I guess it would be fair to say the cards are at best "inspired" by the Lenormand deck. The other deck that I'm using as inspiration is the Whitman Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards deck. So my cards are sort of a synthesis of those two.
I started with the Lenormand -- the only one I have is the Lo Scarabeo French Cartomancy Mini deck and book. I have *tried* to get into them but they're just SO BORING to me. The images seemed stale to me, I guess.
I like the Old Gypsy Fortune cards too, but they are kind of weird. Some of the cards are goofy and I don't think the deck works for me the same way the Lenormand system does -- but I appreciate how the symbols are more updated.
So my process has been to pick a card from the Lenormand deck, study it and then search through my digital ephemera folders to find the right images. I put the pictures I like in folders for each card and then I try to put them together in a way I find inspiring. For a few of the cards, I picked an image that was probably very non-traditional and let it dictate the flavor of the card. An example would be the bear and the bird. The source images are from an old grade school text book. I was totally in love with the pictures and had to use them!
I'm also taking liberties with the card titles. Anchor became Roots. Cross will be Wheel. The Coffin will become a gravestone. I am waffling on the Stork card. I have a nice image in mind, but it's pretty small and I'm not sure I can get the resolution I need out of it to use it on my card. I'm not crazy about storks either -- but that's just because I was attacked by one as a small child
Not sure about the Tower because that word is a tarot trigger for me. Kind of tempted to use Crotch instead of Crossroads... lol just kidding!
I also like some of the cards in the Gypsy deck, like Train and Clasped Hands -- but I haven't quite figured out whether they will replace or be incorporated into other cards in my deck.
And I haven't numbered my cards yet either -- but that may or may not happen when I have them all finished!