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

Discover....

Good morning!

A change of scheduled post this week as I've made this card as my contribution to the current Cards in Envy challenge of "Black and white" and I want to get it entered! - Cards in Envy is my absolute favourite challenge blog!.

I know that you automatically think of die cutting when you think of black and white but of course, I'm a stamper! So here is a stampers version of black and white!

I have only used white Sheena Stamping card, a black Momento ink pad, white structure paste, black gesso and an amber illustrator marker for the whole card which was fun.

So, from my blank piece of stamping card I stamped my focal image of the wonderful balloon in black Momento (Bee Crafty Art Stamp).  From there is was to concentrate on my background which has been done by simple wiping the ink pad across the page from both directions, pressing and drawing that ink pad inwards.  I just stamped some of the clouds from the main image (being careful not to catch the basket) and extended the clouds a little bit both sides.

The birds are from Lavinia Stamp.

Then structure paste (white) was pressed through an Indigoblu dinky stencil and some black gesso through another stencil (which was a great big swirl and I've used on a small portion of it).

The sentiments are cut down from some art journalling stamps by Indigoblu.

I then highlighted those with a bit of colour as the challenge suggested with an amber illustrator marker.

Another masculine card! Wahay!!!

Mat and layered with black and white card stock.

I would like to enter this in to the Cards in Envy challenge of "Black and White":-

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/black-white-card-challenge.html

Hope you've enjoyed a lesson in black and white today!

Thanks for dropping by today,

Leanne xx

On Mother's Day Mum............

Good morning!

Thought I'd share a card with you today that I made for my Mother-in Law for Mothering Sunday yesterday.

Must admit, this was made a while ago now so calling on my memory banks to recall what I did with this one!!!

I only took the two photo's while prepping this one so I'll talk you through it as always.

This card started life as a piece of coated card stock (shiny surface) that I'd had great fun with using some spritzed Distress Ink and "swooshed" the card stock through on the craft mat.  Due to the very nature of the shiny card stock, the water and ink makes a wonderful effect when it "sits" on there - dried it off quite quickly to get some nice run effects.

The head image was then stamped (Indigoblu) with black versafine ink and as this is oil based of course, it wouldn't dry in a hurry so I covered it with a layer of clear embossing powder and heated to set it.

The butterfly border came next (Carabelle Studio) and was stamped again in versafine and set with clear embossing powder.

You will notice that I have stamped one of the butterflies on to some white copier paper, cut it out and pieced it on to that original stamped border to let that one stand out a bit from the rest.

The sentiments have been stamped from the Clarity Stamp alphabet and I had great fun with some stencils and some Indigoblu super thick slap it on and their luscious powders mixed in too.

Matted and layered.

Thought the colours on this one were really effective with such crisp and bold stamping.

Pleased with this one! (Hope she liked it too!).

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

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

Live with promise, Laugh with pleasure......

Good morning! I hope that everyone has had a really lovely Christmas - Happy Boxing Day!

Earlier this month I had lots of fun when I went out with some friends (we actually went Christmas wreath making) and I thought of them when I fell across this stencil whilst having a bit of a craft tidy (much needed!!!) - so this piece was born!

I had a wonderful time having fun with one of my gelli plates and Stencilgirl stencils! I have taken photo's along the way so lets take our journey and see what a mess I got in to....... (I mean, see how I got there!!!!!).

OK, first of all I laid my mask on to my gelli plate and I used acrylic paints brayered straight over the top.  I then removed some of the paint with some scrunched up paper towel then removed the mask.  Of course, there is no paint where the mask had covered the plate so I lifted the print and this is what I got. 

This is often how I craft, I just "go with the flow" and see what I get! - Then, I work with what I've got tweaking it along the way!!!

So here I used the actual stencil part and laid it on top and ink sprayed through it so that the ladies started to take on some colour. You will notice at this point that I had laid the mask down slightly off centre so that I got a natural white edge to the right hand side. I'll show you the actual stencil and mask that I've used at the end of this post.

So here the mask has been laid down over the sprayed green area to allow me to work on that background a bit further.  This will give those of you that get a bit confused with stencils and masks a chance to see the difference - the mask is the "cut out" of the aperture of the stencil (the inney) and the stencil is (the outey) bit!!! - hope I'm helping and not confusing further!!!!

Here you can see that I've sprayed some purple paint on to that background (it's still wet!).

I've swapped the mask for the stencil again now and have sponged some brown on to the ladies to enhance them a bit. An Indigoblu script stamp has been used and the sentiments have been stamped at this stage but need more work....

There!!!! mighty fine job!!! - even if I do say so myself!!!!!!!

I've worked on the sentiments with alcohol pens and a white pen and used my charcoal pencil to pop the ladies off of the page.

Mat and layered.

There, a card to create a memory - celebrate with friends! Really pleased when a plan comes together!

The Stencilgirl mask (the inney).

The Stencilgirl stencil (the outey).

Impresson Obsession sentiment and Indigoblu script stamp used.

Hope you like what you've seen and that you've found it useful if you were struggling to remember your masks from your stencils - I also hope that I've helped you to open doors to using some masks and stencils that you may have at home and were wondering what to do with them!!!!!.

I would like to enter this in to the Time Out Challenge - "Inspired by words":-
http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/challenge-73-inspired-by-words.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Quintessentially English....................

Good morning!

The lovely ladies at Indigoblu have asked me to produce a piece of artwork for their challenge  reminder today.  The theme this month is "monochrome" so come on.....have a go, it's a lovely theme - to play with a single colour and see what you can do with it!  Remember to use your Indigoblu stamps and have lots and lots of fun!

Ok, I took lots of photo's of how I made this card so lets take our journey and see how I got there:-

I had decided straight away what stamp I would use for this lovely theme ("Valerie") and that I wanted to show her in a mirror - she looks to me to be gazing in to a mirror don't you think?!

I stamped her out and covered her in masking fluid.  Then I worked on her image in the mirror - I took a piece of mirri card (good quality), inked the stamp well and picked the image up on my brayer then rolled the image out on to the mirri card, releasing the image reversed and sealed it with clear embossing powder.  I then die cut a frame out and blended distress ink around it.  At this stage I also worked out my card layout and how I could have Valerie at right angles to the mirror.

So, while Valerie was masked over, I played around with the background having used a wet baby wipe to blend the distress ink over the card and then I wet my fingers and dripped water on to the card, let it soak in for a while and then lifted off with some paper towel.

I then worked on my mat that would go behind the main artwork - I often do this when I'm waiting for my work to dry more thoroughly!  I sponged the distress ink on to the card and then to add to the effect dragged the card through some distress ink that had been stamped on to my non stick mat and sprayed with water - nice and smokey. I then allowed this to dry naturally.

So, coming back to my main artwork, I used an Indigoblu stencil and spread some clear embossing paste through it, let that dry and once dry I came back in heavier with my distress ink this time and "brought out" the pasted areas.  I also sponged through the stencil on the other side with distress ink and through another stencil with some gesso. Then rubbed away masking fluid from Valerie.

These are the only inks that have been used on this card, the versafine was particularly for fine details when using my stamps.

I blended some distress ink with water and shaded in the image.

Then I assembled everything together making sure that the mirror image was completely level with the original stamped image. The sentiment of "Quintessetially English" was stamped also.

Here you can see how I creased the card so that it was more like Valerie was looking in the mirror.

I was very happy with this card, blue monochrome and very classy don't you think?

Don't forget, get out your Indigoblu stamps and join in their challenge this month - we are all looking forward to seeing all your wonderful ideas!

http://indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/indigoblu-october-challenge-monochrome.html

I would like to enter this in the the current Craft Stamper challenge - Anything Goes:-
http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/take-it-make-it-challenge-november.html

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the challenge!

Leanne xx

Friend........

Good morning!

Well, I got top three for the last Indigoblu challenge so here I am as a guest designer - I am really chuffed!!!!

I took photo's as I went along so shall we take a journey? -

First of all, I started with my usual white piece of card stock.  I stamped the ferns as a wreath and covered in drawing gum, one by one.

A few days ago (you'll see from my blog for Friday 30th September 16) I discovered that I could turn an embossing folder into a stamp using funky foam (new to me, might not be to you?!!!!).  So I masked off the central area just with a piece of copier paper and inked up my funky foam and stamped the outside area to give it a nice wood effect.

Here you can see my funky foam and how I did it! (at this point when I took the photo I had already stamped my hedgehogs and masked them but see photo below also).

Now, I of course only had one hedgehog and had the idea that I needed two!!! So, I reverse stamped the image using my brayer (see Monday 15th August 16 on my blog of how to do this technique) of the reversed hedgehog first, then from wherever that "lands" you can stamp your nice original stamp next to it!!! Then masked off both hedgehogs with drawing gum.

The mushrooms came next, they were stamped so that they sat behind the hedgehogs and then I rubbed away all of the drawing gum.

I painted in the mushrooms and hedgehogs with diluted distress inks and shaded the background too.

The sentiment of "friend" was then stamped in - this is from the Indigoblu funny bird set - originally it says "in a friend" but I have only inked up the "friend" part.

I inked around the edge, matted and layered and added a lovely round frame to make the central image "pop" for me.

I was really pleased with this, suitable for any friendship don't you think?

This has been designed for Indigoblu as their reminder for half way through this months challenge.  I am grateful to them for choosing me as a top 3 winner and hope you liked the journey you took with me.

Please be reminded of the current Indigoblu challenge which is "Autumn wildlife"- go on, have a go!!!! It's a really enjoyable subject but please remember to use your Indigoblu stamps only.
http://indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/september-challenge-reminder-autumn.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

You Cannot Discover New Oceans.......

Morning! This card was inspired by the Fashionable Challenges July challenge "Under The Sea".  What a brilliant challenge!

OK, I've done this one as a step by step (as there are soooo many steps in making this card!).

So, started with my usual blank piece of card and with an image in my head that I was trying to achieve! Think Leanne, what do you need in the forefront of the card - the mermaids face....

This card is all about rubber stamping and the skill of getting the right stamps stamped in the right order and then mask, mask, mask!!!! The mermaid is in place and covered in Pebeo masking fluid.

Then add some sea weeds with distress ink, blend with an almost dry brush and cover with masking fluid.

Stamp some sea shells within the weeds (for this card I have largely used Indigoblu under the sea stamps), blend the distress ink and cover with masking fluid.

Add the sentiment "You cannot discover new oceans, unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore".  Blended over that with some distress ink and then masked over that.  Stamped one fish (only had one fish stamp so reversed it with the help of a brayer - a technique I'll try and blog another day for you) that makes two opposite facing fish!  Blend in the distress ink on them and mask off with masking fluid - the picture is building!

Add a couple of seahorses and some bubbles and keep masking over the images.

Stamp some swirls behind the fish and to fill in the background I pressed some distress inks on to a large acrylic block, sprayed with water and pressed card down on to the block - having masked all of the images I knew that they were protected.

Filled in areas that had "missed" and then rubbed away all of the masking fluid from all of the images. Added glossy accents to all of the bubbles and through the mermaids hair.

Added some tiny sea shells to the mermaids hair and a paper flower under one of them.

Mat and layered in black, a green mat inked to match the greens and blues and another layer of black on a white 8 x 8 card.

There, "under the sea" like fairies at the bottom of the garden, there are mermaids at the bottom of the sea!

Happy with that....

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

Fashionable Challenges - "under the sea"
Words 2 Craft by - "just keep swimming"

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx