News, Fabulous News!

Hello Everyone!
I have some wonderful news to share with you!  I am now a part of the Heartfelt Creations Design Team!   I can't wait to work with their beautiful projects every month!  I am so excited to share one of the projects I made for the design team call.

Yes, that is my son in the photo- he does not know his face is now being viewed by lots of ladies!  He is also a lot older now!  I just love the colors of this Balmy Breeze paper collection.  They worked perfectly  for framing this picture from Maine.
I purchased a paper mache frame from Micheal's for this project.  Detailed instructions can be found at the end of this post.

This is one of my cards submitted for the design team call-

I had so much fun using the Daisy Patch Flower stamps and matching dies to make this card.  The flowers were made by stamping a background image onto white cs, then applying a layer of gesso.  Once dried, the flowers were stamped in pink and die cut out.  Once cut, the edges were inked with a darker pink.  

 Be sure to stop back between May 1 and May 4 to participate in the Ribbon Carousel Birthday Blog Hop.  And, I will be sharing some more fun news in the very near future!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Blessings,

Lee Ann

Directions for making Frame-

Cut Dark brown dp from Balmy Breeze Collection to 5 ½ x 7” and score along edges to fit into opening of paper mache frame; adhere. Cut light house dp from Balmy Breeze Collection to 8 x 10 in. Glue dp to heavy white cs. Cut center of frame out, stopping short of the light house scene; piece should measure 4 ¾ x 6 ½. Fussy cut out around the light house and clouds. Adhere this to outside of paper mache frame. Using another sheet of light house paper, fussy cut out the light house, tree and hill. Pop up on dimensionals over first light house on frame. Stamp sentiment from Antique Lantern Precut Stamp Set HCPC 3512 onto white cardstock and cut with oval Spellbinder.

Sponge light moss Decorative Lattice Swirl die cut with white craft ink and spritz with white Mister Huey's spray. Place in bottom of paper mache frame. Cut strip of burlap ribbon to the length of approximately the perimeter of the frame; make bow. Adhere bow to left upper corner of frame and across top and down left side of frame. Tie starfish charm to bow, using a strand of burlap. Adhere sentiment to frame with dimensionals. Stamp seagulls from Sand and Sea Pecut Set HC 3528 onto white cs. Fussy cut the gulls out and using dimensionals, adhere to frame. Lastly, add a bit of Crystal Effects to the light house windows.

Products used for card-
Stamps-Heartfelt Creations Daisy Patch Precut Set, HC Butterfly and Bunny Precut Set
Paper-Regal rose, Pink Pirouette, Naturals White, Heartfelt Creations Balmy Breeze dp
Ink-Regal Rose, Primrose Petals, black
Other-Heartfelt Creations Decorative Lattice Swirl Die, Heartfelt Creations Daisy Patch Die,  SU Vintage Wallpaper ef, sewing machine, gesso, pearls, SB oval dies, SB Lacey Oval dies

Mixing with the Color Wheel

Hello All! 

I found some time to play along with the SCS Mix-Ability Challenge.  This week we are to play with color wheel.  Use a cool color and add a pop of a warm color or use a warm color and add a pop of a cool color.

 The best thing about this challenge is if you don't like the way something is turning out, you can just cover it up with your choice of medium and try again! 
I started with a background cs in Naturals White and stamped orange flowers on it.  That did not work AT ALL, so I covered it with blue acrylic paint.  That did not work either, so I added a layer of gesso.  I painted a small swatch of burlap with blue acrylic paint and randomly daubed it on the background.  It was a little too intense and with too much contrast, so I painted over the whole thing with a wash of purple reinker.  Then it was too dark so I spritzed it with Mister Huey's calico white ink.  I dry embossed it to give it some dimension and then dabbed a craft white ink pad over the raised areas.  Called it done! 
The oval was cut out with a SU oval Framelit.  The frame is popped up on dimensionals.  I added some threads of burlap to give added texture to the frame. 

Thanks so much and have a blessed spring weekend!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies used-
Stamps- Field Flowers, Tiny Tags
Paper-Whisper white, Naturals White, Crumb Cake
Ink-So Saffron, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Craft White, Elegant Eggplant
Other-SU Oval Framelits, Crumb Cake seam binding, Mister Huey's Calico White spray, gesso, Vintage Wallpaper ef, pearl flourish from Micheal's, Flourish die (unknown), Jewelry tag punch SU, burlap, dimensionals

Play along with the Ribbon Carousel!

 Hello Everyone!  I am thrilled to by posting my first card for the Ribbon Carousel Challenge!  This is week 3 of our monthly challenge! It is the same challenge all month long, but we have different crewmates showcasing their projects each week! 

With the start of the new term, our Ribbon Carousel Crewmates have divided up into four teams this term to give our fans and participants more beautiful artwork to be inspired by.  The first Tuesday of each month a new challenge will begin.  Each week, we will show off fabulous projects. It is still a monthly challenge, so the winner will be picked and announced the Monday before the next monthly challenge begins.

                                                 This month's theme is...
                                                         "Showers and Flowers"

                                    Curious to know what the monthly prizes will be?

How about a Ribbon Carousel?!

 Each month we are giving away a Ribbon Carousel to one of our randomly chosen challenge participants! 
Please check out the details on playing along and on linking up your creation at the Ribbon Carousel Blog. 

I focused on the "shower" portion of the theme and inked up this adorable Lil' Inkers image, Rain Boy. 

I colored him wit Prismacolor Pencils and fussy cut him out. 

Hope you can play along! Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies used-
Stamps-Lil' Inkers, Rain Boy
Paper-Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, white cs, Echo Park dp
Ink-Memento Black
Other-Prismacolor pencils, dimensionals, Baker's twine, faux wood button (Stampin' Up), MFT Fishtail Flag Stax Die-namics

Hey, Chickie!

Hi Everyone!

Tonight I stamped just to play!  It has been I while and it was really quite relaxing and great fun!  Not to mention it worked out great that I was already in the basement in my craft room when the tornado sirens went off! 
Tonight's card is a mixed media extravaganza!  I used the sketch at SCS this week and played along with the Challenge Chicks, in which we were to do a little 'spring cleaning' and use something old.  I got out an oldie but goodie, Stampin' Up's, Just Chicken In! 

For my background panel, I started with River Rock cs, applied a thin layer of gesso and let it dry.  Then I stamped the background stamp, French Script in Early Espresso over the gesso.  The next step was to use the chicken wire template and mist Mister Huey's Apple Green and Warm Calico mists over the previous layers.
 The chicken panel was done by brayering the embossing folder with Lucky Limeade ink and the embossing the Whisper White cs.  The panel was then spritzed with Tattered Angels Bronze mist.  The chicken image is colored with Prismacolor pencils.  He is fussy cut out and adhered to the embossed layer. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies used-
Stamps-Stampin' Up's Just Chicken In
Paper-SU Whisper White, Early Espresso, River Rock, Naturals Ivory (card base)
Ink-Memento Black, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso
Other-Embossing Folder, burlap, dimensionals, Hemptique twine, Mister Huey's Apple Green and Warm Calico mists, Gesso, buttons (SU), Tattered Angels Bronze mist, Crafter's Workshop Chicken Wire template

New Creative Crew and Cards

Hello, Everyone!
This is a long post so I will make my exciting news brief! I am honored to now be a part of the Ribbon Carousel Design Team!  Check out their website and the other team member blogs from the links in the side bar.  Please consider liking the Ribbon Carousel on facebook where you will be able to view DT member cards posted weekly.  There is also a monthly blog challenge; won't you join us this month?
There are new Creative Crew Challenges at SCS today and  I have 5 new Creative Crew cards to share with you!  Sadly, these will be my last Creative Crew cards, as this is my final design team month.  There is a whole new crew coming on and I'm sure they will provide you with loads of Stampin' Up inspiration! 
This month, we were to challenge ourselves and step outside of our stamping comfort zone.
Here is the first of the challenges-

DSP/Color Focus: It's almost time to say goodbye to the 2011 In Colors. This month, show us the beauty of Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party! To challenge yourself, focus on your least favorite of these colors.

 I used both Pool Party and Calypso Coral on this card. The robin is stamped in Stazon Black on Naturals White, and colored with Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake and More Mustard.  I used the out of the box technique and cut out his tail.  The fancy lower edge of the image panel was made with an Apothecary framelit. 

 Wisteria Wonder, while I don't dislike it, is my least favorite of the '11 in colors.  I also challenged myself by using the heart dies, not my favorite shape to use, and created my own background.  I stamped En Francais in Crumb Cake on Whisper White, followed by stamping the small floral image from Bordering on Romance in Wisteria Wonder.  I inked the edges with So Saffron.  I die cut a heart out of the bottom right corner of this panel and also out of a scrap piece of Concord Crush.  I placed the Concord Crush heart above the die cut opening, overlapping it a bit at the top.  Then, using So Saffron again,  I inked the edges of the heart that was die cut from the back panel. I cut off the lacy edge of a doily and ruffled and adhered it to the back of the heart.  I placed this heart in the center of the two hearts already on the panel.
I die cut a smaller heart in Whisper White and embossed it with the Vintage Wallpaper ef.  Then I stamped the main flower image in Stazon Black and, using a blender pen, colored it with Concord Crush, So Saffron, More Mustard and River Rock.  The flowers were fussy cut out and they, along with the white heart were adhered to the middle heart.  Another smaller heart was cut in Wisteria Wonder and the sentiment was stamped on it in Concord Crush.  Two of the smallest hearts were cut and stamped with the En Francais background, sponged and adhered.  A white bow and pearl finish the card.  The card base is Wisteria Wonder. 

Holiday focus: Let's make cards for the men in our lives!  Challenge yourself by using a non-masculine set to make your masculine card or by trying a new technique.

  I used mixed media on this card, specifically following the Mix-Ability 7 challenge at SCS.  I started with First Edition dsp and covered it with gesso.  Once dry, I used a bit of watered down Real Red reinker and a paint brush and spattered the dsp.  I then inked up the lobster image; I brushed the watered down red on the stamp and stamped over the red spatter.  I then inked it up with Cherry Cobbler, and using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I overstamped the image.  I used the Woodgrain background stamp and lightly stamped the image in Crumb Cake.  Finally, I used the Color Spritzer and spritzed Basic Gray on the image panel.
For the background paper, I wet a piece of watercolor paper with the aqua painter, then with Night of Navy, used the direct to paper technique.  I stamped the sea fan image several times over the dried background and then spritzed Basic Gray ink.

Here is another technique card.  I used the Wrinkle Free Distress technique; instuctions found on SCS.  The fish is colored with Basic Gray reinker, marker and aqua painter.  The sea horse is fussy cut out.  The sea fan is stamped in Cajun Craze, slightly overlapping the fish.  The right edge of the panel was cut down and the sea fan was fussy cut out along that edge. 

Creative Focus: This month, let's show off our new paper piercing tools!  Challenge yourself to add piercing to your card in a new way.

This cas card uses the square piercing templates, paper punches and the Beyond Plaid stamp set.The black square 'frames' are popped up on dimensionals.

Sorry for the length of this post; there was alot of technique in these cards this month!  For more inspiration, check out the Creative Crew Gallery at SCS.  

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann :)

Supplies used:

Card 1-

Stamps-Nature Walk

Paper-Naturals White, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Natural Composition Specialty dsp, retired dsp

Ink-Stazon black, More Mustard, Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze

Other-Apothecary Framelit, Little Leaves Sizzlit, pearls, dimensionals, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Woodgrain ef, linen thread, Pool Party baker's twine

Card 2-

Stamps-Bordering on Romance, Field Flowers (sentiment), En Francais background stamp

Paper-Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush

Ink-Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, So Saffron, More Mustard, Crumb Cake

Other- Heart Framelits, Doily, pearls, dimensionals, ribbon, pearls, Vintage Wallpaper ef

Card 3-

Stamps-By the Tide, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Wood grain background

Paper-Black, Naturals Ivory, Naturals White, First Edition dsp

Ink-Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Stazon Black

Other-Gesso, paint brush, circle punch, linen thread, Basic Gray marker, Color Spritzer, Natural Trim Ribbon, dimensionals

Card 4-

Stamps-By the Tide, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper-Cajun Craze, Island Indigo, Naturals White

Ink-Island Indigo, Pool Party, Cajun Craze, Basic Gray

Other-Natural Trim Ribbon, Spray bottle of water, linen thread, button from neutral collection

Card 5-

Stamps-Beyond Plaid, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper-River Rock, Basic Black

Ink-Stazon Black, River Rock

Other-Paper piercing pack, mat and piercer, dimensionals, 1" and 1.25" square punches