A Bloom of One’s Own (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
I have some catching-up to do with items I’d planned on sharing long before now, such as the panels in this post which feature in the Jan/Feb/Mar issue of The Stampers’ Sampler.
At the time of creating the panels, JOFY stamps were still quite new to me. It was all because of this post, HERE at That’s Crafty that I continued to make some more.
Here are the other three panels.Touches of H20s catch the light beautifully and here and there, touches of mica flakes.  If I remember, I think I also used Golden medium which has beautiful gold mica flakes within it.Coils of rusty wire appear here and there on each panel.This is one of my all time favourite labels from Redlead Paperworks, layered onto some rusty mesh which is also from Redlead.
Grow A GardenAgain, on this panel, the JOFY stamps were highlighted with the H20s, working with limited colours (even though I have quite a stash of H20s!)I took no care with how I applied the H20s, working loosely.Morning DewThe backgrounds have little or no texture other than paint.  I might have added a touch of Grungepaste but on the whole, the texture on the background is purely Frescos.Another label from yet another favourite Redlead labels set. I dip into their Label sets so often, they are such a lovely sized stamp to add a little sentiment to artwork.  I am thankful that Stampington & Co liked the panels enough to publish them. There are so many incredible stamp artists, vying for space within the pages of The Stampers’ Sampler, so it is always an honour to be published.
Many thanks for your visit to this post.
Wishes
Lynne

Monday with Mimi

Hello Everyone
Another Character Constructions paper doll, created with the Paris Flea collection.
I think her face is adorable and the name Mimi popped into my head so from now on, to me she will be known as Mimi. I don’t know if I should be concerned for my sanity as I find when I create these paper dolls, their characters emerge.  It is fascinating that the placement of legs can make them appear to be sassy, elegant, coy, etc.
I hope it shows that I am having fun with the Character Constructions stamps because I certainly am.Mimi with the coquettish smile.
To give you an idea of the stamps used to form Mimi, the individual stamps, all from Paris Flea are the beret, which I couldn’t resist adorning with lace.  Then the face, arms and upper body is one whole stamp.
Mimi wears her favourite pearl ear-rings, a gift from her Papa.An old fashioned girl at heart, Mimi embraces the art of letter writingwith a fountain pen, naturally.Lace to trim the hem of her skirt.
Have a wonderful week and many thanks for your visits. I will try and catch-up with you very soon.
Wishes
Lynne

New Crafty Individuals Stamps

Hello Everyone
Crafty Individuals have released new stamps and at the time of drafting this blog post, the new releases are available at a Special Introductory Offer!
CI-451 Inky Borders (this is actually three stamps)

CI-452 Nature’s Beauty

CI-453 Tree TrioCI-454 By The Sea I definitely have my favourites and will be sharing a sample soon with one of the above, one of my favourites.
Visit HERE where the stamps are available at their Special Offer price, for a limited time only and you can also see the Dinky Stencils being stocked at Crafty Individuals.
Have a lovely week.
Wishes
Lynne

Act I

Hello Everyone

Late with this post, my regular Sunday slot over at That’s CraftyDetails can be viewed HERE.
It seems that all I do is apologise for not having visited your blogs, again, here I am apologising but I hope to manage to visit very soon.
Wishes and Thanks for your visits and comments and for being such loyal art friends.
Lynne

The Birdlady

Hello Everyone
Ask most stampers and they will immediately associate paper dolls with Character Constructions stamps but Catherine Moore has also some of the most beautiful nature themed illustrations. A stamp which has been on my Wish List for the longest time, I do mean a long time, I finally received this year, this beautiful collage stamp of woman and birds, from Inner Child, Plate No. 7
(All stamps on the cards are from Character Constructions including:- branch, egg, wings, label)
For the first card and another, I decided to play around, adding wings to her so she might fly off with the sweet birds who gather around her.
The wings are from The Beekeeper’s Tea Plate No. 7)
Just as a bird gathers items to create her nest, I gathered tiny fragments of bark, stained muslin and rusted fabric, layering with this sweet stamped label.Suspending from the tree branch, a spotted egg.  I like that, by chance, the background mimics the mottled pattern of the egg.The same walnut ink crystal solution used on all the cards but for this card, applied in a different way, giving a much softer result.I had  stained the watercolour paper and after stamping, I noticed that the placement of the stamped image gives the impression of a setting, or rising sun or moon behind her.  That was just by chance.The same branch stamp as on the first card, this time clustered.
The egg nestling in the nest.Card No. 3Again, working with the same stamps, just a matter of whether she got her wings or not!
Card No. 4It wouldn’t surprise me if I used this stamp for Christmas cards, with the little tag declaring peace, it would make a lovely Christmas design.
I wonder if any of you still have stamps on your Wish List that you have wanted since your earliest days of stamping?
I seem to be spending less and less time on-line, only can hope that I catch-up with you all very soon. I truly appreciate your loyalty, continuing to visit here even when I have been unable to stop by and say hello to you at your own blogs.
Wishes
Lynne

In The Garden

Hello Everyone
This week for That’s Crafty, I had a play with some new products being stocked by Laura, including PaperArtsy Infusions and Prima Marketing Christine Adolph Adhesive Rub ons (I’ll definitely be sharing more of both products in the coming weeks, possibly months)If you are interested, HERE you will find instructions, supply list and more photographs.
Thanks for all your visits and comments this past week and also to say Thank You for anyone who takes the extra trouble of leaving a comment on the That’s Crafty blog, always appreciated.
Wishes
Lynne

Forever Summer (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
Something bolder (for me!) to share, four panels which appear as feature article, Veil of Summer in the Jan/Feb/March issue of The Stampers’ Sampler.
I received the PaperArtsy Emma Godfrey stamps (EEG09) to create samples with and when I completed the samples for PA, I decided to keep inking up the stamps so that I could submit.  I essentially created mixed media panels along the style of those samples except this time I also included some wonderful Redlead stamps (available HERE and HERE.)
The texture on the background was simply achieved by the way in which I applied the Frescos, with a baby wipe.99.9% of the time, I will ink fussy cut edges but I wanted a sense of lightness so no inking to the abraded edges.  I worked with quite a thick cardstock which made fussy cutting a bit of  a chore but at least the flowers are substantial.Some of the flowers have three layers.  Did you notice that the stalk is actually the straight (wonky but straight!) edge of the cloud, a cloud which I used as a grassy border.They are not my “usual” style but more often these days, when creating to submit, I am enjoying shaking it up a bit, not worrying too much as to whether the art appears as though it was made by me or not.Lots and I do mean, lots, of silicone glue creates dimension, making the flowers pop out from the panel.I should have tinkered around with colour saturation as the colours are slightly “off” in this final panel, needing a wee bit more of the orange warmth to come through on the background.Fiddly work to ensure the flowers stayed attached to those thin stems!I still have a fair few published pieces to share with you.
In the meantime, thanks, always for your visits.
Wishes
Lynne

Fly Into The World (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
A very quick post to share a trio of cards which although submitted to Take Ten (criteria – create cards within ten minutes or less), make an appearance in the Jan/Feb/March issue of The Stampers’ Sampler, in the Different Point of View category.
I adore this little pixie girl but I am holding my hands aloft to declare, these cards were embarrassingly simple to make!!!
(All sentiments and the wonderful Pixie Girl are from Redlead Paperworks.)For each card I simply stamped the Pixie Girl onto the cardbase, stamping her again onto coloured cardstock and mulberry paper  – her wings are mulberry paper, with only the base of the wing adhered to her body, allowing them to flap in a passing breeze.  On each card  (I seem to have a bundle of scallop cardbases, not sure why as they are not something I tend to use) I “stamped” the painted circles, dipping a round foam brush into paint and “stamping” the circles. I likethe way it brings a hint of texture to the background.Anyway,they may be simple but I am still grateful to The Stampers’ Sampler for publishing them and to Chris and Sharon who are Redlead, for gifting me their fabulous products.
Thank you for your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

Time

Hello Everyone
For my DT post over at That’s Crafty, I have been playing with some new Prima products along with Ice Resin and Dinky Stencils, lots of fun products!Supplies, instructions and more photographs can be viewed HERE.
Wishes
Lynne

The Artist

Hello Everyone
Time to share another Paris Flea paper doll, Agnes.
(Again, she is quite tall, I didn’t measure but she is approx 10-11 inches tall)
Instead of a wee story, although there is one circling around in my head (!) I thought I would break down the stamps used to create this paper doll.
The upper body of this female is quite a large stamp consisting of her head, shoulders, corset and striped arms (Paris Flea No 2)
The beret was added to her head and I discarded the original arms to change the style and also worked with a different corset, that is the real fun with Catherine’s designs. The arms are individual stamps.  This means, this paper doll could easily have become articulated but I opted to adhere the arms, posing them at an angle.  Look down towards the wrist, can you see they have been layered onto the arms and she clutches a paintbrush, which is another stamp, in one of her hands.Dangling from her wrist, another stamp with a wonderful sentiment on it.  The crinoline, I so love this stamp.One of the Paris Flea stamp sets has wonderful accessories, such as this sweet bow which I embellished with some tattered, fruit tea stained seam binding and a rhinestone.As with the paper doll I shared last week, once again, those stripy leggings make an appearance.Quite a few stamps used but when you consider that they can be mixed up and used in different formats, it means that there is great mileage out of the stamps.
Many thanks for all your visits. I’ve not been managing to spend the usual time with on-line activities but I hope to get back to some sort of normalcy very soon.
Wishes
Lynne