The Roaring Twenties by Linda Ledbetter

Hello, crafty friends! This is Linda from StudioL3.com, back for my third and final project as Guest Designer for the fabulously lovely folks at The Artistic Stamper.

This three-paneled card features imagery from the beautiful 1920s Ladies Plate, part of The Artistic Stamper's costume category. I just adore these elegant ladies. I stamped each of them onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper using Jet Black Archival Ink, then colored them with Distress Markers. The mottled backgrounds were created by scribbling Distress Markers onto my non-stick Craft Sheet, picking up ink with a Water Brush and "pouncing" the bristles onto the paper.

I mounted each image panel onto a piece of heavy cardstock that I'd painted with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, the mounted the three onto a piece of black mat board. Finally, I stamped the text onto plain white cardstock, outlined the edges with a black marker, and attached the words using dimensional foam tape.

It's truly been an honor to be The Artistic Stamper's guest designer, and I'm so grateful to Emma, Jenny and everyone at TAS for their hospitality! Thanks to you, too, for sharing your time with me. I hope you have a spectacular day!

xo,
Linda

Carpe Diem by Linda Ledbetter

Hi there! This is Linda from Studio L3, back for my second Guest Designer project using some of my very favorite Artistic Stamper images. I'm so grateful to be featured this month, and I'm having an absolute blast with these wonderful stamps!

This happy little card began with Hels Sheridan's ADORABLE Swirly Bird #3 stamp (isn't he the sweetest?!), which I stamped twice onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper. I colored both copies with Distress Markers in Tumbled Glass and Broken China and blended the colors with a Water Brush. Once dry, I cut out the entire bird from one copy, and just his little wing from the other. I embellished them with Stickles (True Blue, Tropical Tangerine and Red), the set the pieces aside to dry while I worked on the background. 

I used watercolor paper for the background, and started with a base of Dylusions Ink Spray in Bubblegum Pink, Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange, spritzing them onto damped paper so the colors blended. Then I used a portion of Dyan's Dotted Flowers 9 x 12" stencil and sprayed with Cherry Pie Ink, then quickly blotted the paper with a baby wipe to lighten the color a bit. Once the paper dried, I randomly stamped the little diamonds from the Borders A5#1 set using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.

The side borders (from the same Borders A5 #1 set) and the "Carpe Diem" (from the Journaling Words set) were stamped using a Pitch Black Adirondack Paint Dabber, then over-stamped with Snow Cap Adirondack Paint. 

I assembled the card by layering the bird onto the card-- and his wing onto his body-- using foam tape. I added a feather I found in my garden, and the "go get it" from Tim Holtz's Chitchat Stickers. I stamped and cut out one little pennant from the Borders set and drew a heart on it with Red Stickles, then attached it to the card with foam tape and a bit of twine. To finish, I added more Stickles and mounted the card onto a piece of white watercolor paper, then colored the edges with Ripe Persimmon Distress Marker. 

I had so much fun making this!

Thanks again to Jennie, Emma and the Artistic Stamper Team for welcoming me, and to YOU for visiting today. I'll be back later in August for one more project. Until then... carpe diem!

Songbird by Linda Ledbetter

Hi everyone! I'm Linda Ledbetter from Studio L3, and I'm so excited and honored to join The Artistic Stamper team as their guest designer for August! 

When lovely Emma invited me to browse the stamp collection and choose a few favorites for my projects this month, this exotically gorgeous lady (Donna's Songbird 2 stamp) was the first image to catch my eye. I just love her! 

I stamped our pretty Songbird onto Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper using Jet Black Archival Ink. This is my favorite ink to use when I'm going to be watercoloring with Distress Ink, as it's oil-based and won't run.

Once the image was dry, I placed dabs of Vintage Photo, Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw Distress Stain onto my Non-Stick Craft Mat, and used a Wide Tip Water Brush to randomly swipe the colors across the paper. I didn't blend the colors together, as I wanted the brush strokes to show. I love this simple technique for creating some visual texture!

Once the background was dry, I used a Fine Detail Water Brush with Distress Markers to color in the details on the image. The lady's complexion is tinted with Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar, and her eyeshadow color is Broken China. Her headband is colored with Ripe Persimmon, Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries, and I used Picket Fence to add some highlights to her hair. 

Next, I again used the Jet Black Archival Ink, this time with this awesome, bold image from the Borders A5 #2 set. To complete the front panel of the card, I edged it with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. 

The background panel of the card is a deep teal page from the Ranger Distress Core'dinations Paper Stack. I again used the Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, this time with the little circles stamp from the same Borders A5 #2 set, to add a fun pattern to the paper.

Finally, I cut one of the fabric roses from a piece of Idea-ology Trimmings, dabbed it with Ripe Persimmon Distress Stain, and attached it to the lady's headband using Glossy Accents adhesive. I added a piece of scrap ribbon to complete her summery look. 

I had so much fun creating this simple card, and am in love with the images I got to play with from The Artistic Stamper! Thanks so much to Jennie, Emma and the team for welcoming me, and to you for taking the time to read my post. I'll be back later in August with another project to share. 

Have a fantastically wonderful day!

--Linda