Spring on My Mind

Hello Everyone!
I am sharing a card with some gorgeous spring colors from The Card Concept.  I would consider this to be in a mixed media style card.  I used the sketch from Fusion.  This was just a bunch of mish mosh pieces and I love how they all came together~

The flower is from Altenew and the sentiment is Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Precious Poppies.

Scalloped rectangle die is MFT and I used Color Bursts to make the background.

I am also linking up to Stamplorations March Challenge~

I am also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Floral Frenzy

Thanks for stopping in, and, if you are from St Louis, stay DRY!

Lee Ann 

Cool Colors with Altenew

Hello again!
Second post of the night- it is either feast or famine over here when it comes to crafty happenings!
I try to have plenty of Sympathy cards on hand as it is not something I really want to make when the need comes.  The colors over at Altenew challenge this month were perfect for a sympathy card~

Here is the inspiration photo~

I used Altenew's Vintage Flowers Stamp Set; I have gotten so much mileage out of this set.  One can never have too many floral bouquets!  The flowers are inked with the Glacier Caves Mini Cube Set, leaves are Warm Grey Mini Cube Set and the tiny flowers- well, honestly, I don't remember what I used.   Although, I wish I would have stopped before adding the two twigs in the back of the bouquet.  Know. When. To. Stop.  :D

The sentiment is from a sweet little sympathy set from Avery Elle.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann 

Lots of Crafting and Cactus

Hi Everyone!

So my spring break is quickly winding down, but it ended on a super high note.  I had the pleasure of attending one of Kathy Racoosin's Coloring Road Trip Events.  It was hosted by the fabulous
Marcella Hawley, the talent behind Power Poppy!  What a day!
Needless to say, it was an  inspiring day and I came home and got right to work- well, first I
went to bed, THEN I woke up and got to work.  Can you tell I was at one of Kathy's coloring
events??!

This actually looks better irl, but lighting/editing is washing out some of the color of the flowers.  This fantastic image is Prickly Pear from Impression Obsession and is one of Dina Kowal's designs.  Love this stamp!  This is actually a Mother's Day Card, but I just love this sentiment from IO's Grunge Map Stamp Set; it is perfect as my mom is out of town.   Happy Mother's Day will be on the inside. 
Everything is colored with Copics; A bit of detail was added with a portion of a scalloped rectangle die cut.  Sparkle was added with Wink of Stella and sequins.

I am linking up to Impression Obsession's Challenge- Pick a Holiday ( mom's day)

I am also linking up to Time Out Challenge- this week the inspiration is the phrase "Birthday's are Full of Sunshine, Love and Laughter."  I think love and sunshine are pretty evident on this card!

Lastly, a picture of the fun that was had at the coloring event on Saturday (lots of laughter!)~

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

Lee Ann  

A Unique Take on Paper Piecing

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday to You!

It is spring break here in St Louis and we finely have a wonderful sunshiny day after two days of dreariness.  I cannot wait to hit the trail this afternoon.  I was able to stamp some yesterday, being stuck inside due to the yuck weather.  I received a new toy in the mail- have been wanting a small brayer to try a simple multi colored brayered tedchnique.
That lead to me trying Distress Oxides on Craft and that lead to rainbow colors.

Well, that lead to this adorable bird image stamped over my rainbow stripes.  This has to be one of my favorite bird images- it is from Unity.
Not sure what lead me to paper piecing the birds in their color based on their position on the background, but that is where this went.  Instead of neutral birds, I have neutral, paper pieced flowers and instead of colorful flowers I have colorful, patterned birds.
So this morning I turned this into a simple card on a black card base.  I added a sentiment from SugarPea Designs. 
I love how this turned out, in all of its quirkiness.
I am linking up to several challenges~

The Sisterhood of Crafters- Birds
Double 'D' Challenges- Just Wing It
The Paper Players- CAS Rainbow
Sweet Stampin' Challenge- Use Your Scraps

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann 

The Birds

Good Morning and Happy Monday, All!

It is spring break here and I am loving my free time!  I have a huge list of things to get done so I suspect crafting my be at a minimum, but hopefully will get to do a few fun things.
Speaking of fun, I went to see the movie, 'I Can Only Imagine' over the weekend.  Ah-Mazing!
It is a must-see movie.  I cannot recommend it enough.
Anywho, today's card is all about birds!  And technique!

Have you checked out Karen Dunbrook's blog?  If you have not, you should.  Karen makes the most amazing backgounds for sentiment and solid image stamps.  One of Karen's techniques was the inspiration for this card.
The Distress Inks are applied to a craft mat, spritzed with water  and then transferred to the card base with a piece of acetate, allowing you to apply color where you want it; this is a lot less random than dragging the paper through the color.
My Technique Junkies stamp, Fly, was inked with versa mark, stamped and them heat embossed with black ep.
 

If you are looking to do some Technique Junkies shopping, you can

get a 10% discount with the code TJ10LeeAnn. Thank you in advance

as I do receive a small commission from your order.  

Thank you and have a fabulous, blessed week!

Lee Ann 

Spring Bunny

Hello All!

Well, it might snow here today, but sure enough, Easter is definitely right around the corner!  I love the flower adorned bunny from Unity~

This is one of those images in a pile that I finally turned into a card.  It is watercolored with Zig watercolor brush pens.  I used a die to emboss a white background and added a doily for some frill.

I am linking up to Just Add Ink- 'Just Add Water' and Simon Says Stamp Monday Inspiration challenge.
Have a blessed day!

Lee Ann

Atomic Love

Hello All!

This sweet and so unique image and sentiment is fabulous in bright colors!  It is part of the March Technique Junkies release.  You can get this stamp- actually, your entire order 10% off with code TJ10LeeAnn.

The image comes with a linear frame, but I masked it off before stamping.  I also masked off the 'you' in the sentiment so that I could you my large Simon Says Stamp 'You' die cut.
The image is colored with Copics; added a few highlights with my white gel pen, then added red strips and black cs strips and the 'You' die cut which is 3 die cut layers thick.  The red strips are actually white cs colored with Copic marker and then textured with alcohol and burlap.

Of course, had to finish of the card with some sparkle-SSS sequins and some Wink of Stella on the die cut.

Don't forget that you can get 10% off your order with code TJ10LeeAnn if you go shopping (something I have been doing a wee bit too much of lately!).

 I am linking up to Addicted to Stamps and More- 'Make Your Mark' challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann 

More Black Background Fun

Hello Everyone!

Hoping all are staying warm, especially friends on the East Coast.

I played around some more with popping up the negative pieces of a background die; this time the background was sponged with several distress inks.  I used the same background die as I did for my butterfly card HERE.

This technique is seriously fun, and I love the dramatic look you get on the black card base.
The flower is from Altenew and is colored with Copics.

I am linking up to The Flower Challenge where it is 'Anything Goes' this month.
I am also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 'Girl Power'
and CASology- Abstract. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann

Stamp- Beautiful Day by Altenew
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Inks
Die- retired Sizzix
Copics, white gel pen

Pink

Happy Saturday All!

Did a little coloring and played in a couple of challenges just for fun (and because I still love this WPlus9 image).

I colored this sweet image during a girls craft night and just needed to get her on a card.  Nothing seemed right so I went hunting for the right sketch.  I came across this sketch from the As You See It Challenge, and thought it would work nicely and had some fun elements to it.

I used the colors from Color Throwdown~

I am also linking up to Addicted to Stamps and More 'Anything Goes' Challenge.

I love how this turned out, especially the background image, Abstract Waves,  from Technique Junkies in two shades of pink.

Stamps- Technique Junkies Abstract Waves, WPlus9 Miss you Lots
Dies- SugarPea Designs ZigZag Stitched Rectangles
Copics, Neenah Desert Storm cs, Neenah Solar White cs, Sequins SSS, Lawn Fawn Plastic Flamingo Ink, Memento Angel Pink Ink

Thanks for stopping in!

Lee Ann 

March New Release with Technique Junkies!

 
Hello Everyone and Welcome to the March New Release Hop with

Technique Junkies!

There are so many great images in this release, and if you are a colorist like me, you will be happy, happy, happy!  ALL of the March release stamps are 15% off from now until March 8th!  

No code needed, just put your items in the cart and the discount will be applied at checkout.

Want something outside of the new release?  No problem, you can get a discount of 10%

on those items by using code TJ10LeeAnn.  

Let's get hopping!  If you came from Jeanne Streiff's blog, you are in the right place.  If not, you 

can start at the Technique Junkies Design Team Blog to view the entire hop.  

My first card uses the comical Birthday Cat stamp.   I love him in all of his chubbiness!

To color, I cut out a reverse mask and then sponged him with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.
He was then fussy cut out.
The background was done by die cutting 2 background panels- one out of white
and one out of a piece of Yupo that was colored with alcohol inks.   I used
the inlaid die technique, replacing some of the white pieces with the alcohol ink
colored pieces.

I used other pieces of this Yupo for a completely different look HERE.

I added the perfect sentiment, Goofy Stuff, cutting the sentiment into pieces
to create sentiment strips.

My next card uses the new, You Are Special stamp, along with the Butterfly 2 image.

Again, this background was made using alcohol inks, then die cut with a scalloped
rectangle die.  I stamped and colored the butterfly, then added some gold
highlights using gold foil.  I also added gold foil to the areas of the alcohol
ink that remained tacky.

The You Are Special sentiment is stamped with Ranger Archival Ink and
took a bit of time to dry on the Yupo paper.
I am linking up to Laurel Seabrook's challenge, Inspired by-

 I am also linking up to Sunny Day Crafting- "I is for Insects".
Head on over to Cheri's blog, where she always has gorgeous inspiration for you!

Thanks for hopping!  Enjoy!

Lee Ann