My inspiration for the Halloween Sheena's Inkettes challenge.....

Morning folks! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

I'm sharing with you today, my inspirational piece that I made to support Nicole Bretherick for her Inkette challenge this month of "Halloween".

This one probably looks more complicated that it actually is, it took a while due to waiting for bits to dry but it's quite simple when you break it down!

The first thing that I did was to stamp the central skulls from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy What Lies Beneath stamp set - cool isn't it!  I then masked it off with masking fluid.

The next step was to pop some gesso on to my glass mat, and pop that top left hand corner down in to it (making sure that I didn't go over board because I knew that I was going to turn it in to a spooky moon).  I allowed the gesso to dry and then placed a round stencil over the gesso area and blacked it in to form my round moon shape - am I making sense??!!!. I then placed a paper mask over the moon to cover than while I worked elsewhere.

The skull on the right was then stamped (he's from the What Lies Beneath set too) and I masked him off with masking fluid as well.

The spooky house was stamped next, right over the top of the skulls, the single skull and a tiny bit of the moon - this is from Sheena's Douglass's A Little Bit Sketchy Spooky Mansion stamp set.

DON'T FORGET TO WIPE AWAY ANY EXCESS INK THAT IS SITTING ON YOUR MASKING FLUID OR YOU'LL BE IN AN INKY MESS WHEN YOU COME TO RUB IT AWAY!!!!

The next bit was a little "experimental" if you will!  I have used one of Sheena's Day of the Dead embossing folders to emboss those clouds at the top and the lightening strike.  Once I was happy, I darkened the clouds with Memento black ink and tinted in the sky with a mixure of Adirondack inks - I think the pinks and purples worked well here with a little bit of slate colour.

The lightening strike has been foiled to make it more dramatic.

OK, once all stamping was done, the sky filled in, I rubbed away all the masking fluid and lifted the one covering the moon.  Painted everything in with aqua markers.

Added a couple of big crows from the The Country Life set from Sheena's Perfect Partners range - one is stamped on and the one on the right is cut out and applied.

Finally I added some branches from the Little Bit Scenic Silhouette Country Lane set - it's a tree but I've just used the branches!

There you go, something spooky for you this Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

Call of the Wild launch samples for Sheena Douglass..............

Good morning folks!!!

Well, these samples (and the whole collection really) should have recognition on their own really but if I did that I would be blogging every single day and you'd struggle to keep up with me - even more than perhaps you do already!!!!

THIS IS A STUNNING COLLECTION OF STAMPS AND DIES FROM SHEENA DOUGLASS!!

The boundaries of use for these products is absolutely endless, I loved playing with these and given more time, I could have doubled my samples for this collection!!

The first card here is Mother Nature herself and I have used the feather die and the cactus flower die not hat one too.  The second one is a mixture of a few of the stamps in the collection with the dream catcher die backed on to black card to pop it from the images.  I love the monochromatic look of this one.

I will be sharing the rest of this collections samples over the coming weeks so you are in for a real treat!!!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

Lavinia Stamps Halloween make ............

Good morning folks!!

Back from my hollybobs now so here is a share of a card that I've made for the Lavinia Stamps challenge this month of "Halloween".

Lots of Lavinia stamps used on this one including Willow the Witch.

I shall also be sharing this with my friends over at Ink Art Designs on their facebook challenge.

Oooooh, getting all spooky!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

Two samples for Stacey Barras circus stamps for Crafters Companion.....

Good morning!

Third scheduled post this week due to my holiday.

Here I've got two samples that I made for the launch of Stacey Barras's circus stamps for Crafter Companion on Hochanda.

These are lovely vintage circus stamps and can easily be used with the brightest of inks and pens.

I loved playing with these stamps and Stacey deserves credit for such beautiful images.

Hope you like these and I'll continue to share my collection of samples from this launch over the next couple of weeks or so....

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Five Christmas cards for October and we are nearly there with the New Years Resolution!!!!

Good morning to you!

Another scheduled post as I am now half way through my week down in Cornwall.

This time I'm sharing my five Christmas cards for October - woohooo - I'm nearly there with my New Years Resolution of five cards a month!!!!!!!!

This card has been primarily made using stamps from Visible Image - another of my favourite stamp brands.  Stamping in Distress Oxide and just touching the side of the inked stamp with the Distress Oxide Black Soot it has emphasised the angel beautifully.

Some Visible Image snowflakes and some mirror card and I was done - have to keep them relatively simple with batch making but I liked the femininity of these and they will be perfect for girls and ladies where traditional cards would seem a little old fashioned - don't you think?

Join me towards the end of November when I shall post my final set of five cards completing my New Years Resolution for 2017 (I hope!!!).

Hope you like these,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

A card for the Sheena's Inkettes challenge last month......

Good morning to you!

Today is a scheduled post as I am on holiday down in my beloved Cornwall.

This is a card that I made to support Alison for last month's Sheena's Inkettes Facebook challenge of bright backgrounds and silhouettes.

Just HAD TO use my favourite Sheena stencil of all time (It's a Dogs Life) because of my own two beautiful Golden Retrievers.  So, I made this in to a sort of Cornwall scene if you will.  The beautiful sunset with my boys playing by the water as they do!

The sky has been created using Sheena's new sparkle pens (they really are fantastic colours) and I have cut the vegetation believe it or not from the vegetables and herbs from Sheena's die collections!!!!! - Where there's a will and all that!!!

All the rest of the stamps are also Sheena's.

Hope you like this one - I love it (but that's because it's got "my boys" on it of course!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Oooh.... are you scared............?

Good morning!

Here I am with the second of my Halloween makes for you - this time, again using the new Visible Image stencil "Skull Shadow" accompanied by all Visible Image stamps.

Now, this one I was very pleased with as I wanted to give a relief to the skull without the use of texture paste and I think I nailed it!!!!  This image is completely flat to the touch apart from the texture sand that is dotted around the edges.

OK, how did I get there?  Again, this is using the gelli plate.  Firstly I rolled some ink on to the plate with my brayer, then laid the stencil on the top.  I wiped away most of the ink that was laying around the exposed bits on the gelli plate (this of course, left the ink underneath the stencil only).  So, I lifted the stencil off and could just about see the outline of the skull so placed down my card stock and rubbed the back and lifted - with me so far?  I then dotted the sand texture paste around the card stock and allowed to thoroughly dry.  So, at this point it was looking rather messy but I hung in there and carried on!!!  So, black gesso was then painted all around the background of the skull and over the sand texture paste and again, allowed to dry.  Some gilding wax was rubbed to show the relief and some white gesso was painted in to the eye socket and nose which importantly gave that skull more depth.

Added some Visible Image stamps and the sentiment "Immortal".

There, hope I haven't frightened you off!!!!!

Great use of the gelli plate when wanting texture and depth.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Leanne xxx

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

https://www.facebook.com/groups/visibleimage/

and on the Ink Art Designs Facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/InkArtDesigns/

The last of my samples for Sheena Douglass and her new sparkle pens and sketchy stamps.....

Good morning!

Here are the last two samples that I made for Sheena's launch of her new sketchy stamps and sparkle pens on Hochanda a couple of weeks or so ago.

The first one I have used her new sparkle pens and have blended those down to make that lovely sky and the second one I have used the sparkle pens and diluted them slightly to paint in the scene with them. I particularly like the second one as it's an all on one layer card.

Hope you've liked seeing this collection over the past three weeks.  Over the next month, on Fridays, I shall share with you my makes for the new Stacey Barras circus stamps from Crafters Companion - you'll like those, nice and bright and cheerful!!!

In between the Fridays, I shall be posting lots of other makes that I have done so that you can try and keep up with me!!!!! - It's quite a journey at the moment and it's at quite a pace too!!!! Do keep up!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Mid month reminder for Close to Nature at Penny Black and More challenges.......

Good morning!!!

Well here I am with your mid month reminder for our current challenge of Close to Nature over at Penny Black and More challenges.

Here I have used the following Penny Black stamps and stencil:-

30-419 "happy wishes" - having used just the word "friends"

25-019 "leaf frolic" stencil

30-068 "trims" - leaf flourishes and bally flowers

30-417 "delicate silhouettes" - black and white flowers

40-137 "brick wall"

40-099 "soft wings"

For the background I have used distress ink and I have coloured the butterfly with diluted aqua markers, finishing off the butterfly with glossy accents (seen on the second photograph).

Don't forget that there are prizes to be won so pop on over to Penny Black and More challenges - there's still plenty of time to enter this months challenge;

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Visible Image playtime! .....

Morning!!

This is a make that I've done between art calls using the Visible Image Jellyfish set (Dare To Swim).

Had lots of fun with this one using lots of inks!!!!  I have doubled stamped the jellyfish "tails" to give you the feeling of movement through the water.

Lots of masking was involved with this one, note the extra white bubbles that have been stamped on and the white fish in the top left hand corner.  I particularly like the netting stamps and all of the weeds on this one that I've used too.

A busy card with lots going on!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Trying out the new Visible Image Stencils..........

Morning folks!

Well, Halloween is fast approaching so that means that I will be posting a couple of "spooky" makes leading up to it!

I had great fun experimenting with two of the new Visible Image stencils (Fibres and Skull Shadow) on this one accompanied by Visible Image stamps.

I have achieved the effect of the bone on the skull using my gelli plate and have ghosted in part of the face of the skull (that isn't on the stencil) to form a "full head".

It was quite hard to get the effect of the light lighting up the eye socket on the photo but I think I've got enough here for you!  I have painted the eye socket with Pebeo iridescent gold paint to give me that beautiful shine.

The back layer of moths is the waste from cutting out the stamped moth and using that waste as a stencil.

There, a glimmer of light in the skull!

Happy with this one and great fun!

Hope you like it too, it's amazing the different effects you can achieve with your gelli plate.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

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

https://www.facebook.com/groups/visibleimage/

and on the Ink Art Designs Facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/InkArtDesigns/

Two samples for Hochanda with Sheena's new sparkle pens and sketchy stamps.........

Good morning!!

Today I'm sharing two more samples that I made for Sheena Douglass for her recent Hochanda shows  launching her new sparkle pens and sketchy stamps.

Lots of ink has been thrown at these two!  The first one I tried to give the perspective of peering through in to the scene and double stamped the sprigs around the outside of the "hole", added the beautiful butterfly to add depth to the art work.

The second one is using the same butterfly as in the first piece but having left one of them completely uncoloured.  

Hope you like these, thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

Rubber Dance colour challenge entry..........

Good morning folks!

I've created this card for the current Rubber Dance colour challenge of blue, burnt sienna and grey.

Having used all Rubber Dance stamps I started with the hand anatomy stamp, reversed it with a media plate and covered both hands with masking fluid.

I used my gelli plate for the background and then stamped on the flowers and foliage. Coloured in with a mixure of aqua markers and illustrator markers.

Lastly I stamped the sentiment and mounted that and stamped and cut the butterflies and coloured those in too.

I wanted this to look as though the hands were letting go of the beautiful butterflies (I guess they could also be reaching out to the butterflies and flowers too!).

Hope you like what I've done with this challenge colour choice,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

I shall enter this in to the current Rubber Dance colour challenge:-

http://rubberdance.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/rubber-dance-october-colour-challenge.html

and in to the Ink Art Designs Facebook October Challenge:-

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2023394287896662&type=3

Katie's birthday cards...........

Good morning!

I'm sharing a couple of personal makes this morning - the two cards that I made for my daughter Katie's 17th birthday mid August.

Katie was a very lucky girl and received her first car for her birthday and yes, from the first card there, you guessed it, it was a little black mini with black wheels!!!!

The second make is the card that I made for her sister to give to her.

Both full of colour - the way that Katie's likes it!!!

She seemed very pleased with them anyway and two lovely cards to keep I think.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Positive Mind...........

Good morning folks!

Well, I need to take a spoonful of my own medicine with this one I think - I've just been over ran with being so very busy over the last week or two that I think I need to keep my own mind in that "positive mind, positive vibes and positive life" status!!!!!

This was a quick make that I did between art calls and thinking positive as I always try to do, I came up with this design! Wouldn't it be nice to be laying on that hammock in the garden with nothing to do but read that book!!! Pitty the weather is turning now leaving the Summer behind us and bringing on the Autumn which in itself, brings us the beautiful colours that no other season can compare with.

Some Rubber Dance stamps have been used here along with Stamp Addicts and some Sue Wilson ivy dies.

Love a bright background and a silhouette!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

Hochanda samples for Sheena Douglass....

Good morning!

I'm sharing a further two samples that I made for Sheena's launch of her new sparkle pens and sketchy stamps recently on Hochanda.

I loved working with these colours and the stamps are a joy to work with too (The new sparkle pen colours have been chosen particularly by Sheena as her favourites to work with - that's why she put her name on the box!!!).

I'll share the rest with you on Fridays over the next couple of weeks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

Have a Wonderful Day.....

Good morning!

I'm sharing a card today that I made for a friend of my daughters - (he's a farmer!).

I have used lots of Sheena Douglass stamps on this one.

A lovely "washy" sky and distress ink lower half, colouring in the scarecrow in detail with diluted distress inks and leaving some of the flowers pretty much uncoloured to bring them right to the forefront.

Be sure to pop back on Friday and I'll be sharing some of my Sheena Douglass design team samples with you....

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

It's "Close to Nature" at Penny Black and More Challenges.......

Good morning!

Here is my inspiration for you as we go into October with our new challenge at Penny Black and More which is "Close to Nature".

Don't forget we have prizes to be won!!

Here I have used the following Penny Black stamps:-

30-284 "sprigs"

30-417 "delicate silhouettes" - "With Love"

40-544 "poetic" - leaf

40-137 "brick wall"

30-419 "happy wishes" - sentiment at the bottom.

I used diluted distress inks and distress oxides for the leaf.

Nothing gets us back to nature more than the leaves falling and the beautiful colours that surround us as Autumn arrives.

Do come over and join us for this months challenge of Back to Nature:-

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk

Good Luck everyone!!!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx