young MIND, wild HEART, free SOUL...........

Good morning!! Hope you've got off to a good start this weekend?

I had a play with my Visible Image stamps this week and my new John Lockwood media plates so I'm sharing my make with you today.

Working straight on to Sheena Stamping card I stamped the central oval using my oval media plate which I had inked up with broken china and faded jeans distress oxide inks.

I then stamped the ballerina from the Visible Image Born To Perform set in to the centre of the oval in cornflower blue archival ink with a touch of broken china distress oxide down the side.

Having got my main focal image sorted, I covered the oval with a piece of masking sheet and dusted the background with ordinary broken china distress ink but only dusted half way down the page so that the bottom half was a tad lighter than the top. When I was happy with this I just brushed more ink outwards off of the oval to darken the edges a little bit.

With the mask still in place, I have stamped the large feather from the Visible Image angels are near set and the small feather and birds from the Visible Image free your imagination set.  

I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment straight over the top, this is the Visible Image free soul stamp.

Darkened the edges with distress ink and mat and layered in white and black and I have just touched the white mat with a little bit of the distress ink.

Hope you like this one,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

I will share this one with my friends over on the Visible Image Facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1068499396613832&type=3

Five Christmas Cards for July!

Good morning to you!

Well, here I am as promised with my offering of five Christmas cards for July.

In line with my new years resolution - I am producing five Christmas cards a month!

This time I've chosen this lovely stamp from Crafty Individuals (Winter Wonderland).

I have taken some photographs in pairs so that you can see that each one is a little different in colour and design:-

I have stamped the main image first and then covered it with a piece of masking sheet and then gone to town with distress oxides around the edges - each one having used slightly different colours.

These were coloured in using diluted distress inks and I have added fluffy stuff to a couple of them too.

Matt and layered using matching colours to the artwork and some mirri card on three of them.

There, month 7, mission complete!!!! (I'm building up a nice stash of Christmas cards now!!).

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

You can't make a rainbow without a little rain..........

Good morning!

Had a bit of fun with a new stamp that I've bought from Inkylicious called Banksy-Nola.

This was great fun to make as you all know my love for inks! The card wasn't the only thing that looked like a rainbow after this one I can tell you - you should have seen my fingers!!!!

Started off with a distress ink background and I made a few runs in that and allowed to dry naturally.

I then got the rainbow going with distress inks and added the sunshine (well, there wouldn't be a rainbow without a little rain or sunshine!).

Nola was stamped in versafine black and clear embossed.

The hills were put on with a stencil and I added the Inkylicious trees and old fence.

I then put the front hill in being careful as I wanted it to look like the rain was flowing over that hill in front of her - I think I got this result rather well, I was happy with that and added a couple of grasses at her feet.

Some Designs by Ryn raindrops were stamped around her.

Mat and layered in white and blue.

Happy with that!

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Especially For You.........

Good morning!

Well, as you can see, I went for lovely pale pinks and a wonderful main stamp from Bee Crafty here. I have made this more feminine by adding some fine lace;

So here is my start;

and here is how I envisaged the lace being put through the stamped image - I have cut out where I wanted the lace to be.

Here I have added some musical notes to tie in with the lady playing the violin.

I attached just a simple doily to the back (I had blended some pink ink over it).

Bring it all together and this is what we've got! Two butterflies have been 3'd and that lace makes for a lovely feminine lady.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne x

Close your eyes............and DREAM.

Good morning!

 I have so much fun playing with my Visible Image stamps!  Here is an offering using their Face It! set and the face stencil and mask set.

I have got the background down using Distress Stains purposely leaving a lighter streak in the middle of the card (for light to show on the nose).

I have then stamped the closed eyes from this set and the nose and mouth in black versafine ink.

The stencil was placed down and I have created the edge of the face with some soft distress ink and I have applied some distress ink down the side of the nose to give me some extra definition.

I really liked how this came together and feel it would be suitable for the Visible Image "A Splash of Colour" challenge this month.

Matted and layered in black and white.

I particularly liked the effect of leaving some white space here and there on this piece - unusual for me!!!!

Hope you like my creation for you today, thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

I would like to enter this in to the Visible Image Facebook challenge of "A Splash of Colour":-

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1068500733280365&type=3

Thinking of You.................Lavender and Lace at Allsorts Challenges........

Good morning!

Sharing a card that I've made to join in the fun over at the Allsorts Challenge this week. The theme is Lavender and Lace.

I started this piece with just one colour of distress oxide (wilted violet) and then came in with Lulu Lavender Memento ink - just swiping it across the page very lightly.

I then stamped the lovely lady (Bee Crafty) using my misti (stamping it once with the distress oxide ink (wilted violet) and then over the top with milled lavender distress ink to give me some definition. I have cut out sections of her dress so that I could pop some beautiful lavender coloured lace through it to enhance her dress and "bring her to life".

I have sponged the milled lavender distress ink through several stencils to build up that background and I have also used the wilted violet oxide through some of them too.

Thinking of you has ben stamped in the same way using the two inks.

Some Rubber Dance stamps are on there too and have been coloured in with a white pen.

Mat and layered and have added some lace trim down one edge, the back mat I have coloured with the lulu lavender Memento ink and a sponge.

All mounted on to an 8 x 8 white card blank to give it a clean feeling for lavender and lace.

I hope you like this piece. I have actually produced two pieces with this stamp, similar in design so I'll share the other one with you next week - you'll have to wait 'til then!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

I would like to enter this in to the Allsorts Challenge of "Lavender and Lace":-

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/week-424-lavender-and-lace.html

For The Boys, mid month reminder at Penny Black and More...........

Good morning!

I'm sharing a make with you today that I've produced for the Penny Black and More challenge mid month reminder.

Now, you'll be saying - flowers? for the men "For The Boys"? - well yes! Sunflowers are very much accepted by men and my husband James loves sunflowers.  He has grown them for many years and loves to watch the bees happily crawling all over them!

For this project I have used the Penny Black 40-312 Sunny Pair stamp and the Penny Black 30-419 Happy Wishes stamp set for the sentiment.

I started out by stamping the flowers several times over the page.  I have used my Spectrum Aqua Markers to do the stamping here and then when stamped, I blended the colour in with water.  I wanted the flowers to have a bit more depth on here so I have finished the flowers off with my Polychromos. This does take some considerable time to get it right but keep with it - it's worth it in the end!

The sentiment was stamped with black versafine ink and then the background is a wash of the diluted aqua markers.  I have finished off with a fine touch of distress ink all around the edges.

Oh, and we mustn't forget that lovely bee must we - he's from the Penny Black 30-352 Animal Wisdom set!

Hope you'll come over and join us at Penny Black and More for our current challenge of "For The Boys".

Please remember that the main focal image of your design must be a hand stamped image - NO DIGI'S ALLOWED.

Good Luck!

I'd like to enter this card in to the current Craft Stamper challenge for July of "Anything Goes":-

http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/take-it-make-it-challenge-july.html

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

Stay Wild..............

Good morning!

Well, I'm back home from my holiday now but must confess that this post was scheduled well before I went on holiday (because I knew that I would be up to my neck in everything when I got back!!!).

This card is a make that was sent to a friends daughter.  She has her own horses so it had to have horses on it didn't it!!

This is a Visible Image stamp and must admit, went absolutely wild with paints and inks on here!  I wanted to make a wild background using lots of colours and some of them metallic too.

This was quite an easy make (very messy though so that suited me!!!).

It was well received and very much liked so I was happy with that!

Well, back on planet earth now and blog will get back to normal from now on!  

I do hope that you enjoyed seeing what I've been making for friends and family while I've been away.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Reveal yourself and.........Stay Curious........

Good morning!!

Here is another make of mine using Visible Image stamps.  This time I've primarily used the Curious Cats set - he's definitely looking at you isn't he?!!!!!!

This card started life with the eyes being stamped in red versafine ink and the nose and mouth with black versafine ink and both were covered with clear embossing powder and heated to set.

I then covered the eyes and the nose with drawing gum and went to town on the background!!! Do you know, I have no idea sometimes how my hands ever go back to the right colour!!!!

So, I have used distress oxides to create that background and I have dripped diluted oxides from the bottom upwards  (have turned the card upside down and ran the ink up the page). 

I dripped some water on to that background to lift some "splodges" and then stamped the Visible Image large tall grass in different colours.

The sentiment is a mixed one again, "reveal" is from the "reveal your true colours", the "yourself" is from the "create yourself", the "and" is from the "bold and beautiful"- all from the Own It! set and the "Stay Curious" is from the Curious Cats set - don't be afraid to make your stamps work for you!

Now with everything in place I had to get a face shape of a cat on there! As I've mentioned in previous posts, don't be afraid to go for it at this stage!  Yes, you've got a lovely piece of artwork and yes, it "could" go horribly wrong at the last minute but hey, it's a piece of card at the end of the day, you can always start again or tweak it a bit to hide a mistake with a butterfly or something?

I have used the stencil from the Face Shape set here and I've just smoothed some distress ink around it - getting the stencil in the right position is really the hardest part here.

I finally rubbed away the drawing gum from the eyes and nose and coloured the eyes in with diluted oxides and a little bit of an aqua pen and blended in.

Mat and layered in a lovely matching mint green, white and black.

I'll share this with my friends on the Visible Image Facebook page.

I do hope that I've given you some inspiration with these stamps and inks and that you've enjoyed your visit today.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Paris...............

Good morning,

Sixth scheduled post today for you while I am away.

This one is a bit different, it's a bit of napkin art for you!

I made this a good month or so ago, was just having a play with a paper napkin that I picked up at a local craft shop.  I decided to put it together with this Carabelle Studio C'est La Vie stamp set - perfect!

The napkin has been applied using decoupage glue over on the left hand side and the right hand side has the details of the C'est La Vie stamp.  I have pressed some ink through some lace to give me some texture on the right hand side to simulate rain and the use of a stencil too.

I added some lace to keep it feminine and French and matted and layered on red and black mats.

Oh, nearly forgot, PARIS has been stencilled on there and highlighted with gold paint.

Hope you like this, a bit different!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Happy Birthday JJ..........

Good morning!

Fifth scheduled post today while I'm away on holiday.

This share is a card that I made (very quickly I might add) for a school friend of Katie's - typical Katie, I never get much notice when she needs something for a friend!!!!

This was a quick make using the Visible Image Face It set, some distress ink, a stencil to give me two curves for the nose (nothing related to a face!!!) and some circles stamped on there too.

Happy Birthday is also a Visible Image stamp and "J J" was stamped using the Clarity Stamp alphabet set.

A white pen was used to highlight a few eye lashes.

There, a quick make made in about 15 minutes!

This one was well received and very much liked.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

"Gone Fishing"

Good morning!

A brief post today as I'm still away on holiday but I'm keeping the blog going by scheduling ahead for you.

I have used Inkylicious stamps here.  The hills have been done using torn paper and so have the banks on either side.  

I also decided to stamp the mat behind with fish and have added some netting too!

A great make for a man - always nice to have a few of those cards in the stash isn't it!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne x

Dance............Like no one's watching...............

Good morning!

Well, I'm still on my holly bobs but I've made this card in advance so that I can share it with my Visible Image Facebook friends while I'm away.

I decided to focus on the Born To Perform stamp set this time.

I firstly got the image of the face down using the Face Shape stencil and mask set.  I went around the outside of the face and then worked on the shading of the inside of the face.

Then the first major move was to stamp the beautiful ballerina.  I have stamped this piece using Spectrum aqua markers throughout.  I then masked her with a mask it sheet and stamped the face (Face It! set) - this time keeping those eyes closed (like no one's watching).

I have used feathers (large and small) from the Free Your Imagination Set again using aqua markers to stamp those images.  I love to see feathers with ballerinas, I think the two go together, perhaps because they are light, perhaps because they are dreamy?  So feathers it was to enclose that face and give balance.

I added some frantage to the feathers and some very pale pink embossing powder too.  I have also painted in her costume with a clear overlay pen -you can see this all glistening here:

Hard to pick up on a photo but it's shining!

I finished by just defining her front leg a little with a fine tip pen and the curve of her back.

Mat and layered in black and white and on the white layer I have stamped "Dance" and blended some distress ink on that mat to match the general colour scheme.

I enjoyed this one, - well, I always do enjoy playing with Visible Image stamps!

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

I shall share this with the Visible Image family on Facebook.

I shall enter this in to the following challenges:-

That's Crafty "Anything Goes":-

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/anything-goes-challenge.html

Relax! - and I'm published in this month's Craft Stamper magazine!

Good morning!

Third Scheduled blog for you this morning while I am on holiday.

This card was made as my effort for Craft Stamper magazine for their Raspberry Fizz art call - but I didn't hear anything back on this occasion (for the September edition)so I'm posting it here for you to see! I did however make it in to the magazine for the August edition (available from today) - I've popped a sneaky peak at the end of this post.

My thoughts for Raspberry Fizz were bubbles!!!! I thought raspberries? bubbles - BATHTIME!!!! - See, there is absolutely no explanation of how my mind works is there!!!!!

So I went down the route of "relax" - I thought this card would be great for someone who is feeling poorly, someone who has just been over doing things recently, a mum to be or just a relax, chill out message on someones birthday!

There is lots to see on here and as I'm scheduling lots of posts for you while I'm away I'm leaving it to your own eyes to spot what I have done here!!! Check out the ribbon - I even stamped that too!!!!

I can also reveal that I am published in this months Craft Stamper magazine that is available to buy from today. I am in the Deckchairs By The Sea section! Here is a little peak for you.....

Hope you've enjoyed your visit, thanks for stopping by and sticking with me while I am away,

Leanne xx

Good Luck Katie!.........

Good morning!

Second scheduled post for holidays and this one is the card that James and I sent to Katie wishing her good luck with her GCSE's.

She has of course now finished her exams and we all have everything crossed for her for results day in the latter half on August.

I first saw this stamp used by Carola over at FSC and I just had to have it!!!!!  It's a De Stempelwinkel stamp and this really could be Katie!!!!!

I have done a nice easy background using distress inks blended nicely together (I chose these colours as they match Katie's bedroom colours and I knew that she liked them).  I stamped some stars on there with the same inks and circles which I have covered in glossy accents.  The stars I have highlighted with a white pen.

The main image has been stamped in a nice juicy versafine black ink and the good luck Katie has been stamped using the Clarity Stamp alphabet set.  "Perform" is from Visible Image.

Matted and layered on to red and craft card.

"Good Luck Katie" - everything's crossed for you!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

When words fail......Music Speaks.......

Good morning!

Well, I am now on my hollybobs and I've been a busy bee scheduling all my blogs for you for while I am away.

Over the next two weeks I shall be sharing some of my makes that I have made over the past couple of months for friends and family - most of these cards have been given but thought it would be nice to still share them with you to "fill in" the gap while I am away.

Here is a card that I have made for a friends teenage son - hope he liked it!!!!!!

All the stamps on this project are from Visible Image and I had lots of fun!!!

I started by using a piece of watercolour card stock and stamped the guitar and covered it with drawing gum and the words around it too.

Armed with two colours of Brushos (I love Brusho's - you never really know what effect you are going to get!) I spritzed that background straight over the top of the covered guitar.  The next move was to stamp the musical notes so that the stamp covered across the guitar and over the top of the drawing gum that was on it at this stage still.

The figure of the man with his guitar was stamped next in black archival ink and then the sound waves were stamped in blue archival ink.

"Rock Out" was last and then I rubbed away the drawing gum to reveal the nice clean whiteness of the guitar - that brought it to the very forefront of the design.

A few white dots on the stars (from VI Born to Perform set), mat and layered and I was done!

Lots of fun and not that complicated to produce - very happy with this, I hope Thomas was!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you've enjoyed your visit today,

Leanne xx

Just Swan-dering How You're Doing? - and some exciting news, I'm joining the Penny Black and More Design Team!!!!!

Good morning!!!

Well, here I am sharing with you my first make with Penny Black stamps.

It's a new challenge over at Penny Black and More this month and that new challenge is "For The Boys".

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/july-for-boys.html

There are some lovely prizes to be won this month and we are sponsored by Penny Black, Marianne Designs and Stamp Addicts.

Here I have used the beautiful swan stamp from the Animal Wisdom set (30-352) and the Sprigs set (30-284).

The swans were stamped first and then masked with drawing gum.  I then got the clouds going with some gesso and dried that with the heat tool.

The sky was brushed on with a Clarity Stamp brush and distress ink and the sea went on with an Inkylicious brush and then spritzed it to drag over for the water marks.

Popped the sun on with a mask, added the sentiment (also from the Animal Wisdom set) and then rubbed away the masking fluid.

Some shading was added to the swans with distress ink and their beaks were coloured in with an aqua marker.

Finally, I stamped some silhouetted sprigs to form bushes at the front and some draping down from above.

A lovely card for a boy or a man to ask how they are doing!

Mat and layered in white and black.

Do pop over and see us at the Penny Black and More challenge and remember, hand stamped focal images please - NO DIGI STAMPS.

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/july-for-boys.html

GOOD LUCK!

I would like to add my thanks to the entire Penny Black and More design team for their wonderful welcoming comments, to Brenda for having the faith in me to join the team and to all my loyal followers for continuing to support me as you do - it makes it all worthwhile! xx

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Express Yourself with Art ............

Good morning and a very happy weekend!

I've had a play with my Visible Image stamps again and as usual, I've put my "twist" on things!  Well, either that or the bowler hat man is having a rather bad day!!!!!!!!

I have recently made a piece of artwork with the bowler hat man from the Ahead Of Our Time set from Visible Image so I've mixed things up a bit and changed the head for Mr bone jangles (also Visible Image) !!!!

Now, this wasn't the easiest card to do, particularly because there is no paper piecing or attached pieces, it's all on the one layer so I'll talk you through how I got there.....

The first thing that I had to get right was Mr bone jangles skull face.  I stamped him in watering can Archival ink and then stamped him again over the top with a slate coloured Spectrum Noir aqua pen to give me a two tone face (you can see that his face has the blue tint to it but this was added later on).

I then masked off the skull face with drawing gum so that was nice and safely covered.  I then stamped the "shoulders" of the bowler hat man being extremely careful to get them in the right place and I then masked those off too.  So with a head and shoulders I stamped just the bowler hat with black versafine ink and again, then masked that off as well. So, by this stage I had all three main components stamped and masked off.

Then the nice, messy, inky bit came!!!!  The background has been done using distress oxides, I just love them!  Both for backgrounds, for stamping and indeed for diluting and painting with - so versatile.

So, I got the main background done and then added some drippy stamps from the Visible Image drag and drip set which were stamped using the same distress oxides.

The sentiment of express yourself with Art is from the Visible Image never grow up set and I have split the "Art" away from the rest of the sentiment (I didn't literally split it, I just inked up "express yourself with", stamped it, cleaned the stamp and then stamped "Art" three times separate to the rest.

All the masking fluid was rubbed away and I shaded in the skull face and the shoulders and popped some yellow on the bowler hat to match everything else.

The birds were stamped (also in the Ahead of Our Time set) and the two tumbling figures were stamped in black versafine to look like the man was jumping off of the hat and the lady is swinging from the Art sentiment - it does get a bit nerve wracking when you've done so much and you are hoping that you don't mess up the stamping right at the very end!!!! So if you ever feel that way, panic not, I've been stamping for almost 20 years now and I still get a bit "edgy" when I get that last sentiment or image on there!!! Trust your ability and go for it!

I did a bit of highlighting with a white pen around "Art" and the skull face.

Mat and layered in white and black.

I'll share this with my friends on the Visible Image Facebook page.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope I've inspired you to get a bit more out of your rubber stamps?

Leanne xx