Hi there!

Just sharing another of my Visible Image makes - and for a change (and a rarity) it's a CAS card!!!

I've used the Visible Image Phoenix Rising stamp set with some extra splashes of ink and some antique silver frantage embossing enamel.

I decided (don't know why!) to removed some of the central ink with water and paint in a moon/sun......in my arty head I felt that the rising of a phoenix should be accompanied with the rising of a moon or sun too!

Clean and simple and no fingerprints!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

We Rise by Lifting Others.......

 

Hey there!

I'm sharing this creation that I've made using some of my Visible Image stamps.

Many people ask where I get my ideas from or how I got to the finished result so today I've got a couple of step by step photo's so that I can explain what I did with this one.

Believe it or not, I often don't start with much of a clue of what I'm going to do with a stamp set and because my style is experimental, it often changes very much along the way!!! So here we go.....

Ok, so I chose a piece of card that I'd sprayed with my ink sprays previously (this was a yellow and pink sprayed piece) and I stamped the eyes from Visible Image's Face It stamp set in black versafine clair ink and clear embossed over the top to seal it.  The eyes were then covered with some masking fluid. I then used my Ecoline liquid watercolour in black to give an ombre effect coming down from the top of the page using a 1 inch watercolour flat brush - this darkened that original sprayed piece of card perfectly for me.

To this, I used the Visible Image Into The Woods stamp set (the stand alone tree central in the set) and firstly stamped using versafine smokey grey inkpad and then applied my Dylusions yellow and orange paints to the stamp with a dauber and had lots of fun.

I have now rubbed away the masking fluid from the eyes (they still look a little pink as remember, I had used a yellow/pink ink sprayed piece of card to start with).  Now I stamped the pheonix from Visible Image stamp set Phoenix Rising in black versafine clair ink and covered that with black embossing powder to cover any areas that were struggling to cover over the Dylusions paint - note, some of the emobossing powder caught the damp paint but that's ok - it adds to the effect!

....... and here is the finished card.  You will see that I have coloured the whites of the eyes with a grey watercolour pen and highlighted with white pastel pencil. The eyes have been coloured with an orange watercolour pen. and then I have used black, orange and white pastel pencils to take the glow of the flames up in to the eyes. Matted on to another piece of card that I had blended mustard seed and Kitsch Flamingo distress inks on to and used another of the stamps within the Pheonix Rising set with versafine clair ink.  The sentiment is also in the Pheonix Rising set and I have white embossed on to black card for this.

Well, hope you stuck with me, a lengthy post and hope that you got a small glimpse in to how my mind works to achieve the effects that I need!

Thanks for stopping by!

Leanne xxxxx

Bold and Beautiful........

 

Hi there!

Have neglected my blog a little bit because I've been so busy - mainly in the garden at this time of the year!

So this week, I cleared a day so that I could go and play in my craft room.

Here, I am sharing a make with my Visible Image stamps.  I have used the FACE IT stamp set and INTO THE WOODS along with the sentiment which is from OWN IT.

This creation started as a cling film technique background in some gorgeous spray ink warm tones.  I then stamped away with my stamped and used my pastel pencils to add detail.  The eyes were repainted in with white paint so that they looked really intense.

The sentiment is white embossed.

Hope you like it - something rather dramatic.....well, what else from me?!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxxx

Fearless Tiger for Visable Image......

 

Hi there!

Today I'm sharing a sample that I've made using my Visible Image Fearless Tiger stamp set.

I wanted the tiger to be coming out at you from that backgound so I started with an ink sprayed background (one that I had created some time ago - I tend to have a background making session every once in a while!). I then stamped the Fearless Tiger with my Wow embossing pad and added clear embossing powder and then heated it.

The next step was to highlight that tiger and to do this I used a white Polychromo pencil with a touch of a grey and black pencil too. The tigers eyes were coloured using teal and blue Polychromo pencils.  I added a touch of the pink Polychromo to the mouth. There are also some light touches with a white pen too.

To the background I added some Izink white pigment ink to the Strobes stencil and finished around the edge using one of the stamps from the Grunge Tones set with Chipped Sapphire distress ink and black Versafine Clair.

A great effect, just take your time and the tiger comes out at you!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

That's it!!!! Five Christmas cards for November and my New Years Resolution is complete!!!!!

Good morning!!

Well, I'm thrilled to bits to be able to share these five Christmas cards for November with you and completing my New Years Resolution this year!!!  Five Christmas cards a month makes that 55 cards made - I'm very happy with that!!! (Don't make the five in December as I'm obviously busy writing and sending them then!!!).

These for this month are not that dissimilar to last month in that they are the same angel image from Visible Image.  I have totally changed the colour scheme (last months were pink) and I love the cool blue and icy feeling that these ones give off.

So that's me done for 2017, bring on January 2018 and I'll try and give it another go throughout next year!!

Month 11 and New Years Resolution 2017

MISSION COMPLETE!!!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you've enjoyed watching me throughout the year building my 2017 Christmas collection.

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

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

Creativity is sharing your soul with the world..........

Good morning!!

I have created this piece of artwork to support my dear friend Dot Leathbridge at Ink Art Designs in Australia and her new Facebook challenge:

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

You can use any of your Visible Image, Stampendous, Lavinia Stamp or Kaisercraft stamps or mix them up if you wish!!!  Check out her September challenge!!!

I will also share this with my friends over at the Visible Image Facebook group too.

Using Distress Oxides and Distress Inks I have coloured in the Face It! stamp here and using Distress Ink I have used it as a water colour to get the light right on the face.

I hope you like what you see, leave me a comment as I love to read them.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

I would like to enter this in to the Ink Art Designs September Challenge:

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

and the Visible Image monthly show and tell album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1105592556237849&type=3

and the Visible Image monthly theme challenge - distressed:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1105593129571125&type=3

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

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

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

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

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

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

You only live Once, make it Count............

Good morning!

Well this one is certainly looking at you isn't it!!!!!

This card started life as a square of black card (unusual for me).  Of course, I only have one eye on the Vision Inkognito stamp set so I went about reversing it with the use of my brayer so that I got two eyes!  The eye was reversed using perfect medium and the usual stamp stamped with the perfect medium too and then clear embossed.  I then stamped all the little cogs all over the black card in perfect medium as well and clear embossed those too.

I then used some Distress Oxides to put that lovely smokey background on.

If you look closely I have also stamped very finely with the cracked stamp that is also in that Visible Image stamp set (Time After Time set).  

Some gold gilding wax was gently rubbed over those embossed cogs to make them shine.

I stamped the sentiment on to a further piece of black card and embossed that in white and edged with the gold gilding wax and attached to the card at this stage.

The small clock face was stamped and gold embossed on top of this sentiment panel and then some of the small cogs that had been stamped out and embossed in gold and cut out were applied to the card too.

The eyes were highlighted with a white pen and then the large clock was stamped with the two wings (in the same stamp set), cut out and attached using a double layer of black foam tape to give it good dimension.

Mat and layered using white, gold and black card stock.

Happy with that! - You should see the state of my hands, - black, gold gilding wax and covered in glue - nothing strange there then!!!!!

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

I would like to enter this in to the following challenge:-

Try It On Tuesday - Steampunk/Mechanical:-

https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/steampunkmechanical-6th-june.html