New Challenge at Penny Black and More - All Creatures Great and Small........

Good morning!

It's a new challenge over at Penny Black and More today and the new theme is " All Creatures Great and Small".  Do go over and check it out, there are prizes to be had too!!!

My design for this challenge has been made using the Penny Black 40-312 Sunny Pair, the sentiment is the 30-419 Happy Wishes set, the beautiful butterfly is the 40-099 Soft Wings and the floral background border is 40-100 Fanciful.

I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping Card and painted it with black gesso.  I then popped a layer of weathered wood on there (letting each layer dry completely in between).  When this was dry I painted on two lovely shades of purple and very light blue chalk paint and watched it crack before my eyes!!!!  Sealed then with Decoart Matte Medium. This formed my background and I was ready to start!

I stamped the Sunny Pair first with black versafine and topped it with clear embossing powder to set it. I've painted in the lovely sunflowers with some acrylics. The floral border was then stamped at the edges, just lightly so that you could see that it is there but subtly in the background.

The butterfly was stamped on to sheet music and stiffened by backing it onto very thick black card stock - I glued the sheet music to the black card with Americana Decoupage glue. Cut out the butterfly and painted it lightly with the same chalk paints but this time diluted down a touch.

The sentiment of Happy Happy Wishes was stamped with the Versafine ink and set with clear embossing powder.

Mat and layered on to a lovely periwinkle that I found, white and black.

I enjoyed making this one and I just love the quality of the stamps!!

I hope that you will join us at Penny Black and More this month and good luck!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn from the past, Live for the good times, Hope for the future.................with Visible Image.

Good morning!

I've been trying to have a play with my new Visible Image stamps a little bit each week and this week I've concentrated on the open door stamp from the Ahead of our Time set.

The background here has been produced with the use of distress inks with a splash or two of Creative Expressions Pixie Powders.

I then stamped the bowler hat man in the centre with versafine black onyx and two images of the unwinding clock.

Now, with all the dreadful goings on here in the UK over recent weeks and months I thought I would work with a little bit of hope on this make.  I stamped "past" and "future" from the Ahead of our Time set and "Good Times" in the middle from the Visible Image No Regrets set.

Three opening doors were then stamped individually on to some white card stock and I produced three panels to fit inside the doors which I coloured with distress inks.  I used the birds from the Ahead of our Time set and stamped on each panel "Learn", "Live" and "Hope" from the Visible Image Time after Time set.  The panels were then glued on to the doors and the doors glued on to the card above the relevant sentiment.

My intention all along was to produce a card to reflect on recent tragedies here in the uk -

We "learn" from the past, we "live" for the good times and we all "hope" and pray for the future and for all the families that have been so dreadfully effected.

I hope that you like this piece of artwork,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

I shall share this make on the Visible Image Facebook page and enter this piece in to the Stamps and Stencils current challenge of "Words With Meaning":-
http://stampsandstencils.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/words-with-meaning.html

I Live In My Own Little World, But It's OK...They Know Me Here............

Good morning!

Thanks for joining me, nice to see you!

I've been playing this weekend with my new Visible Image stamps from their new release on Friday.  This unwinding clock is from the "Ahead Of Our Time" set.

I wanted to be a bit different and I could see a snail shell with this clock?!!!  So a snail it became!

I have created my background with distress inks and then gold embossed the unwinding clock.

For the snail body I used the sentiment "Create Your Imagination" - seemed very fitting as it was my imagination that saw a snail after all!!! (This is me set - Visible Image).

I then drew the rest of the snail.

I added the sentiment "I live in my own little world but it's okay....they know me here"in black versafine ink - I LOVE THIS SENTIMENT!!!!

I then masked the snails shell (or clock!) and stamped the tall grasses (large tall grass set Visible Image) and the birds again from the new Ahead of Our Time set - these are a second generation stamping.

I then worked on a second background that I made and stamped the clock again but this time after gold embossing it, I have cut it out like a spiral and then attached it to my card with sticky pads and some 3D glue gel in the centre to keep it spiralling outwards/upwards.

A little ink around the edges and mat and layered in black and white.

I enjoyed this very much!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

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

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1048260865304352&type=1

Bold and Beautiful............

Good morning! Hope you are having a lovely weekend?

Here I am with an extra blog for you for this week.  I am having SO MUCH FUN with the new Visible Image "Face It!" stamp set, I can hardly put it down at the moment!  (I shall be sharing another make with this same stamp tomorrow, it's very clever - well, I think so anyway!!!) So look out for that one.  Infact, I shall be sharing three makes with you this week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday so I hope that you will look forward to those and I can keep you inspired and that mojo up!!!

A new technique has been used here and boy, did I have lots of fun and don't ask about the mess I got in to!!!!!!  I was at my happiest but it took a while to clean up after this one!!!!!

So, I took my time with this one, took lots of photo's for you along the way so lets take our journey and see how I got there shall we, climb aboard, here we go!

I started with a piece of watercolour card stock, you will notice that I have mounted it here on just a normal piece of white copy paper and then on to a further piece of the same watercolour card stock - it will become clear why I did this as we go along .....well, have to keep your mind ticking over don't I!!!!  The "Face It" set by Visible Image has been stamped here in black Archival ink.

I masked the eyes and mouth off with Pebeo Drawing Gum.

OK, I then stamped two flowers from Imagination Crafts with Archival Tiger Lily ink (you will notice that the left flower has over ran the card stock and part of it has come out on the outer layer behind - intended!  I then masked these flowers off with drawing gum.  

THEN THE EXCITING BIT HAPPENED!!!!! I tried the technique of bubble printing - gosh, I remember doing this as a child (and getting in to a mess then!!!!!) but why can't I bring it in to my artwork now? ABSOLUTELY I CAN!!!! So, in three shallow dishes / or deep plates I placed acrylic paint - I have used Pebeo Decocreme orange and indian pink and Americana calico red in each of my dishes. To each dish I added a small amount of water to dilute the thick acrylic paint a little and a good "dollop" of washing up liquid (dish soap).  Give each dish a good mix, each dish with it's own paint brush!  I then took three drinking straws, tilted the dish towards me so that I'd got a deeper amount of the paint mixture and blew in it with my straw to form a mountain of bubbles!!!!! See, I'm 45 (but really, lose the 5, I'm about 4 years old in my head!!!!!!!!!).   Once you've got the mound of bubbles, swipe you card across them and allow each colour to dry before attempting to move on to the next colour.  You can see here, that I've got the orange, red and rose colours done both on the front card and the backing piece.

So here I have moved on.  Unfortunately you do lose a few of the bubbles when you fill in the background a bit but this can't be helped and just ensure that you leave some of them for the cool effect and also on the backing piece.  Here I have used distress ink (worn lipstick) to give shade and depth to the face and distress ink carved pumpkin around the outside of the face.

Visible Image stamps of the flower from the Thank You set and Flower Inkognito set have also been stamped on there and the drawing gum has been removed. You can see the definition of the face coming through now.

The next step was to paint in the flowers and lips with the distress inks and I have used a sparkle pen (Harvest moon - a lovely orange) on the flower over the right eye.  The eyes I went the whole hog and coloured in with a deep red alcohol pen and highlighted with a white pen.

Please don't think that I work any tidier than anyone else - can you see why I lose things along the way?!!!!!!

Here are some shots of the bubbles more close up for you.....

So, here you go, the copy paper was in-between for a reason - did you get it?  Yes, that's right, it acted as the black mat that you see here on the finished piece - it just got replaced when mounting it all up - well done!

Finally I stamped my sentiment again, Visible Image and from the "Own It!" set this time and stamped in juicy Versafine black onyx.

There, a different technique and as my friend Sandra would say - "a breath of fresh air" on this one.  Thoroughly enjoyed it, lots to see and lots of different steps and stages but I was really pleased with this one.

Well, bus stops here I'm afraid for today but it returns tomorrow  so make sure you are at that bus stop to hop on board and take a journey with me.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

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

Rubber Dance Colour Challenge:

http://rubberdance.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/may-colour-challenge-reminder.html

Craft Stamper - Take It Make It May Challenge:

http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/take-it-make-it-challenge-may.html

Artistic Stamper Challenge - Floral Fantasy:

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/mays-creative-challenge-floral-fantasy.html

Country View Challenges - Flower Power:

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/may-2017-flower-power.html

That's Crafty - Bright:

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/bright-challenge.html

Time Out Challenges - Flowers with optional twist of kissing technique:

http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/challenge-82.html

Visible Image monthly show and tell:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1029359463861159&type=1

Those Who Don't Believe In Magic................

Good morning!

Well, I'm getting in to that Christmas spirit early!!!!

This is a card that I have prepared for the current Lavinia Stamp challenge of "Let it snow".

Now, I have to admit, I got so engrossed when I was making this that I actually forgot to take photo's along the way!! - I did remember but when I did, it was a bit too late!!!! So, although we can't take our usual journey, I can talk you through how I got there.

I started with my usual piece of Sheena stamping card and gave it a coat of gesso.

I then die cut the snowflakes and different flourishes (these are all Sue Wilson and Courture Creations  dies).  They were then stuck on to the gesso'd card and another coat of gesso was applied over the top.

A small moon mask was stuck down.

Out came my aquatints and I have used a shade of light pink and light blue on this one and when dry I've applied a light covering of silver gilding wax to bring those images right out. The moon mask was then removed.

All the stamps (trees and stag) are Lavinia Stamps.  I stamped the stag in black versa fine ink and clear embossed him to set.  I then stamped all the other trees.  The sentiment was stamped on (also Lavinia Stamps) and I applied Cosmic Shimmer glacier ice and diamond sprinkles on the trees and around the ground and some for falling snow too.

How pretty is that?!!! Rather mixed media this one - quite different with Lavinia stamps I thought with quite a lot of depth to it -

I would like to enter this card in to the current Lavinia Stamps challenge "Let it snow":-

http://laviniastamps.com/lavinia-stamps-monthly-creative-challenge/

Fussy and Fancy challenge "Ice/Snow"

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/fussy-and-fancy-challenge-176-icesnow.html

Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

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

Kind hearts are the gardens.......

Good morning!!

I was inspired to make this card for the current Clarity Stamps challenge "In The Garden".

I remembered to take photo's as I went along on this one so you can come on the journey with me?

I started with my usual piece of white card stock and stamped the Agapanthus (Clarity Stamps Clarity Club stamp March 15) and covered the petals with drawing gum.

Then I stuck down the bird table art stencil (Clarity Stamps) and sponged in some chalk paint.

I always seem to get a very "flat" image from this stencil so I've used some chalks paints and added to the stencil to give it some definition - I was pleased with this look. At this stage the Agapanthus are still covered in the drawing gum and I have painted drawing gum now over the bird table to keep that to the forefront of the garden as well.

Then came the fun!!!!!!!

With those Agapanthus still covered I could go mad with the garden and not worry about them, they would still be at the front of the garden no matter what I did!!!

I added hills, trees, some lovely flowers round a lawn and lots of garden friends (all Clarity Stamps) and lastly the lovely couple on the bench from one of the Clarity Wee Folk sets.

I rubbed off the drawing gum from the bird table and the Agapanthus and stamped the squirrel and fussy cut him out and stuck him to the bird table to make it look like he was actually sitting there.

Lastly, I coloured in the Agapanthus petals and popped some Glossy Accents on them and placed a further flower that I had stamped out and coloured in on sticky pads and stuck that on too to bring it nearer to me.

Matted and layered.

There are lots of things to look at in this garden but isn't that what we want to see in a garden? It's a home for the flowers and all the little feathery and furry people too - we sit in it and it is respected and belongs to all that visit it......

Happy with that!

I would like to enter this in to the Clarity Stamp Challenge - In The Garden.

https://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/clarity-challenge-43-in-garden.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

Secrets are hidden.............

Good Morning! Thought I'd have a go with my Lavinia Stamps this week.  I just love the mystical feel that they have. I've produced this card with the theme of autumn colours for the Lavinia Stamp challenge this month.  Can you tell where the secrets are hidden??????

The first step I took was to stamp the largest toadstools and seed pod and mask them with drawing gum.  Then I used the wax paper technique to give the whole piece of card some texture and resist.

I then brought in my autumnal colours with distress inks and momento inks - sponging them all over. Then I coloured the seed pod and toadstools with alcohol pens.

I finished off by stamping my little animal friends and the fairy and her dandelion heads and added some glitter to the toadstools and around the seed pod and dandelion heads.

Where do you think the secrets are hidden???? Well, my guess is that they are going up with the dandelion seeds as she thinks of them........

I would like to enter this in to the Lavinia Stamp challenge - Autumn Hues.

http://laviniastamps.com/lavinia-stamps-monthly-creative-challenge/

and Fantasy Stampers challenge - Sunshine Colours.
http://fantasystampers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/challenge-70-sunshine-colours.html

Hope you like this one,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Dream......

Good morning!

Well, for those of you that know my usual style THIS IS WAY OFF PISTE FOR ME!!!!!!!

I was inspired to make this card for the Moving Along With The Times challenge "Clean and Simple".  

Well, a rather simple card for me but I had a clear image in my mind of what I wanted to achieve - my idea of clean and simple!

I like mats and layers and to keep in with the theme I decided to keep to all white so I measured out three mats and layered them on top of each other.  I don't know why, but I was drawn to this stamp by Inkylicious and to the simple sentiment "Dream"which is a part sentiment to the Inkylicious stamp "Dream Until Your Dreams Come True" - I just inked up the word Dream - I felt that was all that was needed and it went so ideally with the image. These were inked in black Versafine ink for crisp permanent images. I stamped the whole sentiment on the inside of the card "Dream Until Your Dreams Come True".

Finished with a lovely deep red velvet ribbon and tied the bow.

There, clean and simple! A lovely card to give to someone perhaps going off to university or setting sail to adventures new.......

I would like to enter this card in to the Moving Along With The Times "Clean and Simple" challenge.

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/27-clean-simple.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Hip Hip Hooray!

Good morning!

This card was inspired by the latest Cards in Envy challenge "Hip to be square".

I have done a step by step for this card so you'll be able to see how I got there with this one.

Started with my usual white piece of card and cut some squares of different sizes from post it notes.  Then simply stuck them randomly on the card and brushed black soot distress ink over the edges and then moved the pieces and brushed again as shown below.

You see lots of squares appearing before your eyes! Squares everywhere!  So you keep moving them and keep brushing!

Then I highlighted some boxes by drawing around them with a fine liner pen.

I stamped all the images (all from Clarity Stamp) in black versafine ink so I could get nice solid images - each one within a box and stamped the sentiment "Hip hip hooray!"  on a square piece of card, brushed that with the DI and stamped around that sentiment with a stamp from Creative Expressions.

Then mounted the artwork on a layer of white, then black card.

Happy with that, suitable for a masculine or feminine card or even a wonderful retirement card perhaps - look in to the card, do you see what I see? Sitting on a bench as a couple? Grandchildren playing perhaps? Walking the dog, children or even Grandchildren finding love and moving on in their lives or simply hands in the air - that's it, done that, it's time to retire! Yes, a perfect retirement card the more I look at it!!!! (Didn't see that when I was making it!!!!).

"Hip hip hooray" - it's hip to be square!

I would like to enter this card in to the Cards in Envy Hip to be square challenge.

 http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/hip-to-be-square-card-challenge.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx