Dreams

Welcome to my first step by step using Leonie's new collection, Launched on Hochanda on Thursday Evening. If you did miss the shows, you can still see them on the 'Rewind' section of the Hochanda website. The shows with Leonie are always packed full of inspiration.

After spraying my masks with Stick n Spray from Crafters Companion, I positioned them onto my card. Here I used 3 sizes of the 'Dream' Word.

To begin with I started to build up my pattern by stamping either end of the main focal word and the smaller words, keeping the balance.

Next I added more stamps to my design along with a few to bring the smaller words together without actually joining them up. Once I was happy with the design, I masked the images with Pebeo Drawing Gum.

I then gently started blending my colours within the centre with Shaded Lilac Distress Ink, then to the edges of the piece. I continued to blend until I had deepened the colour enough.

Next I deepened the colour further by adding Blueprint Sketch and finally adding some Chipped Sapphire.

Then I removed the masks along with the Drawing Gum, I also removed any residue that was left from the spray.

I coloured the stamping with Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers.

To frame the piece, I matted it onto Mat black card with Cosmic Shimmer glue before mounting it onto a purple Centura Pearl base from the darks collection.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you enjoyed the step by step and what I have shared today. I look forward to you stopping by again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Robins Flowers

Leonie recently launched her new collection on Hochanda and for this card I am using some of the stamps and embossing folders from that launch. The little birds are wonderful, I think they would be lovely cut from felt, stuffed and made into Christmas Tree Decorations. I would have done this for the launch but as always I completely ran out of time. I will definitely make some for my tree this year.

I started by taking a sheet of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock from Crafters Companion and cut into the sizes I would need for stamping. I did this as I wanted to be selective about the parts of the embossing folder and to save card. I ran these pieces through the machine using the Dotty Days folder.

Next using Walnut stain Distress Ink I stamped out the birds and quite a few wings. I wanted to use the dotty art for the birds and their wings. For the flowers I wanted to use the swirl part of the same folder.

Next I took 2 pieces of card, Neenah for the background and Kraft card for the front which would become a frame. From the Kraft card I cut a rectangle using the basic die.

I next coloured the birds using a selection of my alcohol markers. I secured the wings to them using Cosmic Shimmer glue from Creative Expressions.

Next I worked out where to stamp the branches and used Walnut Stain Distress ink. For the longer branch, I simply added the branch again, I didn't bother masking as  one of the birds would cover the join.

On the frame I used the background stamp from the set, rather than using it as a whole, I hand stamped randomly using Fired Brick, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.

I added Mowed Lawn Distress ink around the branches, very roughly with a sponge to give just a suggestion of foliage. For the sky I used Mermaid Lagoon, Faded Jeans and Picket Fence again randomly with a sponge.

I deepened the colour of the frame using Gathered Twigs.

Next I added Pebeo Gilding wax to add highlights, here I have used Empire Gold.

To create the flowers, I used the birds wings, which I had coloured with Leonie's Glitter pens, I used the Bright Lights set, using a minute amount of Berry in the centre blending through to Apricot and finishing with the Lemon. The colours are incredibly rich so I would always start with less of the deepest colour, you can always add more later if you choose. I secured the petals to the frame using Cosmic Shimmer glue.

Having secured the birds to the project with 3D glue gel I stamped out my sentiment and secured using Collall 3D glue gel from Crafters Companion. The 'Merry' was added to look as if the bird was carrying it in it's beak. I secured the frame to the card using foam tape to lift it from the design.

I really like this card and it could easily be used as a little picture to hang on the wall. I hope you have enjoyed my step by step and the finished piece. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx