New stamp plates alert!

Good morning, peeps!

Yes, it's time for more wonderful stamp designs from wor Sheena and this time she's drawn some wonderful Coastline themed stamps that are truly versatile.  Here's the first of the samples that I've produced for the launch programmes which are on Create and Craft TV on Friday at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday at 10.00 a.m.  If there are any changes to the TV schedule I'll let you know straight away:

Also being launched on these shows are the Luminarte Silks, wonderful, shimmering acrylic glazes.  There are several sets and I've used one of them here to create a shimmery wooden frame and they are also on the shells, which were made by stamping into air dry clay.  The picture inside the frame is stamped with Dove Grey Stazon on to Watercolour card and then painted with watercolours.......simples!

I'll be back again with more samples soon, in the meantime, thank you for looking today.

Hugs

The fairies are out!

Good evening, peeps!  I'm just popping in with the promised sneaky peek of some more of the images from wor Sheena's new 'A Little Bit Magic' collection.  I've brought in one of the fairies from the Hidden Fairies stamp plate because it just seemed to fit so well.

This one is watercolours and H2Os - the H2Os are perfect for the moon and where the moonlight catches the toadstools etc. but it's very hard to see that from the picture.

The shows featuring these stamps are on Thursday but C&C are still keeping quiet about what times they're on but I'll keep you posted as soon as I know when they are.

Thanks again for looking today and I'll be back again tomorrow with something completely different.

Edit

It has been suggested that I add step-by-step instructions so that you can make this card if you wish, so here goes!

1. Cut a piece of Centura Pearl Card 6" (15 cm) square - you will be working on the matte side of this card, not the shimmery side.
2. Decide on the size and positioning of the moon, mine just happens to be the same size as a pot of Body Shop Body Butter!   Draw around the chosen utensil very faintly in pencil then do the same on a Post-it note to make a mask, making sure that your pencilled circle extends into the sticky area of the Post-it, cut out the mask carefully and place it over the drawn circle on the card.
3. Stamp the toadstools and the leaves in position with Stazon Dove Grey.  You will need to make about 4 masks of the leaf on the sticky area of Post-it notes - I used only the smallest of the two leaves on the plate.
4. Mix a suitable night time sky colour from your watercolour palette (I think I used Ultramarine and Black) ensuring that you have enough to cover the entire area of sky since it's almost impossible to mix the same colour twice if you run out of paint part way through!
5. Working around the mask over the moon and the toadstools, wash over the sky area with clean water only on your brush (I seem to recall that this is called 'applying a glaze' in arty circles!).  Aim for the sky to extend about two thirds of the way down the piece of card.  Straight away apply the wash of blue whilst the card is still wet (another glaze!) trying to keep the colour as even as possible.
6. Mix a slightly watery green (remember that moonlight makes colours look washed out) and use the same water first and colour second routine, as above, to create an area of ground in the lower third of the card, avoiding using this colour on the toadstools and leaves.
7. When the first layer of colour has dried slightly, mix a purplish grey from your watercolours and create some distant, misty hills on the horizon.  Now let the card dry completely, which won't take long.
8. Whilst the paint is drying, (you won't want to watch that because it's not very exciting!) you can spray the H2Os with water to prime them.  I used Buttercup, which I think comes from the Springtime set, a pale coral colour and Iridescent Gold in this picture.  If you don't have a pale coral pot, you can always mix some red with the Buttercup, H2Os mix together easily just like the watercolours.
9. Remove the mask from the moon and paint the area with the Buttercup H2O and shade it around the lower part with the coral.  Once this is dry, you can create a few clouds with a slightly stronger mix of the dark blue watercolour that you used for the sky.  Use your brush in a circular motion to do this, fading out the paint at the edges and drawing out the sides to a point.
10. Paint in the toadstools and leaves.  Add some of the Iridescent Gold to both of these, just try to imagine where the moonlight would touch them.  I found it easier to use a cocktail stick to create the white spots on the toadstools because it was easier to control than a brush.  When this paint is dry, stamp in the vines in Forest Moss Distress Ink.
11. The fairy (link to the set above) was stamped in with permanent black ink but it's not completely opaque over the H2O moon - solution? paint over the body and hair of the image with black paint but I didn't paint over the wings so that they still had a shimmery quality.
12. Finally, I stamped the fairy dust from the Hidden Fairies stamp set with thick Pewter H2O paint and I distressed around the edge of the picture with Chipped Sapphire DI.
13. The card is completed with matting and layering with white and navy blue card and finished with Cheery Lyn dies and some organza ribbon.

I do hope you have a go at this one, it's a great card for girls of any age.

Hugs

Sneaking another peek

Good evening again, peeps and it's that time of day again - the time when I get a moment to sit down in front of the lappy and show you some more of the lovely designs from wor Sheena and it's the wonderful and new 'A Little Bit Magic' collection again.

The central image here is from the Enchanted Doorway plate and the thrush is from the Honesty plate.  I did step back in time a little and use the hawthorn branch from the Seasons Branches Set because it just seemed to fit so perfectly with the thrush on his hawthorn branch.

Just simple watercolours for this card onto Crafter's Companion Watercolour card, which is great to use.

I'll see you again tomorrow, peeps and thanks for looking today.

Hugs

I've been published!

Good morning, peeps!

Yes, it's finally happened - one of my projects is in print!  Polka Doodles have released issue 2 of the Pen and Paper Circle Club magazine, 'The Creative Chronicle' and I produced a card featuring watercolouring for this issue.  Of course, unless you were fortunate enough to pre-order it, I'm afraid you're too late to get a copy.  However, the good news is that you can pre-order issue 3 if you follow this link.  It really is superb value for money with 12 stamps and a CD containing 130 coordinating backing papers for you to print as well as other goodies.

Anyhoo, without further ado, here's a piccy of my project for the current issue:

..... I hope you like it.

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's Polka Doodles Challenge.  Thank you so much for looking today and here's hoping your day includes some crafting fun!

Hugs

A moment of Clarity

Good afternoon, peeps!  Well it's just about afternoon isn't it and I'm posting this from wonderful Aberfeldy in Scotland where we're having a great and relaxing time at the moment.  Home on Saturday though and the holiday has passed by all too quickly.

I thought I'd just catch up by posting a few of the cards I've created for Barbara Gray's shows on Create and Craft TV - I think I'm at least two shows behind showing you some of samples, so here goes:

This picture looks a bit lopsided but I really enjoyed colouring all these pansies and leaves with my Copics.  The letter 'O' is embossed in green because I wanted it to stand out and the rest of the word 'flower' is stamped in Memento London Fog in the hope that it facded into the background a little.  The gold filigree corners are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I don't recall this card being shown during the broadcast.

This was one of my favourite designs from the February show and it would appear that the audience agreed because the stamp sold out in a flash!  I watercoloured the images on 300 gsm hot pressed, watercolour paper, tore the edges of the paper and finished with the corners cut from a Spellbinders die and some ribbon from my stash.

This was another favourite, the Mandarin Duck and Bullrushes.  It reminds me of when I used to see one of these ducks regularly when I used to travel the Staffs and Worcs Canal and they are just so cute and colourful!  This image was coloured with Copics and I created the clouds using a cardboard template I cut out with Stampin' Up Bashful Blue ink and an old make-up brush.  I love creating skies this way.  The vines are a Marianne die and the flowers are Sweetheart Blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I loved the simplicity of this card and I simply embossed the image with Moonglow Embossing Powder and it's a shame that you can't see from the picture how it shines different colours asyou move the image in the light.  I recall that the presenter commented on the fact that I hadn't coloured the image but you can't please everyone!  The DP is a really old one from my stash but I couldn't resist using it because it has the Lily of the valley on it.

Well before this post turns into a real marathon, I'll sign off and see you again soon.

Thanks for looking today and I'd love to read your comments!

Hugs