Hi there!

Just sharing another of my Visible Image makes - and for a change (and a rarity) it's a CAS card!!!

I've used the Visible Image Phoenix Rising stamp set with some extra splashes of ink and some antique silver frantage embossing enamel.

I decided (don't know why!) to removed some of the central ink with water and paint in a moon/sun......in my arty head I felt that the rising of a phoenix should be accompanied with the rising of a moon or sun too!

Clean and simple and no fingerprints!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

Octopus .....For The Men In My Life.......

 

Hi there!

This creation was made for my entry in to Sweet Poppy Stencil's "For The Men In My Life" challenge for June.

I had great fun with this one.  The background is a spray ink background.  I allowed it to thoroughly dry overnight and then popped Sweet Poppy's translucent paste over the Octopus stencil.  You have to be very patient with this technique as there is a lot of drying time involved!  So, when the translucent paste had dried nice and clear, I went over and around the octopus with a dark blue distress ink which of course, left the lovely, multi coloured octopus behind!

I then used white texture paste through Sweet Poppy's circle links stencil and sprayed over those with more spray inks.

Popped on the sentiments (which are also Sweet Poppy's) and mat and layered to a finish.

Perfect for both male or feminine card!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Every Dream Begins With A Wish......

 

Hello there!

This card was my entry in to Lavinia Stamps Challenge last month of "My Favourite Colour".

I have used the beautiful Jalandhar jelly fish stamp which I embossed in white and coloured using my coloured pencils.  I also used Arlo the fish and highlighted him with a pastel pencil.  The stencils Flourish and Coral have been used in the background and it was finished with some Lavinia bubble stamps and the sentiment "Every dream begins with a wish".

What a beautiful stamp Jalandhar is!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

We Rise by Lifting Others.......

 

Hey there!

I'm sharing this creation that I've made using some of my Visible Image stamps.

Many people ask where I get my ideas from or how I got to the finished result so today I've got a couple of step by step photo's so that I can explain what I did with this one.

Believe it or not, I often don't start with much of a clue of what I'm going to do with a stamp set and because my style is experimental, it often changes very much along the way!!! So here we go.....

Ok, so I chose a piece of card that I'd sprayed with my ink sprays previously (this was a yellow and pink sprayed piece) and I stamped the eyes from Visible Image's Face It stamp set in black versafine clair ink and clear embossed over the top to seal it.  The eyes were then covered with some masking fluid. I then used my Ecoline liquid watercolour in black to give an ombre effect coming down from the top of the page using a 1 inch watercolour flat brush - this darkened that original sprayed piece of card perfectly for me.

To this, I used the Visible Image Into The Woods stamp set (the stand alone tree central in the set) and firstly stamped using versafine smokey grey inkpad and then applied my Dylusions yellow and orange paints to the stamp with a dauber and had lots of fun.

I have now rubbed away the masking fluid from the eyes (they still look a little pink as remember, I had used a yellow/pink ink sprayed piece of card to start with).  Now I stamped the pheonix from Visible Image stamp set Phoenix Rising in black versafine clair ink and covered that with black embossing powder to cover any areas that were struggling to cover over the Dylusions paint - note, some of the emobossing powder caught the damp paint but that's ok - it adds to the effect!

....... and here is the finished card.  You will see that I have coloured the whites of the eyes with a grey watercolour pen and highlighted with white pastel pencil. The eyes have been coloured with an orange watercolour pen. and then I have used black, orange and white pastel pencils to take the glow of the flames up in to the eyes. Matted on to another piece of card that I had blended mustard seed and Kitsch Flamingo distress inks on to and used another of the stamps within the Pheonix Rising set with versafine clair ink.  The sentiment is also in the Pheonix Rising set and I have white embossed on to black card for this.

Well, hope you stuck with me, a lengthy post and hope that you got a small glimpse in to how my mind works to achieve the effects that I need!

Thanks for stopping by!

Leanne xxxxx

Bold and Beautiful........

 

Hi there!

Have neglected my blog a little bit because I've been so busy - mainly in the garden at this time of the year!

So this week, I cleared a day so that I could go and play in my craft room.

Here, I am sharing a make with my Visible Image stamps.  I have used the FACE IT stamp set and INTO THE WOODS along with the sentiment which is from OWN IT.

This creation started as a cling film technique background in some gorgeous spray ink warm tones.  I then stamped away with my stamped and used my pastel pencils to add detail.  The eyes were repainted in with white paint so that they looked really intense.

The sentiment is white embossed.

Hope you like it - something rather dramatic.....well, what else from me?!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

Through a mother's eyes........

 

Hello!

Well, we've had a little bit of card making, and a little bit of horticulture so it's now time for a little bit of painting!!!! Now that I'm on the design team for Visible Image I am very much continuing from crafting journey too and I will be sharing some of those makes as and when time allows me to!

So today I'm sharing a painting that I've recently done of my youngest daughter Katie - I painted this from a photograph that was taken about 3 years ago when she was dressed up ready for her school ball - here is the photo that I had for reference....

I have called this painting "Through a mother's eyes".

Not having done much human portraiture I was really pleased with how this came out. Rendered in Daniel Smith watercolours, pastel pencils and black posca pen.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne. xxxx

A look in to my horticultural side........

 

Hi there,

Well, thought that as this is my personal blog, I should start to share some personal things about myself as well as my creative and crafting life!

So, let me introduce you to "Eric" my Monstera (swiss cheese plant/tree!).  He lives in my orangery here at home and stands at almost 8 feet tall.  The second photograph shows you that he has reached maturity and is about to flower (there are actually two flowers forming, the other one is just to the left of that big one but much smaller at the moment). It is very rare to have a swiss cheese plant flower indoors so he is very much enjoying life.  The flowers do bare fruit which takes about 12-14 months to ripen and tastes a little bit like a pineapple crossed with a banana ......not sure that I'll be eating it!!!!! Look at all those aerial roots that he is putting out, when these grow down to the pot, I poke them back in to the pot to suck up further nutrients from the soil.

As well as an orchid collector, I am also a collector of African Violets too (named varieties) so here are a couple of my very young plants flowering for the first time - here we have "Ian Fun" and "The Shining Bell" - both are small plants but are a delight to have around the house.  You will notice the plastic pot underneath that top photograph, this is because I use a wicking system for watering my AV's so that is the reservoir pot!

Hope you enjoyed a little trip down personal alley today, I think it's nice to share my other interests as I have sooooo many!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx