Autumn Birthday Wishes For You........

Good morning!

Let me introduce you to an Autumnal friend - "Fleabag" the hedgehog - isn't he just fabulous!!!!?

This has to be one of my all time favourite stamps, it's from Polyanna Pickering.

Well, the summer has gone and the Autumn has set in so it is time to get Fleabag back out of his storage box!

I took some photo's along the way so shall we take a journey?

I started with (unusual for me) a cream piece of card stock.  Can you guess the first stamp that was used??????.............

Yes, it's the leaf on Fleabags' head.  I masked that off with masking fluid and then stamped Fleabag himself and masked him off too.

Then one by one, stamped out the lovely leaves (Inkylicious) and masked those to allow for others to fall behind them.  Painted them in with distress inks and masked them all over.

Now, I always have an idea in my head of where I'm going with a piece of artwork but I wasn't sure just how I was going to get there with this one!  I knew that I wanted the effect of wood or bark behind Fleabag and only had an embossing folder with that effect on it so in "good old fashioned Leanne style" I embossed a piece of funky foam.........can you see where I'm going with this???.....

Yes! You've got it! I wiped my distress ink pad down it and used it as a rubber (or rather "foam" stamp!!!!!).  PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!

I rubbed away all of the masking fluid and added a highlight of paint here and there and added a bit of darkness underneath Fleabag so that he wasn't floating so much.  Added the sentiment "Autumn Birthday Wishes For You".

Matted and layered.

I think he's happy there amongst the leaves.......don't you?

Very happy with this card, very happy indeed.

I would like to enter this in to the Cards In Envy challenge - Goodbye Summer, Hello FALL!.

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/goodbye-summer-hello-fall.html

The Male Room - Leaves / Trees.

http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/challenge-45-theme.html

Creative Corner Challenges - Autumn.

https://creativecornerchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/team-mel-autumn-sponsored-by-bugaboo.html

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Autumnal Colours.

http://www.fashionablestampingchallenges.com/2016/09/11/challenge-115-autumnal-colours/

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Happy Umpteenth Birthday!!!!!

Good morning! - An extra post this week so that I could squeeze this card in to the Moving Along With The Times current challenge - birthday cake!

I did remember to take a few photo's along the way so here we go......

Started with my usual blank piece of white card stock and stamped this lovely birthday cake (could be a wedding cake or any celebration cake really) from Inkylicious and masked it off with drawing gum.

Then I stamped my birthday candle across the front of the cake, straight over the masked off cake so that the cake would eventually sit in front of the candles.  Masked off the candles as I went too. Stamped my balloons so that they were coming off of the cake and masked those also.

Then the messy part started!!!!!! My favourite!!!!

I painted white gesso all over the front of the images and when dry started to added some gelato's.  Because I was working on dried gesso and the paper had been effectively primed, I blended the gelato's with my finger and then splattered with water and lifted the paint away.

The final phase was to take off some of the Gelato's by rubbing through a stencil, then I added some distress inks back on through a couple of other stencils.

I carefully rubbed away all the drawing gum to reveal all the images, diluted the Gelato's and painted the candles and balloons with them.

Added the sentiment "Happy Umpteenth Birthday" and attached to it two further balloons with foam tape and a further one (the lilac one) on to the cake.  Glossy Accents were added to make the balloons shine and some fancy glitter with stars and nice shiny pieces were added to the Glossy Accents and dried within it. Finally coloured some pearls with alcohol markers and attached those to ground the balloons.

Matted and Layered.

Bright and cheerful!!

I would like to enter this in to Moving Along With The Times challenge - birthday cake.

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/29-birthday-cake.html

Pleased with that, ideal for a numbered birthday perhaps where you just don't want to mention the age!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Dear Santa, I can explain................

Good morning!

Here I am having another go at a style that is "off piste" for me - clean and simple! 

As those of you will know that follow me, I love my paints and inks and a "full" piece of artwork so leaving white space for the eye to rest does not come naturally to me but that said, I like to have a challenge too!!!!!!

I just love this stamp from Crafty Individuals and even if we don't want to admit it just yet, the "C" word is not that far away so I thought I'd make a start with a Christmas card and keep it CAS.

I needed to mask off the white areas to help me with the clean and simple bit but didn't want to just have plain borders so I die cut some snowflakes in to my masking sheets first before I laid it on my plain piece of card stock (you can see, and I have to admit, I have reused a masking sheet that already had blue ink on it - well, can't waste anything can we?!!!).

I then stamped my santa image and masked that off with masking fluid.  I then ironed on some embossed wax paper over the open area (it hasn't come out that well on the photograph but it is there) and then blended distress ink over the open area to reveal the snowflakes from the wax paper.

I followed with some stencilling and stamped the two sentiments - "Happy Christmas" and "Dear Santa, I can explain.....".

Rubbed the masking fluid off of the Santa image.

Added some die cut snowflakes that I blended matching ink on to and some black ones too to make them stand out a little more.

Matted and layered on to my card.

There, clean and simple (for me anyway!!!!!!!!!!!).

I thought this was really nice and was quite happy with it - now I will have to choose who will receive this at Christmas - who deserves the "Dear Santa, I can explain...." - I have a couple of good ideas - I'm a mother of two daughters????!!!!!!!

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

That's Crafty - Christmas in September.

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/christmas-in-september-challenge.html

Crafty Individuals - Clean and simple.

http://craftyindividualsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/its-september-can-you-believe-it-and.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Quoth the raven, NEVERMORE........

Good morning!

Ok, without wanting to frighten anyone too much we are going to take a spooky journey together today!

I was inspired to produce this card by the Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge - Monochromatic. When I thought of a card of one colour I went straight for black! Remember black is our friend and we must not shy away from it! With Halloween getting closer I thought I'd have a go with this theme and also understand what I had used to make this card.

OK, I'll briefly explain my card first (a small lesson in poetry) and then I'll take you on the journey of how I made it.

Sentiment "Quoth the raven, Nevermore"(Chocolate Baroque) - The poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.  This sentiment is mentioned about half way through the poem and repeated thereafter to the end.  The poem is about a talking raven who visits a distraught lover and traces the mans slow fall in to madness.  Read it, it's quite chilling but extremely good!

Ok, back to reality!! Started with a white piece of watercolour card (good quality) and stamped the main skull from Mr Bone Jangles (Visible Image), the two facing skulls and I blended on a moon with black distress ink then covered all of the images with drawing gum to mask them off.

Then I blended a tiny spot of black india ink in to a puddle of water where I wanted the sentiment to sit, dried it with a heat gun and then stamped my sentiment in this area then masked that off as well with drawing gum.

You can see here that I've masked off everything that I've 

done so far.

I stamped the haunted house and also masked that so that I guaranteed nothing bled.

Now the fun starts!!!! I wet quite heavily the whole top two thirds of the water colour card with a large paintbrush and then swiped Pebeo black india ink across the card to make it bleed and give it that creepy feeling. I let it dry naturally and then came back to it.

 This is after rubbing off the drawing gum from the area of the sentiment.

So, having moved on, where the sky has finished two thirds down and dried off, I added the sea with an ink duster loaded with black soot distress ink and sprayed lightly with water.  To this I stamped a man in a boat (Inkylicious), made the moon more dramatic with a stamp also from Inkylicious and added the bats.  I restamped the main skull on to the same card stock and mounted that on black foam tape and stamped two ravens on to top of his head also adding two white dots in the eye sockets. Lastly I gave it a slight blending of distress ink around the very edges.

I mounted it on to another piece of water colour card that I had "played" with the ink on.

There, I was extremely happy with this one, it tells a story don't you think, - a distraught lover and his downfall in to madness over watched by the raven - "quoth the raven, NEVERMORE".

Well, if that hasn't got you in the mood for Halloween, nothing will!!!!!!! Read Edgar Allan Poe's poem this Halloween!

I would like to enter this in the following:-

The Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge - Monochromatic.

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/september-creative-challenge.html

Stamping Sensations - One for the boys.
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/september-one-for-boys.html

Dream in darkness - September challenge.

http://dreamindarkness.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shes-baaack-september-with-lunagirls.html

Thanks for stopping by - hope I haven't frightened you off!!!! - hopefully you like what you've seen and will want to come back??!!!

Leanne xx

Kind hearts are the gardens.......

Good morning!!

I was inspired to make this card for the current Clarity Stamps challenge "In The Garden".

I remembered to take photo's as I went along on this one so you can come on the journey with me?

I started with my usual piece of white card stock and stamped the Agapanthus (Clarity Stamps Clarity Club stamp March 15) and covered the petals with drawing gum.

Then I stuck down the bird table art stencil (Clarity Stamps) and sponged in some chalk paint.

I always seem to get a very "flat" image from this stencil so I've used some chalks paints and added to the stencil to give it some definition - I was pleased with this look. At this stage the Agapanthus are still covered in the drawing gum and I have painted drawing gum now over the bird table to keep that to the forefront of the garden as well.

Then came the fun!!!!!!!

With those Agapanthus still covered I could go mad with the garden and not worry about them, they would still be at the front of the garden no matter what I did!!!

I added hills, trees, some lovely flowers round a lawn and lots of garden friends (all Clarity Stamps) and lastly the lovely couple on the bench from one of the Clarity Wee Folk sets.

I rubbed off the drawing gum from the bird table and the Agapanthus and stamped the squirrel and fussy cut him out and stuck him to the bird table to make it look like he was actually sitting there.

Lastly, I coloured in the Agapanthus petals and popped some Glossy Accents on them and placed a further flower that I had stamped out and coloured in on sticky pads and stuck that on too to bring it nearer to me.

Matted and layered.

There are lots of things to look at in this garden but isn't that what we want to see in a garden? It's a home for the flowers and all the little feathery and furry people too - we sit in it and it is respected and belongs to all that visit it......

Happy with that!

I would like to enter this in to the Clarity Stamp Challenge - In The Garden.

https://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/clarity-challenge-43-in-garden.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Sometimes you've got to tell people how special they are....

Good morning!

A bit of experimenting went on with this card and I had lots of fun getting rather messy!!! - I did remember to take photo's along the way so here we go.

I started with my usual blank white piece of card stock and decided that I wanted to use one of my Sizzix Bigz dies as a stamp so I cut some funky foam with my hearts bigz die and stuck the pieces down on to some doe flex.

I needed to tone down my white card so I blended some tea dye distress ink all over the card.

I painted three different shades of acrylic paint on to my foam hearts, spritzed with water and stamped them out - a lovely effect!

Next it was "Wellington" he needed stamping out and colouring in - I used distress inks with a water brush.

Once the background was dry enough I added some stencil work with distress inks and added some frayed hessian and made some fabric roses with another bigz die that I have. I also cut some more hearts from some wood veneer that matched in colour.

I stamped the lovely sentiment "Sometimes you've got to tell people how special they are, just to make sure they know" and matted that and assembled everything together.

I hope Wellington knows how special he is.........

Wellington is super cute and I would like to enter him in to the following challenges.

Sweet Stampin - Cute and cuddly.

http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/cute-cuddly.html

Creative Artist Challenge - Anything mixed media goes.

http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/welcome-to-creative-artistes-challenge_66.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Butterfly Butterfly.......

Good morning!

This card turned out soooo pretty!!! Here goes with a step by step.

I started with my usual white piece of card stock.  I stamped the butterflies (unlabelled but I've got a feeling they are a Sheena Douglass stamp collection) and masked them over with drawing gum.

I decided to emboss some wax paper with a beautiful rose pattern embossing folder and once embossed I ironed it on to my card stock, straight over the top of the butterflies and blended over peacock feathers distress ink and dandelion momento ink to show it coming through.

I then rubbed off the masking fluid and coloured the butterflies in with distress inks and a water brush.

The sentiment was stamped - it is a Visible Image one "Butterfly Butterfly, flutter in to the sky".

I then decided that I wanted to enhance the butterflies and pretty things up a bit with some glitter so I stamped two butterflies on to heat resistant acetate with perfect medium and embossed with Wow totally teal embossing glitter. I cut them out and attached them just down their spines.

I also stamped some small bees (clarity stamps) on to the acetate with versa fine ink and clear embossed them over, then cut around those and attached them also.

Very happy with the beautiful colours and how pretty this card looked, it will also of course keep very flat as the acetate butterflies just flatten completely to go inside a nice envy envelope and pop back out when opened! - happy with that!

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

Moving Along With The Times - All Kinds of Everything.

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/28-all-kinds-of-everything.html

Cards in Envy - For the kids.

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/for-kids-card-challenge.html

Addicted to Stamps and more - photo inspiration.
http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/challenge-210-photo-inspiration.html

That's Crafty - All Square.
http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/all-square-challenge.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

I don't exercise ........

Good morning!! I've been playing with Indigoblu stamps this week and thought this one turned out rather well (dramatic eye).

I started with my usual white piece of stamping card and blended two colours of momento ink and Adirondack eggplant to form the base colour.  I then laid down an Indigoblu stencil and spritzed water through it which lifted the colours beautifully and left the stencil pattern.  Then from that same stencil I inked through some momento to give us the lovely bright spots.

The main dramatic eye was then stamped in the centre with black versafine ink - then I went off on a different journey with MDF!!

I coated this lovely MDF heart with white gesso and left it to dry.  Then blended the same inks that I had used for the background on to it so that it tied in with the main background.  Gave it a quick set with the heat gun and stamped the dramatic eye on to it making sure that I had got the main eyeball part of the stamp clearly on the heart.  I must admit, I didn't want any smudging of any kind so walked away and left it overnight to dry well.  

I highlighted a couple of parts of the eye and some of the background with a white pen and then pressed the heart in to some perfect medium and covered with clear embossing powder and set that.

The heart was added to where it sat perfectly over the original stamped image to make that eye pop that bit more and the sentiment was stamped "I don't exercise, if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor!!" - brilliant!!!!! To this theme, I added clear gems to simulate diamonds around the eye! To finish, I added some round circles to keep it "modern and funky" by simply dipping an old pot lid in the gesso.

Pleased with that!

I would like to enter this in to Indigoblu challenge - Bright & Beautiful.

http://indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/august-challenge-all-things-bright.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Happy Anniversary Husband......

Good morning!

Todays blog is a card made for my husband James for tomorrow 10th September (no, he's not allowed to look at this blog until tomorrow!!!!) - our 22nd Wedding Anniversary.

James loves his cars so I thought this design was rather sweet, so, started with my usual white piece of card stock.   I've stamped the lovely little old car first (Joy Crafts) then I masked it with masking fluid.

The next stage was to use a heart inkable stencil (Inkylicious) and drag in some distress ink around the edges so that I could see the heart and knew where I was going.  

I filled in the top section of the heart with some blue distress ink to sort of give me a sky and then I stamped some trees and grounded those with the same colour distress ink as I had inked the heart with.

Went straight over the top of my masked off car with the lovely green bushy trees (so that they appeared behind the car when I rubbed off the masking fluid.

Added a couple more trees coming up from behind the green trees.

Painted Glossy Accents on the windows of the car for shiny glass, framed the whole design with a lovely brown leather effect card stock frame cut from Sue Wilsons dies and I was done!

Very happy with this one and I hope that James will be too tomorrow!

"Happy Anniversary James" xxx

I would like to enter this card in to:-

Sweet Stampin Challenge - Weddings/Anniversary/Love.

http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/weddingsanniversarylove.html

Country View Challenges - September challenge - Travel.

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/september-challenge-travel.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

May All Your Dreams Come True......

Good Morning!!! I've been having some fun with some of my Chocolate Baroque stamps this week!

I took my usual blank piece of white card stock and stamped my mushrooms - aren't they fabulous? (for mushrooms!!!!).  I then masked them over with masking fluid and then ironed on some crumpled up wax paper - straight over the top of the masking fluid.  I then blended on some colours (chosen for the Chocolate Baroque challenge 26 colour palette) and it shows up the wax that has transferred beautifully.

Here you can see me getting there! I have now painted in the mushrooms using the same inks diluted with water and stamped my Chocolate Baroque sentiment of "May all your dreams come true!".

This card will go to one of my daughters friends who is going to start University - she will address it to a "fun guy" - fungi - mushrooms????!!!!!!!!

Quite happy with this one and it was really nice and relaxing to do with the blending and colouring in.

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

Chocolate Baroque challenge 26.

http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/challenge-twenty-six.html

Words 2 Craft By - A Single Step.

https://words2craftby.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/w2cb-32-single-step.html

Craft Stamper - Anything Goes.
http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/take-it-make-it-challenge-september.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Happy Birthday Hochanda!

Good Morning!! Well just a quick extra blog this week so that I could share the card that I made and sent to the television channel Hochanda last week.  I incorporated their logo on to my card and imagine my surprise when..............

I saw my little card sitting on the counter on the television!!!!! 

That did make me smile and thank you Hochanda for awarding all of us who sent in birthday cards with a £10 voucher to spend - unexpected and it made it all the more worth while!

Normal blog will be back on tomorrow morning - just had to share this with you!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Secrets are hidden.............

Good Morning! Thought I'd have a go with my Lavinia Stamps this week.  I just love the mystical feel that they have. I've produced this card with the theme of autumn colours for the Lavinia Stamp challenge this month.  Can you tell where the secrets are hidden??????

The first step I took was to stamp the largest toadstools and seed pod and mask them with drawing gum.  Then I used the wax paper technique to give the whole piece of card some texture and resist.

I then brought in my autumnal colours with distress inks and momento inks - sponging them all over. Then I coloured the seed pod and toadstools with alcohol pens.

I finished off by stamping my little animal friends and the fairy and her dandelion heads and added some glitter to the toadstools and around the seed pod and dandelion heads.

Where do you think the secrets are hidden???? Well, my guess is that they are going up with the dandelion seeds as she thinks of them........

I would like to enter this in to the Lavinia Stamp challenge - Autumn Hues.

http://laviniastamps.com/lavinia-stamps-monthly-creative-challenge/

and Fantasy Stampers challenge - Sunshine Colours.
http://fantasystampers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/challenge-70-sunshine-colours.html

Hope you like this one,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx