There be dragons here.....

Good morning, peeps and here I am with the second sneaky peek at wor Sheena's new stamp collection.

It certainly looks as though this chap has been burning up the place - it's a good job that rocks don't burn or he'd have nothing to stand on!

This is a wonderful fantasy collection that includes the gargoyle I showed you yesterday as well as a phoenix, mermaid, angel and a ghost ship that will be marvellous for those of you who celebrate Halloween.

Sheena's show is at 9.00 a.m. tomorrow so do watch on Sky 674 to see some great techniques demonstrated!

Thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Happy Sunday!

Good afternoon, peeps!

Well, here in Yorkshire the sun is definitely missing from our Sunday but here on the card I've created for wor Sheena's new A5 stamp release on Tuesday 12 August on Create and Craft TV the sky is blue:

The image here, which is stamped and embossed on to heat resistant acetate is all one stamp and the sentiment is on the same sheet as well as other images.  I wanted it to look like the train was projecting out of the card so I coloured the front of the acetate with Spectrum Noir pens and then painted the image from the back with white Gesso.  The acetate is then curved over the background card, which has been dipped into various shades of blue Distress Inks squidged on to the craft sheet and sprayed with water.  The final piece has then been mounted onto a piece of black card that had been painted thickly with white Gesso to create some texture and then overpainted with shades of blue and green Twinkling H2Os.

Sheena's shows are on at 1.00 and 8.00 p.m. on Tuesday so do tune in to see her demos and the fabulous new stamp designs.

Thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Sneaky Peek number 2

Good afternoon, peeps!  I've just popped in for a quick post between food shopping and a visit to the hairdresser - well I'd hate wor Sheena to see me looking unkempt when I'm watching her on TV next week!!

I've just checked the Create and Craft TV schedule and Sheena's new stamps and embossing folders will be launched at 8.00 a.m. on Monday 21 July with further shows at 1.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.  Since it's a 4 Day Deal, we can look forward to more shows after that and I'll keep you posted with the times of those.

Here's today's peek at what you have coming up:

This is made from two of the embossing folders.  The main feature is 'Snowy Rooftops' which I embossed on to a Luminarte H2O background with both white and black embossing powders and then the one with the bow tied around it is 'Evergreen', which is just embossed and then treated with the Silver Gilding Wax.

I'll see you again tomorrow, peeps but thank you for looking today.

Hugs

It's less than a day away!

Good afternoon, peeps!

Yes, it's less than 24 hrs till wor Sheena will be appearing on our screens in the Craft Clinic tomorrow morning at 11.00 a.m. and showing all the wonderful samples that my Inkoid teamies have prepared.  I think that Sheena will be on her way to the studio in a laden car as I type.  You can click on the link above to read what The Gopher has written on their blog about the upcoming show and the new stamps that will be launched.

Here's my sneaky peek for today:

We're back to the 'Seasons Greetings' plate but this time I've used the music from the 'Christmas Elements' plate to create a background.  It would be easy to look at this text stamp and think that it's only for creating simple cards but, once you start to stretch the imagination, it's amazing how different it can look.  Here's yet another that I made:

Very non-traditional Christmas colours using Luminarte H2Os for the background and some designer paper from my stash.

Enjoy the show tomorrow and thanks for looking today.

Hugs

Bauble time!

Good afternoon, peeps!

Here's a peek at something I've made for the first time and especially for wor Sheena's launch of her new set of Christmas stamps on the Craft Clinic at 11.00 a.m. on Monday 7th July:

It was great fun to make and used one of the small holly stamps from the new Christmas Bauble plate as well as a larger holly stamp from the Christmas Visitors plate.  All the holly was painted with Luminarte H2Os and it was certainly more economic than the bought ones!

I hope you'll be watching Sheena's show on Monday, it's so good to have 2 whole hours of hints and demos rather than the usual 1 hour!

Thanks for looking today.

Hugs

More with the Embossing Folders

Good afternoon, peeps!

There's only one more sleep before wor Sheena is back on C & C TV so I hope you're all looking forward to learning some new techniques!  Here is one I made for the show and that defo looks better IRL than it does in the photograph - for one thing, you can't see the bling from the Luminarte Silks on the Mandalas in the photograph.  Anyhoo, here it is:

There are actually three embossing folders used in this card, the Indian Lattice, Mandala and Ornamental.  The latter one is embossed into one of the backing papers printed from Sheena's CD ROM then blinged up with some Silver Sparkle EP.  I did sneak in one stamp - the sentiment from the Tiger stamp plate.

My fellow Inkoids have also been making some wonderful cards for the shows so go here to find links to all their blogs.

The shows are on at 9.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. tomorrow, Monday 12 May so do press the record button if you can't be around to watch them live.

Thanks for looking today.

Hugs

It's nearly here ....

....the launch of wor Sheena's new embossing folders, that is.  Yes, peeps only one more sleep to go until you can see them in all their glory, together with all the lovely samples that my teamies and I have been making lately.  Here's another one from me that will hopefully tempt you into indulging in a little retail therapy:

This one is made with the Trailing Ivy A4 folder and some of Sheena's stamps from past collections, the Ivy Paint Fusion stamp. the Always Floral plate and the Only Words Through the Rain set.  I added in lots of Luminarte goodies (of course) some Pebeo Gilding Wax and there you have it!

Since the shows are only tomorrow, I'll give you an extra little sneaky peek because I'm good like that!:

This is the Ancient Arches embossing folder, one of the 5" x 7" ones and I've used it here with the Falling Feathers stamps clear embossed on to Kraft Card.

Well, I can't wait for the first show tomorrow at 8.00 a.m. and then Sheena's on again at 1.00 and 5.00 p.m.  The other show times are:

TUES 28th…..9am,4pm and 7pm

WED 29th…..10am and 2pm

THURS 30th…..12noon and 5pm

Thanks for looking again today.

Hugs

Let the Sneaky Peeks begin ....

Good afternoon, peeps!  Well it does seem a long time since I blogged - did you miss me?

Anyhoo, I'm back to tell you that wor Sheena has been busy again designing new embossing folders.  There are 8, 5" x 7" ones and 4, A4 ones in the collection and they're fabulous.  They will be launched as a Four Day Deal on Create and Craft TV, starting on Monday 27 January at 8.00 a.m. and there are a total of 4 shows on Monday.

Here's the first of the samples I've made:

This is made with one of the 5" x 7" folders to create the main picture and one of the A4 folders to create the ivy leaf background.

I'll be back to show you more tomorrow.

Hugs

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

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

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

A little more honesty

Good afternoon, peeps!  Actually, it's good crafternoon as Dean always says on C & C because that's what I'm doing today - pretty much like most days, come to think of it!

Anyhoo, here's one I made earlier - last week in fact:

This one features Honesty of a different kind, the flowers that were in the background of yesterday's card rather than Honesty, the lady being the main feature.  The background of the central diamond is created with H2Os painted over streaks of emulsion paint.  As you can see, when it's dry the emulsion paint acts as a resist and I really like the effect it produces.  After stamping the Honesty flowers with Dove Grey Stazon, I painted them, not in their entirety but leaving a little of the background showing through, with Pebeo white, heavy body acrylic paint.  The corners of the diamond are stamped with one of the stamps from wor Sheena's Ageing Beautifully Stamp Set and embossed with gold detail EP.  The addition of two Spellbinder squares cut in half from some gold card, a chocolate boxy bow and we're good to go.

I do hope you'll be tuned in to Create and Craft TV on Thursday 22nd to see the lovely Sheena demonstrating these wonderful new 'A Little Bit Magical' stamps.  I'll let you know the times as soon as I know them.

Thank you for looking at today's sneaky peek and I'll let you see another of the designs tomorrow.

Hugs

A Little Bit Magical

Good evening, peeps and what a lovely evening it is here in Yorkshire - I do hope you're enjoying a spot of the same.

So, what's magical you ask?  Well, it's wor Sheena's latest set of stamps and they truly are, I have to tell you!  They really do inspire and you can see them all on Sheena's shows on Create and Craft TV on Thursday 22 August - I don't know what the times are but I promise to keep you posted on that.  In the meantime, here is one of the cards I've made so far ready for the show:

This lovely lady is called Honesty and there is a lovely stamp of the flowers once they've gone to seed (we used to call them 'Moon Pennies' - do you remember that?).  Hopefully you can see an echo of the outline of this stamp over the Luminarte H20 background.  The rose corners all also on the same A5 sheet and, this time, I've stamped them onto heat resistant acetate with detail gold EP and painted the roses and leaves from the back with Luminarte Primary Elements.  The rose corners with their thorns made me think of the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty where the thorns grew up around the castle to protect her and that was the inspiration for this card.  Yes, I know it's sad and I should get out more but that's what it's like in Diane's World - I'm sure you understand really! Lol!!.

Anyhoo, I hopes you like it and I'll see you again tomorrow with another sneaky peek and thanks for looking at this one.

Hugs

A daffy canvas

Good evening, peeps!

There are literally only hours to go before wor Sheena is on the telly showing her new sets of stamps and lots of other goodies to tempt us all!  In fact Sheena is probably closing on Peterborough as I type - I do so hope that she's having a good journey.  Anyhoo, here's one of the samples she'll be carrying with her:

Even though we're focussing on the Luminarte products for this show, I wanted to paint a canvas - solution? put a coat of gesso on to the images first.  Once that's dry, you can simply paint over with the H20s - simples!  I also used the crackle stamp from the Ageing Beautifully plate around the edges of the 12" x 12"canvas and finally edged the whole thing with Pebeo Empire Gold Gilding Wax - I just love this stuff and the tiniest bit goes such a long way!

Of course the wonderful new clear Rock-a-Blocks were used to overstamp the painted images with Dove Grey Stazon to add back some definition.

and, finally, let's take another look at some of those violets:

A real clean and simple card this but I just love this violet plant and its lovely flowing lines so I simply embossed it with WOW Brass EP and painted it with the H20s.

I hope you enjoyed a last sneaky peek before Sheena's shows at 10.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. when she's sure to be demoing up a storm with these lovely floral stamps.

Hugs

Daffodils and Bluebells

Good afternoon, peeps!

I have two cards for you today both made with the wonderful new stamps from wor Sheena that will be given their debut on a screen near you on Saturday at 10.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m.

First of all, here are the daffodils:

I'm sure this will show better when glimpsed by those wonderful camera people at Create and Craft TV because, in my dodgy photo, the light was reflecting off the WOW brass embossing powder on the top corner.  Anyhoo, the background is created with Distress Ink and the flowers are painted with H20s.

Now for the bluebells:

These beauties are on the same sheet of rubber real estate as the daffodils and what I really love is that, in addition to the main stem of bluebells, there are two separate little 'bells' so that, if you're stamping multiple stems of flowers like I have here, you can make them look different just with a little masking and the addition of the separate flowers - clever Sheena.  The wonderful new clear Rock-a-blocks make a difference with this task as well!

The background clouds are created with Tumbled Glass Distress Inks and the bluebells are painted with H20s (seems like I'm working to a formula here - Distress Inks for the background and H20s for the main feature.....well, I might surprise you with something different tomorrow!).

Thanks for looking today.

Hugs