne x




Friday 3 March 2017

Inspiration for hand drawing..."Inspire"....


Good morning!

How are you today?  I'm going to take you rather "off piste" today and our journey is down a road we rarely take so I hope that you enjoy it!

Now, I was inspired to have a go at this piece of artwork by Kay at Indigoblu - from her show on Hochanda using Gelatos.  So I thought, lets have a go and see what happens!  Quite a lot happened and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  So lets see how I got to the finished piece of work:-


OK, I started by marking off a 7 x 7 inch square on my watercolour block pad and I pencilled in the face being careful to try and get everything in to proportion as Kay had showed us how to do.


Don't panic! - All was going very well!!!!  In came the Gelatos and I started to build up the facial colours and leave some open patches where I knew I needed light on the finished result.


The hair had started here and I also started to go deeper with the facial tones.


More work on the hair and the blending of it and further work with the Gelatos on the face too. It's coming together!




Some Imagination Crafts Starlights were added through a stencil here.


Ta dahhh!!!!! Finished! Added a few colour matching gems and the sentiment "Inspire" (Clarity Stamp Alphabet Stamps) then mat and layered and mounted on to an 8 x 8 card.

There, something a bit different but give it a go! It was really motivational to see it coming to life. I hope this has inspired you to have a go drawing your own designs.

No stamping, just purely hand drawn, if I can do it, so can you!

Hope you enjoyed our journey today, down a road we've never been down before.

Thanks for stopping by,
Leanne xx