Surprising myself!

Good Morning All,

Whoever has the sunshine this morning please send me a few gentle rays, lol!  Apparently it should be ok later (although chilly) but at the moment we have rain......the fine, gentle stuff we only seem to get here in the UK and usually in the summer..... it wets you through before you properly realise it's even raining ;-)

Anyway, on to the business of the day and it's tag and ATC swap time!  I got very close to the wire this month and almost thought I wouldn't make it which would really have bugged me as I want a full set of swaps, lol!  The theme for July was stencils of which I have a fair few (ahem) and I set myself a challenge of not using flowers or leaves ...... very difficult for me as I have hundreds in one way or another in my stash.....so here we go......

TAGS

I used Distress Inks on the background and a honeycomb stencil from TCW then Lin Brown's leafy stencil for PaperArtsy using Prima clear crackle paste (also bought from PA).

On my screen this photo shows the colours better.  In the top left corner I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints through part of a Rebekah Meier stencil design for TCW and finally stamped and embossed the Tim Holtz blueprint dragonfly onto card, painted it with Viva Precious Metal to give a gorgeous soft shimmery hint of colour.  Added half of it, plus some of the wording, to the tag along with some pieces of diecut honeycomb from the Tim Holtz thinlits die.

For the second tag I again used Distress Inks for the background through a Tim Holtz flourish stencil, followed by PaperArtsy Grungepaste through another Rebekah Meier design which I highlighted with Treasure Gold.

  

Finally I stamped some images from a selection of Paris stamps from Chocolate Baroque directly onto the tag with the 'Bonjour' being stamped separately a cut out to add to the tag.

ATCs

I almost 'lost it' with the ATCs because I wanted to do a good few layers and nearly obliterated the bottom ones, lol!  In fact the bumping of the dark circles needs a sharp eye to see it ;D.  I used layers of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paints for most of the stencilling starting with a small dotty one right in the background, then a paint wash then the different sized circles bumped and another thin wash.

The next stencil was Tim Holtz Damask and finally PaperArtsy's new numbers stencil using Grungepaste and Treasure Gold.  I added a bit of script stamping and stamped the quote onto separate card to cut out and stick to the ATCs.  I went round each piece of card with a graphite stick and finally gave them a coat of Colourcraft Acrylic Wax.  I got this from Chocolate Baroque a few weeks ago and it's the first time I've used it.  It gave a lovely soft sheen when it was buffed up and I think a second coat would have looked even better.  There are lots more uses for this product apparently which I will have to explore.

Once again I started off without a clue what I was going to do and ended up having a really nice play.  I can't wait to receive my swaps from my buddies now!

It's nearly weekend folks so have fun whatever you have planned.  Last Saturday I went to a workshop taught by the lovely Sue Carrington.  I thoroughly enjoyed a very relaxing day with lovely ladies and learned lots from Sue but as always I couldn't rush and am now getting a lot of pleasure from painting all the details and embellishments and I'm hoping to have it finished by weekend to show you.

See you soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Blimey, I've managed an entry for the PaperArtsy Challenge!

Hi lovely visitors,

I've finally managed an entry for the current PaperArtsy Blog Challenge which has the theme of 'Time'.  This project was actually started as an entry to their previous theme which was Stencils but because I had our lovely 3 year old Grandson Charlie to stay for most of last week, it never got finished so  I changed my plans slightly to make it fit the Time theme after seeing Leandra's garden flower clocks HERE.

I created a background on an MDF plaque with Fresco Finish paints in various pinks and blues with Lin Brown's 'splodging' technique which you can see HERE and then added some background stamping again with the paints and a selection of stamps from Lin Brown's new sets for PaperArtsy.  This was almost as far as I got before I switched themes.  It also had the words from a PaperArtsy stencil 'Happy' and 'Life' stencilled at the top in pink ......yes, you read it correctly, I actually used PINK! ......and a tad more background stamping then I changed themes.   When I eventually continued with it I was having so much fun I completely forgot to take step by step pics so here are a couple of close ups.

I stamped the poppy onto white card 3 times, coloured with pencils and then cut out two middles and one whole poppy. I stamped the flower clock onto shrink plastic which I had already painted with Snowflake Fresco Finish paint for another project and after cutting them out and shrinking them I added colour with pencils.  I then layered the flowers using 3D foam pads.

 The little flowers are from yet another Lin Brown new set, stamped onto card, painted with Fresco Finish then cut out and glued to the project. 

 

All the stamps used are from Lin Brown's newly released sets for PaperArtsy with the exception of a couple of Hot Picks stamps.  Do drop by the PaperArtsy Blog if you get chance for an eyeful of the fabulous inspiration from their very talented designers.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a good day today.  Off to link up to the Challenge blog now but hope ro see you again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Last one .......... for now!

Hello again.......

......and thank you for visiting once more so that I can show you my final project (for now) using Lin Brown's new stamps for PaperArtsy which have been launched this week over on the PaperArtsy Blog.  I hope you have found time to hop over there during the past week as there have been some wonderful new releases and lots of fabulous inspiration from the designers themselves, the usual amazing DT suspects and a few guests like myself.  Thank you once again Lin for asking me to join your other wingmen for this release.  It's been a lot of fun and a huge honour and I for one cannot wait to add the rest of your new stamps to my collection because I love them all.

Ok, on to my project which is another card and back to a relatively clean and simple style.  I remembered to take step by step photos this time ;-)!

I started with a 15 cm square base card and a circle template I made ages ago from copy paper using a circle die.

I positioned the template centrally & used masking tape to keep it in place and then stamped the two lines of the quote from ELB22 at the top and bottom 

I love this quote because I could cut the three lines into separate phrases and they are so easy to line up perfectly with the edge of your block using the dots at each end and a cutting mat as you can see below.  

 

I then removed the template and stamped the teasel from ELB22 and stamped again onto a post-it note so I could make a mask which I placed over the proper image before replacing the template.  I also put post-it notes around the edges of the template to make sure I didn't inadvertently stamp on the base card where I didn't want it.

 

I then took the border stamp from ELB21 and created the trellis effect as I did on my last project.  I removed the mask and again replaced the circle template and then blended a little Tea Dye Distress Ink in from the edges of the circle using Cut-n-Dry.

 

Finally I used Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord to add a little colour to the teasel and Tea Dye for the stem.  Archival ink in Black and Dandelion were used for the stamping.

As I said at the beginning, this is my final 'official' project with these lovely stamps but I just know I will be using them again and again in the future.

See you again soon.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

This time it's a garden on a tag!

Hello again!

Wow, posts on 4 days in a row!  That's a new one for me I think, lol!

As promised I have another project created with Lin Brown's gorgeous new stamps for PaperArtsy.  Do hop over to the PaperArtsy blog and get an eyeful of the fabulous new stamp designs released this week.  I have had the privilege of being one of Lin's wingmen, alongside some very illustrious crafters and if you haven't already seen my projects scroll down through the last 3 posts where you can see them in detail.  You'll get to see lots more wonderful inspiration for all the new stamps released this week over on the PA Blog though!

Here's my project for tonight .......

This time it's a tag with a depiction of a busy little garden, lol!  Unusually for me this has lots of different colours and uses quite a few stamps, all of which are from Lin's two new sets I was asked to work with, ELB21 & 22.

Once again I got so carried away having fun with this tag I completely forgot to take step by step photos but the techniques were simple so just ask away in the comments if they are not clear.

I started by applying Chocolate Pudding Fresco Finish to a large tag, then a layer of PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze followed by a layers of Snowflake FF.  I wanted it to look like a whitewashed fence.  I cut a couple of centimeters off the bottom of the tag and painted it with another colour as I wanted to use it across the bottom of the tag but I chose the wrong colour ink to stamp the chequered image and it didn't show up enough.  I decided to just cut a piece of card and paint and stamp that instead.  Love that little stamp as you can build it up to cover as big an area as you need.

Next I used Potting Soil Archival ink to stamp the long border stamp from ELB21.  This is another one you can join up to create any size you want.  I wanted mine to look like trellising so then I used a stencil & Hey Pesto FF to create a hanging vine & the little stamp from ELB22 and Bougainvillea FF to create the flowers.  I then stamped the lovely birdcage with Versamark and embossed with gold EP and added the two little birds.  It was at this point that I realised the gold birdcage was already getting totally lost so I used a carbon pencil to create some shadow and it did the trick perfectly.

  Next I stamped the branch three times onto a piece of Smoothy card and used Fresco Finish paints in Limelight, Hey Pesto plus a couple of Lin's older (discontinued I think) limited edition paints to colour them.  I then fussy cut all three out and used two as little saplings against the trellis.  I attached these with tiny bits of thin 3D foam and the third branch I cut up and arranged above the birdcage.  I stuck these pieces flat.

I stuck the chequered strip across the bottom with thicker 3D foam and then stamped the clump of flowers 3 times on separate card, coloured them and then fussy cut them out and arranged the little flower border across the bottom and finally added some co-ordinating ribbons at the top.

I'm typing this blog post on the hottest day so far and it's still 30c at 9.30 pm :-/   My craftroom has been over 40 today and is well out of bounds.  If it cools down enough I'm hoping to have another project with these stamps but if it doesn't ..........

Take care, stay cool and thanks for visiting everyone.  Don't forget to visit the PaperArtsy Blog!

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

And my final 'official' contribution to the PaperArtsy release of Lin Brown's new stamps....

'Evening All,

Wow, three days in a row and thanks so much for visiting again!  I always appreciate visitors anytime ;-)

Tonight I have the last of the three cards I designed for PaperArtsy's newly released stamps by Lin Brown to share the details of.

 For this card I did a bit of stamping and painting onto linen.  

I used black Archival ink to stamp the gorgeous teasel from ELB22 which I then added soft colour to using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints in Bougainvillea/Candy Floss and Limelight which I mixed with water on my craft mat.  I also did a bit of splattering from my paintbrush with the same colours.

I then took the three line quote and cut the stamp into separate lines so that I could easily position them along the sides and top of my base card with black Archival ink.  I do possess a stamp positioner ..... somewhere, lol, but I always position just by eye ;D.   I can still fit the phrases together if I want to stamp the whole quote.  I heat set the stamped words then painted a border with watered down Bougainvillea FF (absolutely love this colour)

Finally I layered the linen piece onto some stiff card with some wadding sandwiched between and folded the edges to the back before adhering to the basecard.

So, that's the last of my contributions from the PaperArtsy blog and a big thankyou to Lin Brown for asking me to be one of her wingmen..... what an honour!  I'll be back tomorrow with another piece I made just because I wanted to ;D.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

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More for the Lin Brown/PaperArtsy new stamp release.

Evening all,

Thanks for taking a look at my first card created to showcase Lin Brown's fab new stamps ELB21 & ELB22 over on the PaperArtsy Blog last night.  Tonight Lin and Leandra are revealing her second batch of stamps and it's not often I can't choose a favourite set but this time I really love them all.  Hop over and see what Lin and her wingmen for the evening have for your inspiration tonight.

I'm going to show you more details on how I  made my second card.  This won't take long because I forgot to take step by step pics, lol!  There's a very good reason for that because the day I made it was very hot in my craftroom (conservatory).... 38c hot in fact and I lost count of the attempts I had to get the paint just how I wanted it in the background because it kept drying too fast on the card.  It literally dried the second it hit the surface and I know I wanted a streaky look but .........  In the end I had to leave it till evening when it had cooled down a bit, lol!

Anyway, I took a square of PaperArtsy Heavy Smoothy card and using Cut-n-Dry foam I smeared watered down Fresco Finish paints in a mix of Caribbean Sea and Wisteria for the top half and Hey Pesto for the bottom.  I then manipulated the stem of the bluebell (ELB22) before stamping it with Watering Can Archival ink, so that I could fit the birdcage (ELB21) in and hand draw a hook and chain to hang it from the stem.  I stamped the flower twice more on separate card and coloured all three using the same colour FFs with the addition of Candy Floss.

I cut out the two extra flowers and layered onto the main one with silicone glue.  I used the flower head from another image (ELB22) to create clumps of  'grasses' along the bottom using Leaf Green Archival ink.  I stamped the words onto card, cut them out and inked the edges with Cobalt Archival ink as well as the edges of the Heavy Smoothy card square before adhering everything to the card blank.

So, that's card #2.  Third one tomorrow night and then I'll have a couple more projects I've made since the deadline because I really love these stamps.

Hope you can drop by tomorrow and don't forget to stop by the PaperArtsy blog for inspiration by the bucket load for all the delicious new stamps.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Whoohoo! Am I honoured or what!!!

Good evening lovely visitors,

Tonight I am beyond excited and very honoured (not to mention nervous) to be aiding and abetting the launch of the lovely Lin Brown's brand new stamps for PaperArtsy.  If you've come straight to my blog then do hop over to PaperArtsy's fabulous hangout too because I think these are Lin's best stamps to date (and I have most of the others too, lol) and I just know there is going to be some awesome inspiration from Lin herself and a few other DT members and guests.

The sets I had the privilege of playing with are ELB21 & ELB22 and I decided to keep it fairly simple for my contributions.  I designed three cards with a similar format but each ending up looking quite different.  So that this post doesn't get too long I am showcasing one card at a time over the next few nights together with a couple of other things I made with these gorgeous stamps. Before I explain my card though, if you haven't already seen it over on the PaperArtsy Blog this is Leandra's video intro to Lin's new stamps.

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Card #1

All the stamping on this card was done with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paints except for the phrase which was done with black Archival ink.

 

I used the mesh stamp from ELB22 and Limelight FF to stamp round my base card.

 

 I took a smaller square of card and 'rolled' the edges by scoring along them with a bonefolder.  This is a nice alternative to distressing as I don't like bare/flat white edges, lol!  I did the same thing with three 5 cm squares before stamping images from ELB22 using Limelight and Bourgainvillea FF.

 I then masked the edges of all the squares with Eclipse tape and painted them with Bourgainvillea.  I was really pleased with this as an alternative to matting and layering.

I very lightly marked off a 5 cm square in the bottom right corner and stamped the first line of the phrase from ELB22.  I had already cut this three phrase stamp into three separate lines (which I can still fit back together if I want to stamp as a whole) and to fit this phrase into the square I inked up a few words at a time, masked the rest of the stamp off to make sure I hadn't got ink on a bit I didn't want and stamped into the marked square.  I then adhered two squares flat and the top left with thin 3D foam.

This whole week on the PaperArtsy Blog is devoted to the new  stamp releases and there is so much gorgeous inspiration over there it's mind boggling.  You really need to pay them a visit if you haven't already and how lucky am I that I got to share in the build up!

Drop by again tomorrow if you get chance for more of my playtime makes with these beautiful new stamps.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Chocolate Baroque Challenge #12

Hello and welcome,

Finally I managed an entry for the 12th Chocolate Baroque Blog Challenge!  I can't believe it's a year since their fabulous challenges began and I'm a bit disappointed not to have managed to make many entries but at least I made the first and the last (with one in between I think).

 This is a one layer card (apart from one butterfly top right) and is quite small for me at 5" (13cm) square. I began by dusting Distress Inks in Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce over the whole of the card front and then applied Rusty Hinge through a Clarity Poppy stencil. I stamped the main image from Chocolate Baroque Pretty Poppies set using Sepia Archival ink and watercoloured it with the same DIs.  I stamped two butterflies from the Honeysuckle Butterfly set with Sepia, top left directly onto the basecard and the other one onto a separate piece of card and embossed them both with clear embossing powder.

Once again I coloured them with the same Distress Inks.  I cut out the separate one, shaped the wings slightly and stuck it to the card by just the body.

Finally I stamped the sentiment from Chocolate Baroque clear set Amazing Birthday using the Sepia Archival and again embossed with clear embossing powder.

Thanks for dropping by and now I'm off to link up to the challenge.  As there's still just over a week to go on this final challenge why don't you make an entry .... I might just manage another one if I get my skates on ;-).

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

PS  My friend Lynne just pointed out that this card also fits the current Stamping Sensations lovely challenge so I'm linking to that as well.  I have these challenges in my sidebar and never think to check them when I do a post, lol!

A Pleasure to make.....

Hi Everyone,

I'll say lovely to see you today and then get the weather out of the way from the start and just say ....... I don't like it hot!!!  Which is why I love Spring and Autumn ;-)

I've not had much I could show recently as I've had quite a few cards to make for birthdays coming up soon but last Friday was Helen's birthday so I can now share her card. 

Once again it was a simple format (my favourite style at the moment) where I blended various shades of blue and purple Distress Inks through a sunburst stencil and then did the same with a doily stencil on top.  If I remember correctly I used brushes to apply the ink.  I inked roughly around the edges then matted onto two layers of complimentary card.  I stamped one of Dina Wakeley's scribbly birds onto the stencilled card, mainly so I didn't have to fussy cut his legs, lol, and then again onto some designer paper from my stash.  I cut him out, minus legs, and stuck him over the image on the card.

Finally I stamped the Chocolate Baroque sentiment direct to the card.........why the heck do I always do that last and risk bu......   er, ruining the whole thing ;D........ and stuck the layers onto my cardbase.

That's it for today and it could be a few days before I get back with anything else.  I'm trying to finish the fab project we did at our weekend with Lin Brown a couple of weekends ago but my craftroom is pretty much no go in this heat.  See you again as soon as I can.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx