Florals, Guest Designing and Divinity Designs!

Hello!

I am absolutely thrilled to be guest designing for Divinity Designs this month.  And they have florals!  I told Kelley, the owner, you can never have too many flowers!

Hibiscus.  I do not have any hibiscus in real life or in my stamp collection.  Well, I do now; these beauties from Divinity Designs are from the Great Faith Stamp/Die Duo Set.  I absolutely love that the dies come with the stamps.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.
I started by die cutting an oval frame using the Pierced Ovals Dies.  I backed it with a piece of vellum.  The flowers were stamped and colored with Copics, then cut with the coordinating die.  The sentiment was heat embossed on the vellum mat.  The oval frame and flowers were arranged on a background panel using paper from the Weathered Wood Paper Collection.  The weathered wood was die cut with the matting rectangle die.
Check out two more cards I made using this stamp set over on the Divinity Designs Blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Lee Ann 

Freshly Made Sketches Gets Splattered!

Hello, Hello!

Welcome back to another Wednesday and new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  Our sketch designer this week is the talented Jen M.

Here is your sketch.  I stayed pretty true to the sketch this week. It is a fun one!

So I mixed up my dates and sketches and because of that you are getting a sneak peek of a new stamp set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps that will be available May 1st! 
I have been watching Tim Holtz videos to get inspired and get some mojo back.  So for this card, I made good use of my MISTI.  I placed the stamp and watercolor paper in the MISTI, inked it up with a Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, spritzed it with water and slammed the lid down on the paper.  Yep, I did say slammed.  Carefully!  I don't want you to break your MISTI doing this.
I repeated this multiple times, going back and forth between Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Evergreen Bough Distress inks.  Sometimes I sprayed the inked stamp, sometimes I spritzed the panel and sometimes I spritzed both with water.  My goal was to get splatter and spreading of the ink.  When the paper was really wet, I also tilted it and tapped it on the counter to get drips. Sometimes I dried in between inkings and sometimes I did not. In  the process of doing this, I got a solid, dark butterfly image, surrounded by a blend of blue green color.

I then stamped the image a second time on water color paper, only this time I stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with black ep.  I used orange and pink Ken Oliver Colorburst Watercolors to paint the butterfly and then fussy cut the butterfly out.
Before finishing the card, I spritzed the image panel with an irridescent Shimmering Bliss Spray.  The fussy cut butterfly was offset so that the dark butterfly image is visible.  The sentiment was stamped using the MISTI and a few sequins were added.

My colors are from Fab Friday~

As well as Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes. 
Head on over to the blog to check out all of the inspiration from the rest of the talented team and then join us!  Can't wait to see you in the gallery!

Lee Ann 

Love You, Friend!

Good Morning and Happy Monday to You!

Today's card was made for a very special friend and former coworker.  I worked with Eva for 13 years, each of us in our own schools in the same school district.  We became unlikely friends with very different personalities, but both with a desire to take better care of our students.
Eva has moved on to greener pastures, now in the role of a nurse practitioner.  I will miss her dearly.  She was our fearless leader, go getter, and best of friends.
She is used to getting cards from me but this one is different as it is a nod to her new nurse practitioner role.

This bear is a new digital image, Healthcare Bears,  from Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  I normally don't do digis as I can never get the paper to feed through the printer well or at all, nor I am I technical person what so ever, but I discovered, without even trying, that Xpress-it Blending card goes through the printer with ease.  I drew in a little IV pole behind the nurse, to add a bit of 'workplace' behind him/her.
The bear is colored with Copics, the IV pole is drawn with a a Kuretake Zig Millenium Marker.  I even added Glossy Accents to the IV bag, though you really can't tell in the photo.  Sentiment is from the God is Bigger Stamp Set.

I am linking up to
Addicted to Stamps and More- Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks Challenge- All Occasions
Festive Friday~ being a nurse myself, I just had to get in on this challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann  

In a Field of Flowers

Hello All! 

Hope you are doing well.  This whole stay- at - home thing is starting to feel normal.  I thing it will feel strange when things get back to 'normal'.  Whatever that is.  But regardless, I am getting lots done around the house.  And when it rains?  I am crafting!
Today's card is a union of two unlikely stamp sets~

I cannot take credit for this general idea.  The ever talented, Jill Foster, came up with the idea of combining a more formal floral with a contemporary critter stamp. 
This just takes a bit of time, patience and masking.  I started by getting a general idea of where I wanted things.  The chick, from the Springtime Stamp Set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps, was stamped in Versafine Black ink on Bristol cs. 
The chick was masked and I started stamping the Irises from the Happy Irises Stamp Set by Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  As I went along, I needed to mask some of the irises as well. 
Once everything was stamped, I colored everything with Arteza  Real Brush Pens.  Boy, do these pens give you a vibrant color!  I did not pay much attention to lighting and shadows, etc., I just tried to get a lot of variation in colors. 
I filled in the background with green brush pens; it is not as scribbly looking in real life- the editing seemed to intensify that.  :( 
The sentiment is from the Sweet Little Lamb Stamp Set. 
I am linking up to~

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- 'Flower Power'
Addicted to Stamps and More- 'Anything Goes'
Addicted to CAS- Animal

Thanks for stopping by! 

Lee Ann 

A New FMS Sketch

Good Morning!

Jen Timko has a great CAS sketch for you this week!

Here is your sketch; isn't this a fun one!!

My inspiration came from the amazing and talented Marcella Hawley.  Marcella, besides being a fabulous artist, owner and illustrator at Powerpoppy, is also an avid gardener.  I had the pleasure of checking out her garden yesterday- which happens to be her entire yard- and her spring florals inspired this card.

I used the Natural Beauties Stamp Set from Power Poppy and colored up some daffodils like ones in her yard.  I ringed the flowers with a blue circle and backed them with a bit from a monoprint that I had made quite some time ago.  The sentiment strip was made using the Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Stamp Set. I used some good old fashioned pearls to finish it off.

I am linking up to Retro Rubber Challenge, 'Anything Goes'.  The Natural Beauties Stamp Set  was released in 2017 and I have had it for about 2 years. 
I am also linking up to Sunday Stamps for their color challenge.
  
Check out what the rest of the team has for your inspiration over at Freshly Made Sketches, then join us! If you are interested, check out some pictures of Marcella's garden below!  Excuse the poor quality photos.

 See you in the gallery!

Hummer

Hello All!

It's Monday, for those of you who need the reminder, lol. Days are certainly blending into one another.
Today's card is for a few challenges. I used a couple of sets from Sweet n Sassy Stamps to create this~

I started with the Peony Cluster Stamp Set, stamped on Neenah Solar White cs and colored with Copics.  Next, I lined up the hummingbird from the new, Beautiful Birds Stamp Set with the colored peony image.  I  masked off the flower portion of the bird stamp after positioning him in the MISTI, then inked him up with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and stamped onto the floral panel.  The hummer was colored with Copics as well.  Some detail was added to the flowers and hummer with Prismacolor pencils.
Next, I drew a pencil line down the panel, crossing the hummer.  I fussy cut along the hummer up to that line and then cut on either side of the hummer with my paper trimmer. A sentiment from the Mason Jar Bouquet Stamp Set was added to a kraft cardbase using the MISTI.  I scored around the card base, then added the image panel, popping it up on dimensional tape.  Wink of Stella was added to the hummer and a few sequins were added to the card to finish it off.

I am linking up to The Flower Challenge-

Just Add Ink (used the colors)~

And The Mod Squad Challenge, Add a Bird~
And lastly, Sunday Stamps for their color challenge~

 Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful week, all!

Lee Ann

Today I Played

Hello Everyone!

Today, I played.  And I enjoyed it! 
I have been in a crafty rut and really struggling with the creative process.  I came upon the Tim Holtz videos that he has been doing weekly, and started watching.  I have a few of his products, mainly inks, and I do enjoy some mixed media, but I have never done the kind of experimenting that he encourages.  You need to just go for it.  Be loose, lol.  That is sooooo not me.  I tried my best to just play, be loose, and go for it.  I did find myself trying to plan and did make an entire card in the end, but I PLAYED.  And I learned. 

Not the best card ever, but, someone will like it!  I started with Distress Paints that I have had for ages.  Not even sure why I bought them in the first place.  I quickly realized that you have to have colors that will go together well.  I did not have a great palette for that.  I ended up working with Barn Door, Wild Honey and Forest Moss.  In between the layers, I added some text using the Typewriter Text Background Stamp from Sweet n Sassy Stamps with Versafine Onyx Black Ink.  The Forest Moss quickly muddied everything so I dabbed a lot of that off.  I needed more color though, so I decided to use a stencil  and some Distress Micro Glaze.  Lesson Number 2- the Distress Micro Glaze does not work on top of acrylic paint; so when I applied my Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide over my stenciled with Distress Micro Glaze areas,  I just ended up with large areas of solid Peacock Feathers.  More dragging through the Barn Door and Wild Honey paints.  Colors started to blend and I ended up with lime greens, pinky purple and purple in the end.  I then spattered the entire background with black acrylic paint. 
It was looking a bit dark and muddied in areas and since the first go of stenciling did not work, I stenciled on some  Embossing paste with the Tim Holtz Burlap Stencil.  That was a bit too white, so I sponged on a bit of Peacock Feathers.  THAT was too blue so I patted on some white acrylic paint (insert eyeball roll here). 
Next, they easy part.  I stamped a  bird from Bird Crazy in Memento Black ink and loosely colored it with Copics, trying to mimic the colors in the background.  I fussy cut him out, stamped him directly onto the background with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then adhered the colored version onto the card (once the ink was dry).  The sentiment is from an old retired SNSS set; I stamped it in the Versafine ink and then heat embossed it in clear ep.  Lastly, Glossy Accents was added to the eyeballs.  Final mistake- I forgot that I had added the Glossy Accents and stood the card up.  Of course the liquid pooled to the lower part of the eyeballs (insert another eyeball roll). 
I am so glad that I am trying new things.  I have always said I never have enough time; well now I have it.  May end up taking a class or two as well.  I have been wanting to take a drawing class from Sandy Allnock.  I certainly have the time! 

I am linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge- E is for...
In my case, E is for embossing- both heat embossing and embossing paste.
 
I am also linking up to The Mod Squad Challenge- Add a Bird. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Lee Ann