In these shoes?

Good afternoon, peeps!

Do you remember that song by Kirsty McColl?  It seemed like an appropriate title for this post because I thought I'd give you a close-up of these:

Sheena has a fabulous display for her Pick of the Week (I hope you've been watching!) but these little babies seem to mostly hide behind the caption.

They're made from papier mache under that lovely Pebeo Iridescent Acrylic paint that's part of the set of 40 tubes in that long, long box!

I always think of this type of shoe as geisha shoes but apparently the correct name is 'okobo'.  I'm sorry I can't guide you to a place where you can buy these because I picked them up in a branch of Michael's in San Diego a few years back but these fabulous new stamps from Sheena gave me the perfect opportunity to use them.

Enjoy the shows - I don't think these wonderful collection will last the week so, if you're planning on making a purchase, I should do it soon!

Hugs

A Paper Kimono

Good afternoon, peeps!

You may have seen from my previous posts that wor Sheena is introducing some Designer Papers into her range for the 'A Little Bit Oriental' collection, which launches as a Pick of the Week on C & C TV tomorrow.  Yes, peeps, only one more sleep to go!

Here is a card that I made to showcase the papers where the main image is a kimono:

I found lots of illustrations of kimonos on t'Internet and this was one of them.  It was really easy to draw because it's all straight lines except for the curves on the sleeves, then it was just a case of putting it all together rather like a jigsaw puzzle!  The cherry blossom silhouette stamp and the oriental characters are all part of the stamp plates you'll see tomorrow.

Show times are:

Friday 20th:  12.00 p.m., 3.00 p.m. & 5.00 p.m.

Saturday 21st:  8.00 a.m., 1.00 p.m. & 5.00 p.m.

Sunday 22nd:  9.00 a.m., 4.00 p.m. & 6.00 p.m.

Monday 4.00 p.m. & 7.00 p.m.

As always, do check the timings on the C & C website because sometimes they seem to change at a moment's notice and if you decide to buy, frankly, I should get in early because this lot is just going to sprout wings, I'm sure.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more pics.

Hugs

A bit more Oriental

Good morning, peeps and a lovely fine and sunny morning it is too!

Today, I thought I'd show you some of the lantern images in wor Sheena's latest collection coming to a screen near you on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Create and Craft's Pick of the Week (it's been extended from a Pick of the Weekend!!)  The collection includes not just stamps but fabulous embossing folders and Designer Papers too!  You'll find it hard to know what to use first because it's all fabulous!

The background was created using first a layer of smooshed on Distress Ink in Antique Linen, Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar all applied to the matte side of Centura Pearl Card.  I then used the two cherry blossom branch stamps inked with Versamark all over the card.  I brushed the Tahiti Dreams set of Primary Elements over the Versamark images and followed that by dabbing a damp sponge all over the card (you know the one you've seen Sheena use with bits pulled out of it!).  When the card was dry, I put it through the Cherry Blossom Embossing Folder and just rubbed the Silver Pebeo Gilding Wax lightly over the embossed flowers and slightly more liberally around the edges.

The brackets in the corners were stamped on silver card and cut out.  The cherry blossom stamp was stamped and embossed in black on to Heat Resistant Acetate then painted from the back with the Pebeo Studio Acrylics.  I coloured the lanterns with Copics but the Spectrum Noirs would do just as good a job and you'll find them on special promotion on the shows!

It's hard to see the background paper in this piccie but it's one of the ones from the paper pad that's part of the collection and it has blue koi carp printed on it.

I do hope you'll be watching along with me over the weekend and beyond.  The timings at the moment are:

Friday 20 September 12 p.m., 3p.m. and 5 p.m.

Saturday 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Sunday 9 a.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Monday 4p.m. and 7p.m.

However, I should watch the C & C website in case there are changes to this info.

Thanks for looking today.

Hugs

A little bit Oriental

Good morning, peeps!  I think Autumn is creeping up on us and it's getting chillier.  However, in this little scene the weather is lovely!

Apart from using acetate masks to create the mountains and moon and the Silhouette Wildflowers (including the butterfly) in the foreground, everything else is from wor Sheena's new Little Bit Oriental range which is to be launched on Create and Craft TV over Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a Pick of the Weekend feature.  There are A4 and 5" x 7" embossing folders and Designer Papers as well as the stamp plates and lots of other exciting goodies as well so something for everyone in this launch.  You can see that I've used one of the embossing folders to create the base layer of this card and enhanced it with the wonderful Pebeo Gilding Wax, which I absolutely love.

The shows on Friday are at 8.00 a.m., 1.00 and 6.00 p.m.  I'll have to update you on the ones over the rest of the weekend but I know that 9 shows in all are scheduled - yee-haa!  I'll be watching and I'll see you again tomorrow with another sneaky peek at this gorgeousness!

Thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Don't miss the packaging!

Good afternoon, peeps!

Did you watch Sheena's show at 9.00 a.m.?  Wasn't it fantastic and almost a complete sell-out of the stamps but it looks as though they've ordered up some new stock so there might still be some available on the 4.00 p.m. show.  Fingers crossed because I think there were a number of people who were disappointed this morning.

Anyhoo, I just thought I might direct your eyes to the packaging, that is the coloured sheets that go in the bag with the rubber stamp plates.  Why am I doing this?  Well, I was very honoured when Sheena asked me to colour the images after she'd drawn them and they were wonderful images just to colour as well as to work with in making the projects.  Here they are for you to see again:

Enchanted Doorway

Honesty

Knowledge

The Quest

I hope you like what I did with the images and thank you for looking.

Hugs

Owl Post

Good evening, peeps and here I am, back again with another sample using stamps from the lovely Sheena Douglass and they're from her latest collection 'A Little Bit Magic'.

There are absolutely no prizes for guessing where the inspiration for this one came from!

Do you think this could actually be Hedwig flying in with some post for Harry Potter?  Sadly, I think I got too much light reflecting off the Luminarte H2Os because it really does look better 'in the flesh' but to see it (more or less) like that, you'll need to tune in to Create and Craft on Thursday (only two more sleeps away!) at 9.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. (yay! they finally published the times!!).  You really won't want to miss this collection because it's truly fabulous with so many wonderful images - I shall certainly be watching and recording and I hope you will too - see you there!

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