For you............Sister

Good morning!

I am joining in with the fun at the Allsorts challenge today "use 2 or more dies" and the Stamping Sensations challenge of "use your favourite stamp".

Well, there was no shadow of a doubt which stamp I was going to choose as my favourite - The face from the Stampers Anonymous Classic Favourites!  I've used this face time after time and it lends itself to a huge array of backgrounds and colour schemes so here we are with another version of it!

A couple of weeks ago I also purchased the Memoirs Of A Lady stamp from Inkylicious as it is a reversal of this one from Stampers Anonymous with a collage background so here we are with both of them reflecting off of each other - perfect!

I have taken a photograph of the "ingredients" for you:

The Stampers Anonymous set, a new die set that I won in a competition recently and the Inkylicious Memoirs Of A Lady stamp.

So back to the project at hand!  Started with a distress ink background and stamped the Memoirs stamp on the right hand side, this gave me an idea of where to place that lovely large face on the left. Memoirs is stamped with Archival Watering Can (I needed it to be "quiet enough" to sit in the background and the large face is stamped with Archival black.

The flowers are from a set by Hobby Art and I masked the large face with paper and stamped the flower around the face again with Watering Can ink and then stamped the flower again twice on a further piece of card stock, coloured with distress inks and set aside for now.

I used the flower to stamp the flower on the right and then turned it around and stamped again to form a whole flower before I stamped a slightly different flower in back over the top and coloured again with distress inks.

The two bands across this piece are from the Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix set - On the Edge that I won in a recent competition.  The bottom band is actually the waste part of it! - I coloured with distress ink and stamped the flowers on there too.  The top band I have cut twice so that both sides are deckled - coloured in the same distress inks and stamped "For You......Sister" - I thought this card would be perfect for my husbands sisters' birthday that is coming up in July.

Attached the die edges and then the cut out flowers over the top with 3D glue gel.

Mat and layered in matching colours, a nude pink and brown.

I loved making this card with my favourite stamp (I do have so many favourites really but this one just out shines all the rest!).

I hope you enjoyed your visit today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

I would like to enter this in to the Allsorts Challenge - "2 or more dies":-

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/week-419-use-at-least-two-dies.html

Stamping Sensations - "Use your favourite stamp":-

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/june-use-tour-favourite-stamp.html

Let Your Heart Be Still and Hear The Whisper of Wings......

Good morning!!

Here is my offering for the current challenge over at Country View Challenges "Inspired by Tim Holtz".

I got straight on with this one so didn't take photo's along the way but I'll talk you through how I got there.

I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping card and used two distress inks and simply swiped them across the page - effective isn't it?.

I then stamped the nest and to stop it looking like it was completely floating I extended the branches with a micron pen.

Now, the eggs caused me a slight dilemma simply down to their size!  So I thought that I would stamp one of them three times on to shrink plastic and shrink them down to fit the nest! I cut a slit in the nest with my craft knife and popped them in there with some glue.

So, bringing you back to the main image, my eggs are now sitting nicely in the nest! I stamped my birds, the one on the left is stamped with versafine ink straight on to the card stock and the one on the right has been reversed by stamping it on to tissue paper first and then attached to the artwork with decoupage glue and then tinted in.

I stamped my sentiment which I thought was perfect for this piece.

The main mat has been stamped with the egg (full size) and the feather that comes in the same Stampers Anonymous set again using the same distress inks.

I finished with some feathers that coordinated with the colour scheme and just tinted the very outside edge of the card with the distress ink.

Yet another card that would be suitable for both a female or male recipient !

I would like to enter this in to the Country View Challenges "Inspired by Tim Holtz":-

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/march-2017-inspired-by-tim-holtz.html

and Stamping Sensations "Close to Nature":-
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/march-close-to-nature.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Life is a Journey..........

Good morning!

I thought I'd have a go at the current Moving Along With The Times challenge - "sketch".  I always think this kind of challenge is rather fun and have endless possibilities.

I have taken some photo's along the way so lets take a journey shall we?

I started with my usual piece of white card stock, this time it is Sheena Douglass' stamping card.  I've drenched the card with water and used a current favourite of mine - drawing ink and let it bleed. This is sunshine yellow.  Don't panic about the card stock rolling up, (you could tape it down with low adhesive tape or stencil tape) - it will flatten out as it dries off.

There you go!

I having been itching to use this new stencil from Stencilgirl so I inked some distress inks through it, looked at it and thought, "it needs something to bring it to life!" - so in went an eye rubber stamp from Stampers Anonymous Classics.  That did it for me!  I then die cut around it with a Tattered Lace    

die.

I cut three strips from the same stamping card and used the same water and drawing ink technique, this time with some nut brown colour as well and left those to dry naturally.

This was me laying it all out to see how I was doing.  Was I getting to where I wanted to be? Yes, I think I was!  I cut the rectangular piece of card and stained that in the same way as the others, this time using a tad more nut brown and went through the stencil again with distress ink trying to ensure that I would be around the original circle piece with it.  I stamped a sentiment "Have a wonderful day" on the lowest card strip and prepared my backing card with the gelli plate.  I over loaded the gelli plate with acrylic paints so that when I pulled the print off I got that "sucked" look texture on the card - it is a lovely warm effect on the backing card. Then left that to dry naturally too.

Then it was time to assemble.  

I added "Life is a Journey" and a buzzy bee from Chocolate Baroque to fly in on to the flower!

Got the sketch theme right I think and really enjoyed making this one.  That eye makes the flower come to life don't you think? 

Life is a journey so always keep one eye on that road!

I would like to enter this in to the Moving Along with the Times challenge - "Sketch".

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/30-sketch.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Autumn...........

Good morning!

Well, this is a bit of an announcement for me! I'm really excited to share the news that I have been requested to be part of the Fashionable Stamping Challenges design team (and I'm thrilled!).

My first design team challenge is launched today over at FSC http://www.fashionablestampingchallenges.com so hop over and take a look at the brilliant inspiration by all of the DT members.  The challenge this month is "trees" so go on........ show us what you can do with all those lovely Autumnal colours and stamps that you've got hidden in those drawers - or use it as an excellent excuse to order some!!!!!

OK, I took a couple of photo's along the way with this one so without further ado, lets take our journey shall we - a "design team members journey"!

OK, there was rather a lot of work to this piece of artwork but it was lovely to see it grow and progress.  I started with my usual plain piece of white card stock (good quality - I have used Sheena douglass stamping card here) and stamped the face - a favourite of mine - (stampers anonymous) not inking close to the edge of the face.  

I used some masking fluid to mask off areas of the face where I didn't want ink to land - I wanted the face to show through the branches.  I then stamped branches (Inkylicious and Visible Image) and popped the little hedgehog down at the front (he is a friend of "Fleabag" by Polyanna Pickering).

OK, don't panic, it starts to look a little out of control at this stage but I've got this - don't worry!!!!

So, I carried on building my woodland using leaves from Inkylicious, branches from Polyanna Pickering and trees again from Inkylicious.  I've stamped these trees in different shades of distress inks and stencilled in some bushes again in different distress inks for ground foliage.  I popped Mr Fox there as I thought it would be fun - (I think he may be from Clarity Stamp and their woodland creatures set).

So here we are, all drawing gum removed, I've shaded in the face and the open areas and stamped a lovely sentiment "The fox has many tricks, the hedgehog has but one, but that is the best of all" (to crawl up in a ball).

I finally added some leaves that I stamped, painted in and fussy cut around again, to make it appear that she is peeking through.

I was pleased with this one, (hope Fashionable Stamping Challenges are!!!???).

"A forest with it's woodland queen".

Thanks for stopping by and good luck for the challenge!

Leanne x

May A Gentle Breeze Blow Your Way........

Morning! Had great fun making this card, lots of different stages and I've given you a step - by - step of how I got there!

I was inspired by the My Time To Craft Challenge Blog to do a triple stamped card and it just developed from there really - found myself once again in that little world where time forgot me, forgot the dinner, forgot the dogs..........!!!!!!

I started by cutting my three pieces of white card stock and then sponged on to all three Momento Bamboo Leaves and Pear Tart (wonderful colours).

I attached all three layers together using removable tape at the back.

With Archival Watering Can ink pad I stamped the face from Stampers Anonymous Classics SCF005 across all three layers and the bird from the Stampers Anonymous Bird Feather CMS180 set. I stamped the bird again and made a mask of it and covered it over.

Masking fluid was painted over the eyes, nose and mouth of the face and the Stampendous Tree Poem was stamped straight over the top of the face, then the masking fluid rubbed away to show the clear eyes, nose and mouth. A few birds were also stamped around the large bird and an Inkylicious sentiment of "May a gentle breeze blow your way and bring with it a Special Day" was added.

I made a further mask and covered the whole face (as you can see, it has been used before!) and added some colour box white circles with a round applicator tool.

Removed all the masks and added some charcoal pencil to the circles for depth.

Separated the layers (looks a bit different now!!! - don't panic at this stage!!!!).

Mounted each layer on a piece of dark green card stock and attached with mounting foam for dimension. Wrapped some seam binding ribbon around the middle layer and attached a ribbon bow.

Happy with that!  Came together very nicely indeed!

Thanks for stopping by,

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

My Time To Craft Challenge - Triple Stamping

Country View Challenges - Have Fun With Circles

Stamping Sensations Challenge - Anything Goes with A Stamp and Ribbons.

Leanne x