For Someone Special............

Good morning!

Something a little "different" today for us!

I just love stencils and to work with stencils as high quality as this one is just brilliant! This is from Stencilgirl working on tissue paper - so shall we take a journey as to how I got there? - let's go!

Now, even to me, it's not that obvious where I started on this piece of artwork! Well, I actually started with my usual blank white piece of stamping card (Sheena Douglass stamping card) and laid down some Brusho's in a couple of tones of green and spritzed gently with water. (I should have taken a photo at this point but must confess, was so deep in thought I totally forgot - quite usual!!!!).

I then painted on a layer of Americana Decoupage glue sealer and laid my tissue paper (gift tissue) down and sealed again over the top. (Are you with me so far?) - good! I let this dry completely.

So, I placed my stencil on the tissue to see how it would look with the green coming through the open areas and liked what I saw! So, I had to reverse the stencil to do this (as naturally you would put a colour through the open areas and this would have left the face green!!! No no no, I didn't want that!!  

So, I mixed gesso with glycerin (purchased from a chemist, often used in skin products and totally harmless to your skin) to prolong the drying time of the gesso., Then brayered the gesso mix on to the stencil and flipped it on to the tissue paper and pressed down using a piece of copier paper.

Now, the coloured area with white gesso is actually the "solid" area of the stencil. (We are effectively stamping with our stencil here).

I sponged some Dusty Concord distress ink around the edge and again, left it all to dry completely.

I primed the edges again with some more gesso so that I could take the edges a step deeper with the Dusty Concord distress ink and stamped two birds (Inkylicious) and shaded those with diluted distress inks. At this stage I also highlighted the eyes a bit more with a white pen.

 Time to tidy up a bit I think!

Using the same American Decoupage glue I fixed my artwork to  layer of white card stock and tidied the edges of the tissue slightly - I still wanted a rather rough look though.

A mat was made sponging the same Dusty Concord distress ink.

I then stamped my sentiment "For Someone Special" and matted and layered the card up.

An unusual colour scheme but kept "thin" these colours work extremely well together and can be really rather pretty and peaceful looking.

Happy with that!

I would like to enter this in to the Cards in Envy challenge - "Purple and Green":-
http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/purple-green-card-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

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

Good morning!

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

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

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

There you go!

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

die.

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

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

Then it was time to assemble.  

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Leanne x

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

Good morning!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"A forest with it's woodland queen".

Thanks for stopping by and good luck for the challenge!

Leanne x

Wicked......

Good morning!

Well, we are on the "dark side" again! Well, it is October after all - we're allowed to be!!!!

There are lots of creepy challenges out there this month and I personally love something a little "different" and having a choice to get away from cute and cuddly for a while!

I took photo's along the way so lets take a journey this morning shall we?

This card started with a piece of good quality watercolour card stock.

Now, one of my favourite mediums at the moment is drawing ink, I know lots of people shy away from it as with watercolour painting but believe me, it's really quite forgiving, just have the confidence to give it a go and the next time and the next will be better and better!  I soaked my watercolour card and dripped some yellow drawing ink on to it to make it bleed and followed that with some black india drawing ink.  When I was happy that it had spread enough I dabbed with a paper towel and lifted off the excess which lightened it to where I wanted it to be - nice and dirty looking.

Next came my stencil, this one is from Stencilgirl - isn't it fabulous! I thought she looked rather mean and ideal for a bit of a creepy card.  I went through it with black soot distress ink and then diluted some of the distress ink and painted in the right hand side of her face to give it shadow. I then stamped the drips (Designs by Ryn) on her face, neck and from the top of the image and coloured in with distress markers and topped with Glossy Accents (you can just see the tinge of blue at the top here as it wasn't dry when I took the photo).  I then stamped around the edge with some funky foam that had been embossed from a folder (another technique I've mastered recently) and stamped in spiderweb designs around her.

Here is the Sheena Douglass embossing folder that I turned in to a stamp!

I stamped the suitable sentiment "Wicked" - Chocolate Baroque.

To finish I mounted on to black card stock, framed with a gold die cut frame (Sue Wilson Pierced Squares) and mounted that on to a white 8 x 8 card which I blended the black soot distress ink all around.

I didn't want to add anything more as I felt it was complete just the way that it was.

Happy with that and if my 16 year old daughter says it's cool - then I'm happy!!

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

Dream in Darkness - 31 days of Halloween:-

http://dreamindarkness.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/october-1-challenge-post-31-days-of.html

Country View Challenges - All Things Spooky:-

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/october-challenge-all-things-spooky.html

Dark 'n' Daring Challenges - Anything goes :-

http://darkndaring.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/challenge-6-anything-goes.html

Cards in Envy - Frame it:-

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/frame-it-card-challenge.html

Once again, I hope I haven't frightened you off! We have to get in to the spirit don't we!!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

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