The greatest revelation is stillness.....

Good morning!

I've had a go at the current Chocolate Baroque challenge with their colour swatch and inspiration:

http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/challenge-thirty-two.html

Had fun with this one but boy, am I untidy and messy when paints come out of the drawers!!!!

I've taken a few photo's along the way so lets take our journey and see how I got there with this one.

I started with a piece of Sheena Stamping Card and painted a complete layer of green chalk paint over it to give me a base.  I then started stamping, stencilling and simply sponging with some mixed media stamps and the other two colours from the recommended colour swatch - also in chalk paint.

OK, at this point I had stamped my Buddha (Chocolate Baroque)  and embossed in Copper Wow embossing powder.  I felt I needed to give her a sense of stillness of her own so I used some Indigoblu Luscious powder mixed in to their ultra thick slap it on paste and stencilled all around her.  Some Luscious powder was mixed with water and I painted in her robes in the same colour (Penny Dreadful - a beautiful copper).

My mats and layers also needed to match the colour swatch so I used the same Luscious powder to paint the first mat and one of the chalk paints to paint the outer mat.

The joy of using metallic colours!!!! They look fantastic but taking photo's of them is a different story!!!!!  I've popped this one on so that you can see the beautiful shine from the copper metallics used on here. I added some stamped Lotus flowers and the sentiment (all Chocolate Baroque).

There, that's as good as I could get!!  You can now see those lovely mats and layers all matching in.

She looks peaceful and still don't you think?

Well, I hope you enjoyed how I got there, I should have taken a photo of my craft table when I'd finished!!!!! ooooh, some cleaning up and wiping down to do I think!!!!

I would like to enter this in to the Chocolate Baroque Challenge 32 :-

http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/challenge-thirty-two.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

The Sky Is The Limit.................

Good morning!

A quick post this morning to show you this card that I have made for the Cards In Envy challenge of "Red and Blue".

I started this card with a cloud stencil that I brushed with distress ink and just kept moving the stencil down the page until I got this lovely sky full of clouds.

You will see that about 2/3 down the page I changed so that the landscape became hills but kept to exactly the same colour scheme.

I then stamped my planes (For The Love of Stamps - Enjoy the Journey) and painted them in with distress inks.

Using exactly the same distress ink I stamped my compass twice and the sentiment which are again from the same stamp set.

A few splatters and birds and I was done! - another masculine card - brilliant!

Hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by,

I would like to enter this into the Cards In Envy challenge of "Red and Blue":-

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/red-blue-card-challenge.html

Leanne x

Vintage Romance...............

Good morning!

A short mid week post for you this week.  I've made this postcard for Sunday Postcard Arts' "Vintage Romance" theme this week.

I started with my 6 x 4 inch piece of Sheena stamping card and soaked the card stock with water and dropped red drawing ink on to it allowing it to bleed around the card stock.  

I then stamped my vintage couple (now I haven't got a clue of the maker of this stamp, I've had it for years and years and even made some wedding stationary over ten years ago with it!).  I covered the couple with masking fluid and stamped the background stamps (many of which are from the same set as the vintage couple).  

I then lifted some colour out with ordinary household bleach.

Over stamped the roses with gold embossing powder so that it looked romantic and as if the roses were falling down in front of them.

Edged with distress ink.

I was pleased with this one - I particularly like the love letter down at the bottom.

Hope you like it too.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Leanne xx

I'll be sending this in to Sunday Postcard Art - "Vintage Romance" :-

https://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/2017/02/11/vintage-romance/

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

Happy Birthday Daughter.........

Good morning!

This card is what it says - Happy Birthday Daughter.  I made this card for my daughter Hayley, she was 18 on 28th September, the week she left for Durham University! I hadn't had a "slot" yet for it on the blog and saw the current Chocolate Baroque challenge and colour swatch and it matched perfectly!

I took some photo's along the way so come with me, we'll take a journey......

I started with my usual blank piece of white card stock, stamped my image (Chocolate Baroque) and then covered that with masking fluid. I went for the shaving foam technique for the background which again, tied in beautifully with the current Chocolate baroque challenge inspirational photo (the ocean) and goes so well with the colour swatch.  When the background was dry I rubbed away the masking fluid.

My next task was to colour in the image and then work on my background papers.

As you can see, I inked my own background card with Adirondack stream colour, two layers of stream and a white in between.

I added glitter to the tail and wings, die cut some number 18's and covered those in glitter too (Hayley likes "shiny"!), inked through a couple of stencils (I particularly liked the idea of enhancing that beautiful tail with the extra stencilling around it).  I stamped "Congratulations" and "Happy Birthday Daughter" and finished with a bow of two tones of ribbon and assembled on the mats and layers.

I'll let you into a secret, Hayley actually set me the challenge of this, her birthday card.  She actually asked for these colours, glitter and a ribbon! She did seem pleased when she received it!

This card fits in perfectly with the current Chocolate Baroque challenge 27, the inspirational photo and colour swatch so I would like to enter this card in to it.

http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/challenge-twenty-seven.html

and into Cards 4 Galz - use at least one die cut.

http://cardz4galz.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/challenge-33-use-at-least-one-die.html

Hope you like what you see, I was pleased with it, nice and fresh colours,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

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

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

A hook at one end, an optimist at the other...............

Good morning!

Something rather more tranquil this morning.  I was inspired to make this card for the Try it on Tuesday current challenge of "Sun, Moon, Stars.....".

I really like this fisherman stamp from Inkylicious and popping him under a lovely full moon, fishing at night just seemed absolutely ideal (where I'd like to be sometimes, on my own and away from the usual chaos - yes, I could sit in that boat there in that picture!!!!!).

OK, didn't take photo's as I went along this time but I can talk you through it just the same so lets take our journey.

Started with a piece of watercolour card stock (you can just about see the texture on there) and made a start with the sky.  I simply dragged distress ink across the page VERY LIGHTLY avoiding the central area where I was to work on my moon.  I didn't actually use a stencil of any type for the moon, I simply painted the moon on with very watered down gesso, then, using a charcoal pencil enhanced the underneath of the moon to give is a bit of shadow under there. Then, as I had the gesso squirted on my mat already, I decided to use that thinned down again to wipe some clouds in the sky (this left some of the nice darkness behind which looked quite effective) and went over the top two corners again as I felt these were a bit too dark at this point too.

So, next I had to work on the lower half of the artwork.  For the effect of the water I used an Inkylicious ink duster with black soot distress ink again and I spritzed the ink duster very lightly with water and swept that across the page avoiding the very front of the picture - I wanted this to "feel still - almost pond like" - it is after all, night time.

So, I had a horizon line which was good, so I stamped the trees and bank on it (again from Inkylicious) and added my fisherman.

The reeds were stamped, the pond birds and the sentiment "A fishing line has a hook at one end and an optimist at the other" by Inkylicious - but I felt something was missing?

The light from that moon! So out came a lovely Imagination crafts starlight paint and I highlighted that water up quite heavily to bring light to the whole picture.

You can see from this photograph just how reflective starlight paints are when light hits them!

Matted and Layered and "extended" the artwork by stamping more reeds and pond birds on to the actual white card outside the matting and layering.

There, happy with that, a bit on the dark and spooky side but how tranquil and peaceful does that look!

I would like to enter this in to the Try it on Tuesday challenge - Sun, Moon, Stars....

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/sun-moon-stars-27th-sept.html

Hope you liked the journey, have a good week, 

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Happy Umpteenth Birthday!!!!!

Good morning! - An extra post this week so that I could squeeze this card in to the Moving Along With The Times current challenge - birthday cake!

I did remember to take a few photo's along the way so here we go......

Started with my usual blank piece of white card stock and stamped this lovely birthday cake (could be a wedding cake or any celebration cake really) from Inkylicious and masked it off with drawing gum.

Then I stamped my birthday candle across the front of the cake, straight over the masked off cake so that the cake would eventually sit in front of the candles.  Masked off the candles as I went too. Stamped my balloons so that they were coming off of the cake and masked those also.

Then the messy part started!!!!!! My favourite!!!!

I painted white gesso all over the front of the images and when dry started to added some gelato's.  Because I was working on dried gesso and the paper had been effectively primed, I blended the gelato's with my finger and then splattered with water and lifted the paint away.

The final phase was to take off some of the Gelato's by rubbing through a stencil, then I added some distress inks back on through a couple of other stencils.

I carefully rubbed away all the drawing gum to reveal all the images, diluted the Gelato's and painted the candles and balloons with them.

Added the sentiment "Happy Umpteenth Birthday" and attached to it two further balloons with foam tape and a further one (the lilac one) on to the cake.  Glossy Accents were added to make the balloons shine and some fancy glitter with stars and nice shiny pieces were added to the Glossy Accents and dried within it. Finally coloured some pearls with alcohol markers and attached those to ground the balloons.

Matted and Layered.

Bright and cheerful!!

I would like to enter this in to Moving Along With The Times challenge - birthday cake.

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/29-birthday-cake.html

Pleased with that, ideal for a numbered birthday perhaps where you just don't want to mention the age!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Quoth the raven, NEVERMORE........

Good morning!

Ok, without wanting to frighten anyone too much we are going to take a spooky journey together today!

I was inspired to produce this card by the Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge - Monochromatic. When I thought of a card of one colour I went straight for black! Remember black is our friend and we must not shy away from it! With Halloween getting closer I thought I'd have a go with this theme and also understand what I had used to make this card.

OK, I'll briefly explain my card first (a small lesson in poetry) and then I'll take you on the journey of how I made it.

Sentiment "Quoth the raven, Nevermore"(Chocolate Baroque) - The poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe.  This sentiment is mentioned about half way through the poem and repeated thereafter to the end.  The poem is about a talking raven who visits a distraught lover and traces the mans slow fall in to madness.  Read it, it's quite chilling but extremely good!

Ok, back to reality!! Started with a white piece of watercolour card (good quality) and stamped the main skull from Mr Bone Jangles (Visible Image), the two facing skulls and I blended on a moon with black distress ink then covered all of the images with drawing gum to mask them off.

Then I blended a tiny spot of black india ink in to a puddle of water where I wanted the sentiment to sit, dried it with a heat gun and then stamped my sentiment in this area then masked that off as well with drawing gum.

You can see here that I've masked off everything that I've 

done so far.

I stamped the haunted house and also masked that so that I guaranteed nothing bled.

Now the fun starts!!!! I wet quite heavily the whole top two thirds of the water colour card with a large paintbrush and then swiped Pebeo black india ink across the card to make it bleed and give it that creepy feeling. I let it dry naturally and then came back to it.

 This is after rubbing off the drawing gum from the area of the sentiment.

So, having moved on, where the sky has finished two thirds down and dried off, I added the sea with an ink duster loaded with black soot distress ink and sprayed lightly with water.  To this I stamped a man in a boat (Inkylicious), made the moon more dramatic with a stamp also from Inkylicious and added the bats.  I restamped the main skull on to the same card stock and mounted that on black foam tape and stamped two ravens on to top of his head also adding two white dots in the eye sockets. Lastly I gave it a slight blending of distress ink around the very edges.

I mounted it on to another piece of water colour card that I had "played" with the ink on.

There, I was extremely happy with this one, it tells a story don't you think, - a distraught lover and his downfall in to madness over watched by the raven - "quoth the raven, NEVERMORE".

Well, if that hasn't got you in the mood for Halloween, nothing will!!!!!!! Read Edgar Allan Poe's poem this Halloween!

I would like to enter this in the following:-

The Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge - Monochromatic.

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/september-creative-challenge.html

Stamping Sensations - One for the boys.
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/september-one-for-boys.html

Dream in darkness - September challenge.

http://dreamindarkness.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shes-baaack-september-with-lunagirls.html

Thanks for stopping by - hope I haven't frightened you off!!!! - hopefully you like what you've seen and will want to come back??!!!

Leanne xx

Sometimes you've got to tell people how special they are....

Good morning!

A bit of experimenting went on with this card and I had lots of fun getting rather messy!!! - I did remember to take photo's along the way so here we go.

I started with my usual blank white piece of card stock and decided that I wanted to use one of my Sizzix Bigz dies as a stamp so I cut some funky foam with my hearts bigz die and stuck the pieces down on to some doe flex.

I needed to tone down my white card so I blended some tea dye distress ink all over the card.

I painted three different shades of acrylic paint on to my foam hearts, spritzed with water and stamped them out - a lovely effect!

Next it was "Wellington" he needed stamping out and colouring in - I used distress inks with a water brush.

Once the background was dry enough I added some stencil work with distress inks and added some frayed hessian and made some fabric roses with another bigz die that I have. I also cut some more hearts from some wood veneer that matched in colour.

I stamped the lovely sentiment "Sometimes you've got to tell people how special they are, just to make sure they know" and matted that and assembled everything together.

I hope Wellington knows how special he is.........

Wellington is super cute and I would like to enter him in to the following challenges.

Sweet Stampin - Cute and cuddly.

http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/cute-cuddly.html

Creative Artist Challenge - Anything mixed media goes.

http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/welcome-to-creative-artistes-challenge_66.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x