A Springtime Morning

Hello Everyone
I thought I would share this card which features Character Constructions stamps.
Character Constructions Stamps:-
The TimeKeeper’s Garden No. 5 (butterflies), No. 8 (woman’s head, decorative collar and bouquet of flowers), No. 10 (dress)
Inner Child No. 1 (hat)
If you have ever seen or used Character Constructions stamps then you will know it is an apt name because you literally construct characters with the stamps.  Catherine Moore’s stamps are made to be mixed and matched, whether within each collection or dipping into sets outwith.  There are no limits, no rules, just the pure joy of having fun!I went about this card quite differently to my normal approach.  Most times, I will paint/stain watercolour paper (I say paper but it is 300gsm) then I will stamp onto the surface.  This time around, I stamped onto the watercolour paper first, adding colour with Graphitint pencils.  I might have a collection of various paints, watercolours, Brushos, you name it but when it comes to markers and coloured pencils, they are not something I am attracted to but the Graphitint pencils are so lovely, beautiful hint of colour and so easy to work with.  The stamps are listed above but I will quickly run through the individual elements.  There was a lot of fussy cutting involved and silicone glue for dimension.
The face and collar(which belong to a larger stamp) were topped with a pretty hat.  If you visit the website, you will see that this dress actually has butterfly wings but I decided to snip them off!  I like the wings but this card was for my dear Mum and I knew she wouldn’t be as keen on them!  The arms are from the same stamp.
She clutches a bouquet of flowers, has she freshly picked them herself or did her beau surprise her with a visit this lovely Spring morning.She giggles as a butterfly rests on her wrist, mimicking a corsage.
(If you have any queries about stockists or purchasing from her website, I am sure Catherine Moore will answer them.  She is also at Facebook along with Character Constructions)
I have quite a few blog posts I need to start to organise. Isn’t time passing by so quickly, or is it only me thinking this?!!
I will return with my regular That’s Crafty post on Sunday, unless I get organised and squeeze in a little something between now and then!
Wishes
Lynne

Reaching Out To The Past

Hello Everyone
The first Crafty Individuals Challenge for 2016 is now underway!
The theme for the month of January is Lace, Buttons, Bits ‘n’ Bobs, a theme set by the lovely Gio.
We would love you to join the fun for this challenge theme.

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES
To enter this month’s Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your chosen project, which must include at least one Crafty Individuals product please.
At the end of the month Gio will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win a CI rubber stamp of their choice, and don’t forget that as per usual, once you have linked in your creation, you can also claim a lovely 25% discount code to use on anything you purchase from the CI Website, which will be valid to use until the 10th of February.
Further details of the challenge can be viewed HERE.

Crafty Individuals have some beautiful vintage inspired stamps fitting perfectly to this theme, especially for artwork with a vintage dressmaking theme to it but I had a story in my head and decided to go with it.She has reached a particular stage in her life where she notices that every now and then, her mind will stop to remember moments from the past, those moments almost catching her unaware as she goes about her day, a hand reaching out to her memories, trying to grasp a hold of them before they fade beyond re-call.This time in her life, where a button box is no longer a storage container to help carry out an essential repair, overnight it seems to have become a place where memories are stored.  She gathers a handful of buttons, allowing them to flow through her fingers. A small, ironic laugh emits from her as she realises that the buttons could be representing time, slipping from her grasp.  When did she become this woman, where the past sneaks up on her as she goes about her daily life, when memories can make her laugh like she has not laughed in the longest time but also exposes her to a wave of sadness, enveloping her with no given notice as though it were a cloak.
Each button now seems to contain a memory at its heart:- a button from a favourite dress, the dress she wore on her first date with her future husband, or buttons from her wedding gown, or one from her daughter’s Prom gown…With memories firmly taking hold she remembers friends gathering in the dance hall, whispers to each other of who had caught their eye and dreams of a new dance partner.  A sense of festivity bursting forth, with bunting which seems to dance along to the music every time the dancers whish past, laughter spinning around the room along with the floral dresses and high shine shoes of the dancers.  A memory.
Sifting through her jewellery box she mocks herself as to why she kept a piece of jewellery which has been broken for the longest time, the self-mockery turning to a moment of deep melancholy as she re-calls his shy smile as he presented the dazzling bracelet to her, which now rests amongst a dried rosebud and his letters, of which she has too few.
So there we have it Lace, Buttons and Bits and Bobs!  We certainly look forward to seeing your themed artwork.
Many thanks for the time taken to visit this post.
Wishes
Lynne

Ice Storm (Published The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
The Autumn issue of The Stampers’ Sampler is when they publish artwork submitted to their Holiday Happenings Challenge call as it is the final issue for the year.
This collection of cards came about after I created a particular card (card no. 1 which can also be seen  HERE) for That’s Crafty, a card that came about because of some Brushos I had received to play with.
Lynne Perrella is one of the first artists whose art caught my attention in my earliest days of stamping when a friend sent me her old copy of Somerset Studio.  Her stamp designs were also some of the very first I bought when I knew stamping had a grip on me!  Her stamp designs whether her wood back stamps or her LPC collection for PaperArtsy are incredible in their detail.
For the cards below I worked with LPC016 and PLC017 (available from That’s Crafty or direct from PaperArtsy).
When I made this card for That’s Crafty, the stance of the woman, as though she is walking through a snowstorm, I wanted to take that and try to convey the effect of an icy snowstorm and how the hem of her gown and trimmings on her coat may have become tattered and torn as the stormy wind ravages the delicate textiles.To conjure the image of torn and tattered I first thought about the stamped image and how I could bring a tattered appearance to it.  I set about stamping the image repeatedly onto sheets of Brusho stained watercolour paper, selecting the areas I wanted to tear and layering onto the main stamped image.In some ways the effect is quite subtle and leads the person to lean into the card to see which elements have been torn and layered.  What I deliberated over was whether to heavily ink the edges for definition or to leave them plain.Soft, feathery handmade paper, as gentle as a light snowfall with thelovely white detailing enhancing the feeling of falling snowlayered with fragments of handmade paper which I also stained with Brushos.Subtle stamping onto the Brusho background which I then misted with water to diffuse the stamped textThe blue is more vivid than the colour of blue I would normally work with but it was fun to play with the Brushos and obviously I am thrilled that the team at The Stampers’ Sampler published them.
Many thanks for your visit to this post.
Wishes
Lynne

In The Woods Somewhere (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
When Crafty Individuals released CI-429 I made this sample, HERE, for them but as I enjoyed making that card,  I decided to create a collection, with the intention to submit to The Stampers’ Sampler.
Delighted at realising they are published in the Oct/Nov/Dec issue of The Stampers’ Sampler, as a feature article called Nature Calls (I called them In The Woods Somewhere, a favourite track of mine from Hozier, actually I am slightly obsessed with all the tracks!).  Not only am I pleased that they liked the cards enough to publish them but they also photographed them so beautifully, staging one of the cards so perfectly for Autumn and emphasising the colours of the cards. For this post, unfortunately you only have my own photographs!
Washes of beautiful earthy tone Brushos form the backgrounds.  I knew I didn’t want any stamping on the backgrounds, the only stamping being the focals of the various tree images and aside from that, a sentiment.Along with the sense of Autumnal colours I wanted there to be textures so I added here and there, fragments of bark and also texture in the form of handmade papers and muslin, which were also stained with the Brushos.
For this card, I stamped the trees more than once, layering them to create a longer image to suit the cardbase.  When I look at this now, the background to the tree landscape almost has a stormy, brooding appearance compared to the first card.  I actually think this suits the dense appearance of the trees.  I still find Brushos to be slightly unpredictable so this was purely by chance.A mica tile layered partially over the trees, with a cluster of stained handmade paper, muslin and velvet ribbon attached to the lower corner.Normally when stamping onto tissue paper the idea is for the tissue paper to dissolve into the substrate, blending into the background but for this collection that wasn’t what I wanted.  I tried to ensure the edges were not adhered to bring another element of texture and I like the lightness it brings to the trees.This beautiful sentiment is from Darkroom Door.Brushos stain muslin and handmade papers so beautifully and allowed me to co-ordinate those little scraps with the backgrounds created.Thank you to The Stampers’ Sampler for publishing this collection and for sharing on their Facebook page.
As big a Thank You to those of you taking the time to visit this post, I really do appreciate all your visits.
Wishes
Lynne

Colour Your Life (The Stampers’ Sampler)

Hello Everyone
When The Stampers’ Sampler announced their annual Colour Challenge, some months ago, initially I didn’t pay much attention as it is one of the challenge calls, to my memory at least, I cannot remember submitting to. However, it was around this time that I was playing with Brushos, received from That’s Crafty. The Universe was obviously nudging me to submit because one of the pots of colour I had was Vermillion, the actual colour stipulated in the colour challenge!
As luck would have it, the submissions were published!
Vermillion, brings to mind the Renaissance and another colour I associate with Renaissance is gold so that was my accent colour.
The colours seem a bit odd in my photographs, as it does look as though there are hints of mauve but nope, I used Vermillion and touches of Rose Red Brushos for the backgrounds and to stain the cardstock for my stamping surface.I played around with the focal images for both cards I am sharing in this post (three were actually published).  This created contrast and also dimension and then I simply scribbled a white paint pen, here and there.A banner with a scrap of gold stained handmade paper with a random piece of stamping.The Lynne Perrella image seemed suited to this Artistic Outpost sentiment. The second card.With no detail photographs as I managed to delete them during the editing process! Not the cleverest of moves! Anyway, this card has the same supplies except for the Oxford Impressions sentiment. Once again tissue/handmade papers and muslin were stained with gold to create the gold accents against the vermillion.
As always, thanks for the time you take to stop by my Blog, it is always appreciated.
Wishes
Lynne

Bohemian Muse

Hello Everyone
That time of the week when I share a sneaky peek at my latest offering over at the That’s Crafty blog.The full project can be viewed at the That’s Crafty blog.
Enjoy your day and many thanks for your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

Bloomin’ Bold

Hello Everyone
A dash of colour on my latest DT project over at the That’s Crafty Blog.
The project can be viewed in full HERE.
Have a lovely Sunday.
Wishes
Lynne

Whispers In The Wind

Hello Everyone
I have a sample to share with you which I made for Crafty Individuals featuring their newest stamp, Elements stamp CI-429
The background consists of Brushos.  In an ideal world I would now list the colours I used except for this card I would be guessing because I had several Brushos (available from That’s Crafty) in front of me and it was a scatter here and a scatter there!  I did finish with a spritz of Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mica Mist Tarnished Gold (also available from That’s Crafty). You can see the subtle glimmer in this photo.I used cold pressed watercolour paper  and I wasn’t sure if it was the most suitable surface for stamping the detailed stamp with crisp results but I wasn’t prepared to use hot press as I wanted the texture. I simply stamped onto tissue paper. Normally I want the tissue paper to melt into the base but I decided I liked the texture achieved with the feather edges around the stamping.A Crafty Individuals sentiment stamped onto some lovely mulberry paper which I’d previously painted, left over from some other artwork, as was the painted muslin.  They were gathered together with some other bits.Thank You for your visit to this scheduled post. I still have some Valentine creations to share with you but as this card was made weeks ago for Crafty Individuals, it seemed only fair I now shared it.
Wishes
Lynne

You Are Strong

Hello Everyone
Apologies for being so quiet, here on my own Blog and also in my lack of visits to your blogs. I really miss when I don’t have the opportunity to visit your blogs.
Sunday signals time for my DT post at That’s Crafty blog.As always, the project can be viewed in full HERE.
Enjoy your day.
Wishes
Lynne

Her Eyes Reveal Her Strength

Hello Everyone
This week at That’s Crafty I continue to play with colour in the form of Brushos.I have updated this blog post because I noticed the new challenge over at the PaperArtsy blog is Shiny Stuff. My project for That’s Crafty features shiny in the form of a mica spray in Tarnished Gold
and mica flakes which were randomly applied to the Brusho background and of course so many of you will recognise the main image as a Lynne Perrella Collection for PaperArtsy stamp (BTW the eye isn’t lilac, you can see the Brusho colours listed in my post at the That’s Crafty Blog.  It must be light playing a trick as I photographed the card).Visit the That’s Crafty Blog for product details and visit the PaperArtsy Blog for details on entering the Shiny Stuff challenge and for lots of inspiration.
Wishes
Lynne