Two Call of the Wild samples for Sheena Douglass..........

Morning folks!

Two samples to share this morning for Sheena Douglass's Call of the Wild collection that was shown on Hochanda.

The first one has that fantastic big moon and the sparkle pen sky, hills have been produced using distress oxides and of course the trees and the wolf are outstanding dies from Sheena Douglass.

The second one has been done in calmer tones with distress inks and the Chief has been coloured in with diluted aqua markers.  Some stamping of the trees and the addition of some die cut trees too here.

A fabulous collection to work with.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xxx

Mockingbird Hill for Sheena Douglass.................

Good morning!

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for Sheena Douglass's recent Mockingbird Hill collection show.

I was so thrilled to see my card on the television for the first time and shown too!!!!

This one is made from the "Our House" set which is a stamp (a huuuuuge stamp) and very large matching die.

I have coloured the house with Aqua Markers used as water colours (diluted on my glass mat) and the back ground was done using distress ink for the hills and the trees have been stamped with several colours of Aqua Markers direct to stamp.

A few painted on sprigs of grass and a smokey chimney and I was done!

I thought this had an old farmhouse feel to it (well, that was what I was trying to achieve anyway!!!).

Thanks for stopping by today,

I love to read your comments, it's nice to know what others think of your work and makes it all worthwhile!

Leanne xx

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

Just Swan-dering How You're Doing? - and some exciting news, I'm joining the Penny Black and More Design Team!!!!!

Good morning!!!

Well, here I am sharing with you my first make with Penny Black stamps.

It's a new challenge over at Penny Black and More this month and that new challenge is "For The Boys".

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/july-for-boys.html

There are some lovely prizes to be won this month and we are sponsored by Penny Black, Marianne Designs and Stamp Addicts.

Here I have used the beautiful swan stamp from the Animal Wisdom set (30-352) and the Sprigs set (30-284).

The swans were stamped first and then masked with drawing gum.  I then got the clouds going with some gesso and dried that with the heat tool.

The sky was brushed on with a Clarity Stamp brush and distress ink and the sea went on with an Inkylicious brush and then spritzed it to drag over for the water marks.

Popped the sun on with a mask, added the sentiment (also from the Animal Wisdom set) and then rubbed away the masking fluid.

Some shading was added to the swans with distress ink and their beaks were coloured in with an aqua marker.

Finally, I stamped some silhouetted sprigs to form bushes at the front and some draping down from above.

A lovely card for a boy or a man to ask how they are doing!

Mat and layered in white and black.

Do pop over and see us at the Penny Black and More challenge and remember, hand stamped focal images please - NO DIGI STAMPS.

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/july-for-boys.html

GOOD LUCK!

I would like to add my thanks to the entire Penny Black and More design team for their wonderful welcoming comments, to Brenda for having the faith in me to join the team and to all my loyal followers for continuing to support me as you do - it makes it all worthwhile! xx

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xxx

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

By moonlight bright, On a secret night..............

Good morning!

I have been having so much fun just recently jumping from one style of stamp maker to another - and I love them all!!!!  It's nice to try different styles don't you think?

Here is my offering for the June Lavinia Stamps challenge of "A Hidden Fairy".

I had to get my head around this one as masking was involved and I needed it in a certain order!

Firstly I stamped the little fairy acorn house in black archival and I knew that I was going to stick a further image of it straight over the top so I then stamped the two fairy wings on top of it and then masked the fairy wings

The next step was to stamp the trees four times in total across the page in watering can archival. Then it was The Green Man / woodland king that was stamped on and just his eyes were masked over.

The background was then put on with diluted Spectrum Aqua Markers (I've been having lots of fun with these pens lately, they are so versatile, they really are). The moon was added and shaded in a bit with some hickory smoke distress ink and the flowers and grasses stamped down at the front with the sentiment.

Masking fluid was all rubbed away.

The fairy wings were shaded in with the hickory smoke distress ink, the woodland kings eyes were shaded in too.

Finally I stamped the acorn house on a separate piece of Sheena stamping card, shaded it in with the same aqua markers that had been used across this project, cut it out and attached it to the card, now leaving those wings looking like they are tucked in behind it.

Mat and layered in white and burgundy card stock.

There, I wanted this to be a woodland scene with The Green Man overlooking the goings on, incharge of his woodland.

Oh, nearly forgot, I added the little mouse stamp too!!!  He looks curious doesn't he? - What's that fairy doing hidden behind the acorn house? - Perhaps she's just simply doing that...hiding!?

Hope you like what you've seen today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

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

Lavinia Stamps Facebook challenge - " A Hidden Fairy":-

http://laviniastamps.com/june-challenge-a-hidden-fairy/

The Artistic Stamper - "Winged Things":-

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/junes-creative-challenge-winged-things.html

Craft Stamper June Take It Make It Challenge:-
http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/take-it-make-it-challenge-june.html

From The Past..........To The Future with Visible Image........

Good morning!

I'm sharing a make that I had great fun with using the new Ahead Of Our Time stamp set at Visible Image.

I have taken some photo's along the way for you to see how it came together gradually.

The masked image of the black hat man. (At this stage I had coloured the other side of the card stock with distress oxides - hence the nice big splodge at the top! - I wasn't worried about this as I knew it wouldn't be there when I had finished!

Distress inks added and the inner part of the black hat man now stamped up and shaded.

Nothing like ripping up your artwork!!!!

Tumbling figures stamped and set with clear embossing powder.  I then fussy cut them out.

Mat and layered in black and white and all elements attached.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today and that I've inspired you with further ideas of how you can use your Visible Image Stamps!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

The Country Life...........

Good morning!

I'm sharing a make with you this morning that I have made for a friends birthday and yes...... he is a farmer!!!!!! (It just had to have a tractor on it!!!!).

I just love this stamp set by Sheena Douglass (The Country Life set).

I have started with a square of Sheena Stamping card and I used stencil tape to mark off the area in which I wanted to work (to leave a nice clean top and bottom of card).

First thing was to stamp that lovely tractor in black archival ink.  I didn't mask it as I didn't feel that I needed to.  I then put in those hills at the back with some green Momento ink and then a blue adirondack applied with a nice soft brush for the sky.

I then took my time painting in the tractor with diluted Spectrum Noir Aqua Pens.  

Now, Philip won't mind me saying this but he's not the tidiest farmer and so I wanted this tractor to look like it was an old one, just left in the yard like a lot of his old engines are!!!!!!! So I have stamped flowers and weeds all around it looking like they are growing through it!!!! He'll know what I've done!!!!!

Finished by stamping Happy Birthday and The Country Life underneath.

Mat and layered.

I think he'll like this!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne x

I would like to enter this in to the My Time To Craft Challenge of "Down on the Farm":-

http://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/challenge-347-down-on-farm.html

Somebunny Loves You!!!

Good morning!

Here is my offering for the current Rubber Dance June Colour Challenge.  I JUST LOVE THIS STAMP SET!!!!  Perfect for Easter but perfect all year round too!

Rubber Dance asked this time for us to follow a colour swatch:-

So I have used Spectrum Aqua Markers of Dessert, Sea Green and Peacock Blue.

This card started life as a piece of 6 x 6 Sheena stamping card and I scribbled the aqua markers on to my glass mat and sprayed with water.  Then I have swooshed the card in to the inks and then enhanced when dry with a smoothie.

I then popped the gorgeous rabbit (Bonny Bunny by Rubber Dance) right in the middle and lifted some colour from him with water.

I stamped the carrots in black archival and painted in with the aqua markers and then stamped the small carrots directly with the aqua markers and painted in with them again.

I finally painted in the rabbits face with the aqua markers leaving some light areas where it was needed.

Edged with the blue on a smoothie just to darken those edges a bit.

Mat and layered with a sea green colour card stock that surprised me how well it went when I found it!

Hope you have liked your visit today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

I would like to enter this in to the rubber dance June colour challenge:

http://rubberdance.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/rubber-dance-june-colour-challenge.html

With Love............

Good morning!

It is with sadness that I have made this card for the last challenge that Chocolate Baroque will be offering.  I have loved this challenge but sadly, all good things come to an end at some time or another don't they?

So, I had to work with a colour swatch which was:

A lovely choice of colours that lend themselves to each other beautifully.

Here is how I got to it.  I started by just playing really with some Spectrum Aqua markers, glycerine and a sponge!  I also added some white drawing ink in to the mix and loved the effect that I got.

I then went on with my hills and then the flowers which have been coloured in with diluted aqua markers.  The butterflies have been coloured in with the new distress oxide inks.  The butterflies went on next and finally the sentiment.

I appreciate that the sentiment of "With Love" looks completely on the wonk - I can assure you that it is completely straight here at home!!! - I am working with a new phone and depending on how I angle it, sometimes the sentiments can look a little wonky or even blurry - I'm doing my best - the phone is more sensitive than I ever am!!!!

The antenna were just too fiddly to cut out so I decided to stamp the main image of the butterfly first in black versafine and then stick the cut out butterfly on to the top to give it perfect "feelers"!!!!!

Thank you to Lesley and all at Chocolate Baroque for a great challenge blog and I really hope that you will be able to bring it back to us some day - it will be missed....

I would like to enter this in to the final Chocolate Baroque colour swatch challenge:-

http://chocolatebaroquechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/challenge-thirty-five-end-of-era.html

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

New Challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.......

Good morning!

Well, it's a new challenge today over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and the new challenge is my choice this time which is from one of my favourite films - The Sound Of Music.  You have the choice to follow the first verse from the theme song:-

Raindrops on roses

And whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things 

Or you can just go with "my favourite things"! - perfect!

I have gone with the choice of Raindrops on Roses!

I have used my favourite rose stamp - the everyday rose by Sheena Douglass. First by stamping the rose and masking with masking fluid and then stencilling all around it with different stencils and distress ink.

I used a mixture of Spectrum Aqua markers and diluted Distress Inks to colour my rose and it's leaves.

The magic had to come when I put those raindrops on the rose!  I have used Glossy Accents for most of the raindrops, there is also some glitter on some of them and I have ringed round a couple with a white pen to highlight. I also added a couple of rather large raindrops on to that background again with the Glossy Accents.

Here is a view taken from the side to see that texture that the droplets have on the petals.

Hope you can join in with this very happy and pleasant theme this month - PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE MAIN FOCAL POINT OF YOUR ARTWORK MUST BE SEEN TO BE RUBBER STAMPING.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the challenge!

Leanne xx

Flowers Whisper What Words Cannot Say............

Good morning!

I've created this card using watercolour pencils - had a whole lot of fun so lets see how I got there....

Spring is in the air don't you think?!!!

Instead of taking photo's along the way I've taken one of how I get there with watercolour pencils - and I'll explain!

I first marked out my square which in this case is 7 x 7 inches in pencil. I am working on a watercolour block pad (the pages are sealed to help with minimal movement of the paper).

Now, to get that wonderful light background I have actually used three colours of Inktense watercolour pencils and have shaved off some of the pencil tips using a craft knife.  You don't need that much of the pencil tip shavings to create your lovely "loose" background.  So, once you've got your shavings on there just spritz gently with water and see it move!

I stamped my image (Sheena Douglass Magnolia stamp) first of course and have then gone in with the pencils with the three colours from the challenge swatch.  The joy of having such a lovely watercolour pad and the large page size is that you can always use the rest of the page as your testing palette.  Here you can see how I experimented with the pencils and tried them out first before putting them on the actual design.

The sentiment (which I think was a Justrite one) has been stamped using Spectrum Aqua Markers direct to the stamp, spritzed gently and then stamped - it gives you this lovely watercolour effect to the sentiment.

I have added some flowers that also came in the same Sheena Douglass Magnolia stamp set - again, you can see how I've tested those on the page before going direct to the artwork.

When I was happy with the water colouring, I added Glossy Accents to the petals of the flowers.

You can see the Glossy Accents a bit closer here.

Matted and layered on to two mats which have been coloured with Spectrum Aqua Markers in matching colours. Oh, and I doodled some of my own designs on there too!!!!

I thought this shouted Spring or even Easter?

Hope you like this one and particularly how I work with watercolours and test before adding to the final result.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Leanne xx

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

Rubber Dance March Colour Challenge:-

http://rubberdance.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/rubber-dance-stamps-colour-challenge.html

Artistic Stamper - Springtime:-

http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/marchs-creative-challenge-springtime.html

The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes:-

http://theflowerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-flower-challenge-6-anything-goes.html

Stamplorations - Sketch and Stamp - Stamps and Spring:-

http://stamplorations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/march-challenge.html

Five Christmas cards for February!!

Good morning to you!

Well, keeping with my New Years Resolution of 5 Christmas cards a month - as promised, here is February's offering!

Now, although each of these cards is slightly different, in order for me to churn out five cards each month they do have to be pretty much a batch make so I'm happy that although they are very similar, each one is very slightly different.

I can't really do a step by step covering all five cards so I've taken individual photo's for you of each of them below:-

The adorable little robin on his branch and the sentiment are by Sheena Douglass and I've added some snow on to that branch for him to sit in. All cards have been coloured with the help of Aqua Markers and distress ink and matted and layered in various coordinating coloured card stock.

There, that's 10 done now - Month 2 - mission complete!!!

I'll be back towards the end of next month with my offering of Christmas card makes for March.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

It's just a number!

Good morning!

It's a new challenge over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges today and the theme is "It's just a number".

REMEMBER - YOUR MAIN FOCAL IMAGE MUST BE A HAND STAMPED IMAGE PLEASE - NO DIGI STAMPS.

OK, my artwork for this theme was started a few months ago on the train to see my daughter up at Durham University!  I took a couple of pieces of artwork to do on the train and the journey went so quickly - it was wonderful!

This stamp is a favourite of mine from Chocolate Baroque.  

Now, I didn't take many photo's (due to being on a train at the time!) so this was as far as I got on the train when I got it home to finish it off! I have done a simple wash of distress ink for the background and have carefully coloured the flowers in with spectrum aqua markers and a water brush.

It was then a case of adding numbers from 30 to 100 (all the "biggies") on to the flowers and using die cut numbers for the mat at the back.  I have stencilled through the negative from having cut out the die cut numbers for the backing card for the sentiment of "It's Just A Number" and on the main background - it's easy to create your own stencils with the negative from your die cuts!.  

I felt I just had to add "Happy Umpteenth Birthday" on there too!

There, a card suitable for any birthday from 30 - 100!!! and as I have said -

"It's just a number!!!!"

Remember, we would love to see your artwork over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges but the main focus of your artwork must be a hand stamped image, we do not accept digital images on this challenge.  We look forward to your creativity and sharing your artwork with us! Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx

Friendship......

Good morning!!!

We're going for a bit of colour to brighten the day today!!!!

Inspired by the current Clarity Stamp monthly challenge of "The Animal Kingdom" I've had fun producing this one! (I struggled with the photograph for some reason, I just can't get the birds clear but they are crystal clear on the card).

This piece started out with a piece of coated card stock which I poured pure alcohol on to.  I then dripped three colours of alcohol ink in to the pool of alcohol on my card stock and moved the card about enough (just by tipping the card one way then the other) for the colours to blend together.  Once I was happy, I dried it off quickly with the heat tool. This left some areas of white space but that's ok - I like that!

I then stamped the frame and masked it off using some post it notes.  The Love birds were stamped in the centre and were masked off too with a paper mask.  The trees were then stamped behind the birds.

I decided at the last minute to continue the picture outside of the frame so I masked off the frame with large post it notes and stamped the trees either side.  

The colouring has been done with Spectrum Aqua markers (undiluted) and some little birds stamped around the scene.

The sentiment of "Friendship" fitted perfectly within the frame so I stamped this in versafine ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Mat and layered on to a single black mat.

Really colourful and cheerful!

I have given this card to a special lady on her birthday that brightens my day every time she contacts me, she knows who she is and I appreciate her and her continuous kind words very much.

I would like to enter this in to the Clarity Stamp Challenge of "The Animal Kingdom" on Clarity Worldwide Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne xx