Five Christmas cards for February!!

Good morning to you!

Well, keeping with my New Years Resolution of 5 Christmas cards a month - as promised, here is February's offering!

Now, although each of these cards is slightly different, in order for me to churn out five cards each month they do have to be pretty much a batch make so I'm happy that although they are very similar, each one is very slightly different.

I can't really do a step by step covering all five cards so I've taken individual photo's for you of each of them below:-

The adorable little robin on his branch and the sentiment are by Sheena Douglass and I've added some snow on to that branch for him to sit in. All cards have been coloured with the help of Aqua Markers and distress ink and matted and layered in various coordinating coloured card stock.

There, that's 10 done now - Month 2 - mission complete!!!

I'll be back towards the end of next month with my offering of Christmas card makes for March.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

All good things are wild and free...........

Good morning!!!

It's been a long time since I did a farm scene on a card so here is my attempt for the Stamping Sensations challenge of "Animal Magic".

Lets take our journey and see how I built this one up and got to my final design:-

Gosh, it even shocks me sometimes how little there is on the page when you first get going!!!

So, I started by stamping my cow and the lamb and then masking them off with drawing gum. All of the animal and farmyard stamps that you will see today are by Joy! Crafts.

There, that's looking a bit more like it!  OK, the barn has been stamped right on top of the masked off cow.  The sheep has been stamped right on top of the masked off lamb.  This will enable it to look like the cow is standing in front of the barn and the lamb in front of the sheep, the lamb has very nearly disappeared altogether at the moment!  I have added a couple of milk churns, the chickens and have masked off the barn and stamped the trees behind (Inkylicious) and have built up the field scene with the use of the Joy! Crafts hay bales and a separate fence stamp.  A couple more trees have been added on that horizon line too. It's all coming together!

Doesn't it make a difference once you start adding colour?  OK, the masking fluid is still in place at this stage so that I could "swipe" Aquatints across to make the farmyard brown.  I wanted more than just a flat colour here so I also used some distress ink on an ink duster, sprayed the ink duster with water and took the brush across the page to leave me some darker patches.  The sky has been coloured using just some old blue ink that was already on my smoothie and a sky stencil that you keep moving to form the clouds and I've used momento ink and a smoothie to colour in the field.

All masking fluid has now been rubbed off and there is the little lamb!!! Everyone is looking very white so out came my polychromo pencils.

That's better!  I added some patches to make my cow more realistic (I'm not good on my cow breeds I'm afraid), gave the sheep some colour and the chickens and added some depth to the milk churns.  Completed the barn and added some birds (Inkylicious).  

There, animal magic! and as the sentiment says "all good things are wild and free"

Hope you've enjoyed our journey today and how I built up this scene from a blank page.

Here you can see the stamps that I've used.

I would like to enter this in to the Stamping Sensations challenge - "Animal Magic":-

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/february-animal-magic.html

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne x

 

                                               

Love Is All You Need.........

Good morning!

This is my input for this months Indigoblu challenge of "Love is all you need".

I went for "Pomp and Pageantry"!  I have taken photo's along the way so let's take our usual journey and see how I did this one shall we?:-

OK, first thing to notice is that of course, the man and lady face the same way on the original stamps so my first challenge was to reverse one of them so that they at least looked like they were "together" and a couple (well, wouldn't be good if they were looking away from each other would it!!!!!).

There, with a bit of magic (using my brayer to reverse the image of the lady) we have a "couple" - I was pleased with this.

You will also notice at this point that I have extended her dress (and parasol) quite a way because I thought it would look odd if the gentleman had feet and the lady didn't!

I have then used an Inkables stencil from Bee Crafty to shade in the lovely big heart behind them.  

As is very usual for me, I often start off with one idea for a piece of artwork and then "go with the flow" as it develops.  At this point I was quite happy that this was going to work keeping this piece to a monochrome colour scheme.

Here I have cut a mask out and stuck it over the heart shape so that I could work on that background behind them.

 I wanted to keep to the "pomp and pageantry" theme so I decided that I would make Union Jack hearts using the Union Jack flag stamp from the same set.  So, I masked off a heart shape, inked it while the mask was in position, removed the mask and stamped - it worked very well. I did this twice.

So I've now built up my background using Indigoblu stencils with distress ink and white texture paste.

The sentiment is computer generated.

Backed on to some black card that I'd die cut through and mat and layered up.

What do you think? - Thoroughly a British affair don't you think! - classy!

I would like to enter this in to the Indigoblu challenge - "Love is all you need":-

http://indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/february-2017-challenge-love-is-all-you.html

Hope you enjoyed your journey today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Frozen in Time..........

Good morning!

Well, did I get messy doing this one or what?!!!!! I decided to take up the challenge over at Stamps & stencils of "Texture, Crackle and Paint" - well, it's right up my alley isn't it!!!!!

I've taken some photo's along the way so lets take our journey and see how I got there with this one:-

OK, so I started off with a medium mdf tag and covered it in Decoart black texture paste.  I waited for it to form a skin on the surface and then stamped a couple of lots of cogs (PaperArtsy) and another PaperArtsy border stamp along the bottom to give me some texture at this stage. Left to dry naturally.

On some acetate (this was not heat proof but strong construction acetate) I stamped this image from Ken Oliver Crafts on to it using Staz On ink.  (I couldn't make my mind up if this was an image of a doll or of a baby??!).  I then painted a two step crackle on to the front of the acetate. The first step is to put on the step 1 medium, wait for it to dry clear and then apply the step 2 over the top (both Decoart) and wait for this to dry naturally and the cracks to appear.

I then painted Decoart paint on to the acetate and wiped back quite quickly so that the ink remained in the cracks that had formed.  By now, you will realise that I was trying to achieve a crazed look on a dolls face.  I then painted Pebeo paint on the back (reverse painting) and this of course, made the whole thing pop. Cut out the image.

Those cogs have now been painted with DecoArt paints and some Powertex pigment mixed with a little Powertex varnish to make them shine.  The upper part of the tag has been overlaid with some acetate which has had some hearts stencilled on to it and some Andy Skinner industrial elements nuts and bolts (hard board) that have again been painted with Decoart paints to give a rusted effect, mounted on top of each other to look more realistic and attached to the tag.  The doll (in this case!) image has been attached on to all of those antiqued cogs and the sentiment of "Frozen in Time" (again, Ken Oliver Crafts) has been embossed with cream embossing powder to help it pop off of the grunge of the tag. Fabric ribbons tied to the top of the tag.

Well, can you guess the colour of my fingers after making this one!!!!! - well, I made this four days ago and my fingers still look like they are bleeding (they ended up the perfect blood colour all over them!!!!!) - my mother even asked what I had done to myself!!!!!!!

Messy? - OH YES!!!!!!!!

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

Try It On Tuesday - "Lets Get Messy!":-

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/lets-get-messy-14th-feb.html

Stamps and Stencils - "Texture, Crackle and Paint":-

http://stampsandstencils.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/texture-crackle-and-paint.html

Hope you've like the journey today in to my world of inky fingers!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

What a bloke!

Good morning!

Well, this is the card that I made for my husband James for Valentine's Day.  I haven't got a step by step on this one so I'll talk you through how I got there.....

I started with my Sheena stamping card and used a heart stencil that had an "inney" and an "outey" section.  I popped the outey section on the card first and smoothed distress ink around that heart so that I knew where I was starting and where I was heading!

Having placed the inney part of the stencil over the heart to mask it, I laid down some distress ink all around it from reds, light brown and orange. Keeping that inney part of the stencil firmly on that heart I stamped my Sheena Douglass Everyday Rose stamp over the top and the small hearts that you see in the top right hand corner.  I also stamped the same hearts in white colorbox ink in the top left hand corner so that they would show over that lovely rich red.

Next, I removed the stencil from the heart and using normal household bleach I took some of the colour out of the roses.  

The outer part of the stencil went back on and I enriched the red within the heart.

When I was happy with the colours I stamped the man and the sentiments (both Sheena Douglass) in versafine black onyx - a great stamp!- love it!

I stamped "My Husband, My Valentine" (Clarity Stamp alphabet) on to parchment paper in versafine ink and set it by adding clear embossing powder then attached to the card.

Mat and layered.

I was pleased with this one and James seemed to be too!

Hope you like it.

I would like to enter this in to the Cards In Envy challenge of "Be My Valentine":-

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/be-my-valentine-card-challenge.html

Artistic Stamper - "Love Hearts":-

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/februarys-creative-challenge-love-hearts.html

Through The Purple Haze - "Valentine/Love":-
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/118-valentine-love.html

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

Vintage Romance...............

Good morning!

A short mid week post for you this week.  I've made this postcard for Sunday Postcard Arts' "Vintage Romance" theme this week.

I started with my 6 x 4 inch piece of Sheena stamping card and soaked the card stock with water and dropped red drawing ink on to it allowing it to bleed around the card stock.  

I then stamped my vintage couple (now I haven't got a clue of the maker of this stamp, I've had it for years and years and even made some wedding stationary over ten years ago with it!).  I covered the couple with masking fluid and stamped the background stamps (many of which are from the same set as the vintage couple).  

I then lifted some colour out with ordinary household bleach.

Over stamped the roses with gold embossing powder so that it looked romantic and as if the roses were falling down in front of them.

Edged with distress ink.

I was pleased with this one - I particularly like the love letter down at the bottom.

Hope you like it too.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Leanne xx

I'll be sending this in to Sunday Postcard Art - "Vintage Romance" :-

https://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/2017/02/11/vintage-romance/

It's just a number!

Good morning!

It's a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and the theme is "It's just a number".

REMEMBER - YOUR MAIN FOCAL IMAGE MUST BE A HAND STAMPED IMAGE PLEASE - NO DIGI STAMPS.

OK, my artwork for this theme was started a few months ago on the train to see my daughter up at Durham University!  I took a couple of pieces of artwork to do on the train and the journey went so quickly - it was wonderful!

This stamp is a favourite of mine from Chocolate Baroque.  

Now, I didn't take many photo's (due to being on a train at the time!) so this was as far as I got on the train when I got it home to finish it off! I have done a simple wash of distress ink for the background and have carefully coloured the flowers in with spectrum aqua markers and a water brush.

It was then a case of adding numbers from 30 to 100 (all the "biggies") on to the flowers and using die cut numbers for the mat at the back.  I have stencilled through the negative from having cut out the die cut numbers for the backing card for the sentiment of "It's Just A Number" and on the main background - it's easy to create your own stencils with the negative from your die cuts!.  

I felt I just had to add "Happy Umpteenth Birthday" on there too!

There, a card suitable for any birthday from 30 - 100!!! and as I have said -

"It's just a number!!!!"

Remember, we would love to see your artwork over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges but the main focus of your artwork must be a hand stamped image, we do not accept digital images on this challenge.  We look forward to your creativity and sharing your artwork with us! Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Love......

Good morning!

There is a lot of steps to this card so I hope I can remember what happened and when!

Lets take our usual journey and I'll explain along the way:-

Started with a 7 x 7 Sheena Stamping card and laid down some strips of old patterned paper that I had in my stash - I applied this with decoupage glue.  When dry, I knocked it back with some Decoart Tinting Base and left it to dry (not long).

I then went over the top with two shades of Pebeo Decocreme paints and then a final touch of Decoart Tinting Base to lighten some areas.

Stamped my antique roses (free gift in this months Papercraft Inspirations magazine) in black archival ink.

Partly covered three of the roses with masking fluid - you'll see why in the next step!

Stamped a part face stamp from Inkylicious. (This is why I partly covered some of the roses just in case I caught them while stamping). Then rubbed away the masking fluid.

Woohooo! Now the fun starts!!! Here I've added some texture with some Indigoblu Super Thick Slap It On mixed with bronze Luscious Powder (gives a stunning shine), stamped some hearts, some parts of a script stamp, and faintly in the background, the same roses as the ring in Artistry Ink.

I stamped out the roses six times and over stamped with the Indigoblu script stamp and Artistry Ink - I then cut out the leaves and the flowers and painted them with VERY diluted bronze Luscious Powder.

At this point I had put on some runs of diluted bronze Luscious Powder.  I had added some hearts that had been die cut with a Sissix Bigz Die, I'd paper pieced the roses over the original roses and coloured in some of the leaves with the Luscious Powder.  Stamped the word "Love" (Clarity Stamp) on there too.  All ok so far but that face needed to pop out a bit more for me and I was looking for a face "full of love" so I decided to enhance the face, both the side that we see here and had stamped and added part of the other side of the face freehand!

There! A WHOLE FACE!!!! I have tried to have the "look of love" in those eyes.

It's a mixed media piece of artwork with plenty going on.  I had a ball making this card and the colour of my fingers was quite impressive too by the time I'd finished it!!!!

Hope you've enjoyed our journey today.

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

Allsorts Challenges - "Paper Piecing":-

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/week-401-paper-piecing.html

Try It On Tuesday - "Flowers and Hearts":-

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/hearts-and-flowers-31st-jan.html

Moving Along With The Times - "Ring O' Roses":-

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/38-ring-o-roses.html

The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog - "Love Hearts":-

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/februarys-creative-challenge-love-hearts.html

Craft Stamper - "Anything Goes":-

http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/take-it-make-it-challenge-february.html

Fussy and Fancy Challenges - "Fussy and Fancy":-

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/challenge-180-fussy-and-fancy.html

CreativeArtiste Challenge - "Anything Mixed Media Goes":-

http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/welcome-to-creative-artistes-challenge.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

An Oriental Thank You.....

Good morning!

A quick mid week post again this week. This is a postcard that I have made for Sunday Postcard Art's theme this week of Oriental.  Shall I let you into a secret?.......I don't have many Oriental crafting items at all!!!!!!! So this is how you "make something out of nothing"!!!!!!!

I started on a piece of 6 x 4 inch Sheena Stamping Card and blended my sky down from the top with distress inks and my ink dusters.  I then met that sky with hills inked with torn paper until they met, leaving a nice bright bit of sky just over the hills.

The trees were stamped in black Momento ink (Inkylicious) and the oriental grasses (the only oriental stamps I'd got!) were stamped across the front and falling in from above. These stamps are from Chocolate Baroque.  The small pagoda was hand drawn with black india ink (this is what we call improvising!).  

Trees and leaves were coloured using distress ink and the moon was done using Pebeo Decocreme paint.

Stamped my sentiment of thank you (Chocolate Baroque) and the birds (Inkylicious).

Edged with distress ink.

There!  How to produce an oriental scene with very few oriental tools!!!!! (Think I got away with it - don't you?!!!). I'm glad I did because I do like Sunday Postcard Art, it makes you stretch the imagination and I hope that by doing that to me, I inspire others.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Birds on a wire...............

Good morning!

The day I made this card, I had watched a couple of Inkylicious shows on Hochanda and so, I thought it only appropriate that I made a card with Inkylicious stamps from my stash!

I have taken photo's along the way so lets take our usual journey :-

OK, I started this card on the Inkylicious satin card stock - I must admit, I'd never used it before - it's ultra smooth and in my opinion half way between a normal stamping card and a glossy card stock which makes it perfect for stamping and ink work.

I stamped my birds and then covered them with masking fluid.  I often get contacted about how I used the masking fluid with such success - there are no secrets - use a great quality masking fluid, I use and have always used Pebeo masking fluid.  You only need a VERY THIN coating of it, it will dry in minutes and leave a very pale blue sheen where it is.  It is tinted so that you can see where it is on your artwork.  You shouldn't have any problems so long as you are using a good quality card and a very thin layer of the fluid.

So, with my birds nicely covered in masking fluid, I used distress inks to form my background colour.  This is just three colours of distress ink wiped on my craft mat, sprayed with water and the card laid on to the ink, picked up and dried off with the heat tool. I needed the colours to reflect the sky and earth tones here.

Here the masking fluid is still in place, I have stamped by swifts and swallows (again Inkylicious) in Archival watering can but I have done these with second generation stamping so that they are paler.  I stamped the tree tops (Inkylicious) underneath the birds and stamped the sentiment (Inkylicious).

I extended the wire using a micron pen, rubbed off the masking fluid (white birds now rather than blue!) and used some distress ink around the edges. I then used some black soot distress ink watered down to enhance the birds a bit.

Matted on to a simple periwinkle card stock and mounted on to a DL card.

I just loved how the gentle colours reacted with each other on here - a perfect mans card (and I don't make many of those!!!!).

Hope you liked our journey today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x