A brand New Year tomorrow......

.....can't believe how quickly this year has gone! Here is my last piece this month for Creative Expressions featuring their fun Henna mandala stamps (got some new goodies to play with for next month!) 

This was a really simple card to put together.  First I stamped Henna Mosaic onto a scalloped circle of Kraft card (cut using the Spellbinders Scalloped Circle die) then I embossed it in white, I repeated the stamping process on another piece of card and cut out the inner section of the design so it could be layered to add a little extra dimension. Then mounted the circle onto a square of 'milk' card which I had lightly stamped sections of the Henna Mosaic in the corners, this was then matted onto a slightly smaller square of Kraft card. This was then mounted onto more 'milk' card before adding some ribbon and cosmic shimmer pearls to finish.
Hope you all have a good night tonight and best wishes for 2014.

Donna xx

Well tomorrows the big day.......

......I love Christmas Eve and I've actually got today and tomorrow off this year so that's a bonus! So Christmas music on, candles lit, the odd chocolate to eat and some family presents to wrap......the perfect Christmas Eve :)  One of the presents will have this little tag attached that I made using the Henna Mandala stamp from Creative Expressions.

The background shape was cut using a Spellbinders 2012 Heirloom Ornament  Die from a background sheet I made some time ago.  Can't remember the exact colours I used but I know it was Cosmic Shimmer sprays I used in greens and blues and then a little white spritzed over the top of the Retro Circles mask by That Special Touch.  I stamped the Henna Mandala a couple of times, cut out the central flower motif and painted with Cosmic Shimmer watercolours. Then I used Fantastic Flourish One to cut a couple of flourishes which I painted with more Cosmic Shimmer. I stamped and embossed a sentiment and then glued the whole thing together adding a few spots of gold glitter to the centre of the flower.

Hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow :)

Donna xx

A sneaky look at ......

.....my project over at Country View Crafts......pop over if you would like to see more :)

Donna xx

It's a Retro Christmas .......

...........over at TagAlong this week where I'm hosting this week. I've used a cute little image off a stamp sheet from Artistic Outpost along with a little die cut festive foliage.......

Donna xx

Creative Expressions time again......

.....so time for a little Christmas fun with the 'Henna' stamps.

Stamp four of the Henna Petals and emboss in white on some white card, then blend some distress ink over the top with some cut and dry foam.  Cut out, keeping one full size and the others decreasing in size each time. Fold each one to form little 'caps'......just fold from point to point. Take a thin stick, roll a thin strip of paper round the base to form a little pot, paint with distress paint.

Once dry slot each of your little 'caps' onto the painted stick starting with the biggest and glue in place.
Voila you have a cute little Christmas tree...

...told you it was time for a little fun!

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon :)

Donna xx

Playing catch up......

.....with challenges!  This weeks Sunday Postcard Art challenge is Winter Wildlife a theme picked by Deborah.......great theme Deborah :)

Ok here's mine, distress paint for the background along with a little shadowy stamping of some trees and some stamped and embossed snowflakes. Then I've used a couple of Tim Holtz movers and shapers dies and a Spellbinders snowflake.........hope you like........

Donna xx

Something fishy going on........

......some great new Under the Sea stamps are being launched by Sheena on Create and Craft tomorrow at 10.00.

Here's a couple of samples I've made.......

.......and just to show that fish and seaweed don't have to always look the same here's another card using the same fish stamp but a different seaweed one........just a slightly different look!

Tune in if you can.

Donna xx

More 'Henna' fun......

A nice quick card today using the fun new 'Henna' stamps from Creative Expressions.  Using the Henna Mandala stamp from the collection, I stamped it several times in black on some white card.  Then I cut myself some layers from the stamped images,leaving one intact. Colour in the layers with a colouring medium of your choice, I've actually used alcohol markers for this but any form of colouring will work just as well.
Using the Spellbinders Adorning Squares I cut out the base image,

then I layered up the coloured pieces and mounted everything onto some teal and white card and added a little Crystal PVA to embellish.

Donna xx

Anyone for skating?

Bought a new die a few weeks ago (well actually bought one or two!!) and I'm using it on my second piece for the Country View Crafts challenge. I started off by cutting out a tag from a sheet of backing card I'd made ages ago using various mica and ink sprays.

Then I added some stamped swirls and snowflakes which I embossed with a mixture of white and silver embossing powder, I also added some white embossing around the whole edge of the tag. Using my new die I cut the Ice Skates out of some white card and shaded them with a little Black Soot distress ink and then 'laced' them up with some narrow silver cord. Then I cut a large snowflake using one of Spellbinders Create a Flake sets and layered it up. Also cut a few smaller flakes using a Tattered Lace die. Before assembling everything I stamped a little sentiment, cut it out and embossed the edges with some silver embossing powder. Then I glued everything in place and finally added some Stickles glitter glue to the snowflakes to make them really twinkle like ice.

Donna xx

Time for a play with some new stamps.......

......this month on the Creative Expressions DT we've been given the new 'Henna' range of single stamps to play with (they come singly but I've laminated an A4 sheet to store them on).....

I'm in Christmas mode at the moment so I've made a festive tag using one of the large circles.  Started by creating a background with some distress paints (Festive Berries, Aged Mahogonay, Pine Needles and Tarnished Brass), by dabbing the colours onto a non stick craft sheet then spritzing with water and then pulling a sheet of white card backwards and forwards through it.  Doesn't look much to start with but just aiming to get some mixed colours onto the paper at the moment.....

Then I stamped one of the fancy circles...Henna Mosaic... a couple of times and embossed them in white...

 
Then I cut them out and folded them up.....point to point, for every point....and then cut along one of the folds to open out........

Repeat with the other stamped image and stick the two together to form a medallion...

Then  I cut a tag shape out of some white card, stamped and embossed some more of the Henna Mosaic and embossed again in white and then coloured whole tag with Fired Brick and Pine Needles Distress Ink using a bit of Cut 'n' Dry. Then I glued on the medallion but not before edging it with some glitter and adding a jewel to the middle. The tag was finished off with a stamped sentiment (from the Winter Flower set), a couple of die cut swirls (Die D-Lites Fantastic Flourish 1), a few pearls and a nice bow at the top.

Thanks for stopping by,
Donna xx

A make all for me......

......picked this advent house up at work a few weeks ago

and eventually got around to decorating the other day.  As the theme over at Country View Crafts Challenge is Bah Humbug (which we decided was anything Christmas!) I decided to use this as my first make for the challenge. I started off by painting it white with a base coat of acrylic, then I added a little Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough Distress Paint.

Once I'd got the main part of the house coloured, I added a little stamping and embossing to add a little extra interest.  I used a crackle stamp and a brocade pattern stamp but you could use a text stamp, festive foliage or anything that took your fancy, it's just to add some extra interest and texture.

Once I'd done that I set to work on the drawer fronts, again using Distress Paints........Iced Spruce, Evergreen Bough, Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany.

Once the drawers were all painted, I used some gilding wax to add a touch of gold and added the numbers which I cut with Tim Holtz's Alphabetical Strip Die.

Decided to add a snowy roof to my little house so mixed up some white acrylic with some light modelling paste and spread it over the roof with a palette knife and whilst it was still wet sprinkled some clear glitter onto it for some frosty sparkle. Also added a little festive colour with a couple of Poinsettia's made with a Spellbinders die and some holly cut with Tim Holtz's Festive Greenery strip die.

Have a feeling I'd like to add a little robin somewhere, so I'm thinking this might develop a little more through December but for now I'm quite happy with my Advent House :)
Oh and in case you were wondering what's in the drawers, well this little house is all mine (you don't have to be a kid to have an advent calendar/house do you?) and so it's my favourite...........

Happy December!!
Donna xx

A shaped tag......

....for this weeks TagAlong challenge where the theme is 'Hearts'.

The tag started out life as a bit of recycled cereal box......well waste not want not! Glued two pieces together to give some extra thickness and then coloured with Distress paints, and added some background stamping and embossing. The flowers are stamped, coloured, cut out and glued on using 3d glue gel to keep the dimension. Then I just added some ribbon to finish. Think this just might find its way onto a gift bag in the next few weeks!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the weekly TagAlong challenges.
Donna xx

A circlet of Snowdrops.....

.......form the basis of this weeks make for Creative Expressions.  Using the Snowdrop stamp from the Winter Flowers plate I stamped a circlet of snowdrops by stamping one image, masking it off, rotating the paper slightly and stamping another one......

Once I'd completed the circle I painted them with Distress Paints...Pine Needles and Shabby Shutters.....

Then I trimmed it up to form a square topper, rounded the corners shaded the edges with Shabby Shutters and matted it onto a slightly larger piece of dark green card and then onto a white card base, rounding the corners of each as I went. To add a sentiment to the centre I cut a scalloped circle using a Spellbinders die out of the dark green card and then a slightly smaller one out of white onto which I stamped 'Happy Birthday'.  To finish I added a bow made of some white organza which I had in my box, topped it with a dazzler and then highlighted the edges of the snowdrops with a little Stickles glitter for a bit of frosty, wintery sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Donna xx

Time for another postcard challenge.....

....on Sunday Postcard Art and this week the theme is 'Gibson Girls'. With a little bit of stamping and a little bit of die cutting here's mine for this week .......

Thanks for stopping by
Donna xx

Bling time!

Right the theme for this weeks Tag Along challenge has been picked by Carol and is 'Ring A Ding Ding lots of Bling'.  Biggest problem with that is how do you photograph bling?????? Getting into Christmas making mode now so dug out some Bauble dies (Spellbinders) and my Festive Foliage die.

The background was created with ink sprays and some mica so the shimmer starts there, then I used some Flake and Glitter glue with a background stamp and then applied some gilding flakes, then added some more background stamping which was embossed. After I'd cut the baubles used some more Flake and Glitter glue and stamped a grid effect onto them which was then glittered with ultra fine glitter then for added sparkle very lightly edged one side with red Stickles.  The holly was also edged with Stickles and the berries were glittered as well.............lots of sparkle in real life and very bright colours!!

Donna xx

My first festive make of the season......

....is for the Country View Crafts challenge.  I was lucky enough to have been picked to be part of their design team the other week and this is my first piece for them.

The challenge is on the theme of 'Letters' ........I've used a big Sizzix die to cut the word Noel out of some textured grungepaper.  I cut it twice and glued the pieces together because I wanted it to be strong enough to stand. Then I used Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough Distress Paint to colour it.

Once the paint was dry I used some  Cosmic Shimmer Enchanted Gold gilding wax to highlight the texture. I then repeated the whole process on a rectangular piece of grungepaper, which I wanted to act as a base.

Using the Spellbinders Poinsettia die I cut some flowers, coloured them with H2O's, and stamped with an alphabet stamp......I used a Kaisercraft clear stamp but any script or lettering stamp would do, it just adds a little bit of interest. Then they were glued together. Gave the same treatment just with different colours to some leaves, cut using the same die.

Then I simply assembled everything together along with a little tinsel trim that I had in my box, just to add some festive sparkle......and as you have to have a little glitter at Christmas I also added a little Stickles glitter glue to the edges of the letters just for a bit more twinkle! Lol!

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again :)

Donna xx

Blog Hop fun......

Hello and welcome to my blog and the next step of the Creative Expressions Blog Hop. Hope you're enjoying the journey. There are all sorts of prizes to be had along the way so make sure you leave messages on the blogs as you visit to be in with the chance of being randomly picked as a winner.                               

My piece was created using the Ornate Frame Set from the Couture Creations 3 in 1 collection, had lots of messy fun making it!!                                                                                                                                     

Start by stamping the main image onto a piece of Milk card, mask off the frame and re-stamp script to completely fill background. Colour the background using tea dye, brushed corduroy and wild honey distress ink. Using the edge of a pair of scissors lightly distress the edges. Run this through the embossing folder that comes with the set. Then 'ink' up the stamp with Cosmic Shimmer Flake and Glitter glue, try to get the glue only on the frame portion of the stamp, stamp it over the top of the black image you have already stamped but slightly off set the image. Once stamped immediately clean your stamp, don't worry about the glue drying on your piece it'll stay tacky for a long while but you do want to clean off your stamp. Then take some Summer Meadow Gilding Flakes apply over the sticky image, pat down and then using a piece of Rub it Scrub it rub off the excess flake and return to pot. Mount your piece onto a slightly larger piece of Dark Coffee card and then again onto another piece of Milk card.

Take another piece of the dark coffee card and about an inch and a half bigger than your mounted piece, using a mask and some texture paste create some texture by scraping paste over the top of the mask with a palette knife. Don't worry about being too precise, you're aiming for a distressed, grungy look. The mask I used was a Moroccan Mask by That Special Touch. Now if you want a smooth look leave it to dry naturally but I dried mine with a heat gun letting the paste bubble and pit under the heat. Once dried and cool lightly rub over the surface with Enchanted Gold Gilding Wax. Mount your previously made piece onto this background.

Now to finish off roughly cut 3 circles of milk card, then cut each circle into a spiral.  Roll up to form a rose and glue with Cosmic Shimmer glue. Cut three leaf shapes also out of the milk card. I cut them all by hand but you could always use dies if you would like. Colour your flowers and leaves with Cosmic Shimmer sprays, I've used Mallow Blush and Golden Fish.  Whilst wet slightly rough up the edges to distress a little, once dry very lightly shade the edges with some black soot distress ink. Glue the finished flowers and leaves into position at the base of the frame. Stamp out some of the butterflies and colour with the distress inks previously used to colour the background of the frame, cut them out using the dies in the set and glue into position onto frame. The final touch is to add some 'pearls' using Cosmic Shimmer Pearl glue in Golden Pearl.

Well hope you enjoyed your visit, don't forget to leave a message to be in with a chance of a prize.

Here's the complete list for the blog hop (complete with prizes on offer) so you can see where to 'hop off' to next! Lol!

Hope to see you again
Donna xx

CREATIVE EXPRESSIONS (Home Link in case you get lost!)
http://blog.creative-expressions.uk.com/2013/11/creative-expressions-blog-hop-let-fun.html

KIM ROBERTSON
http://inkykimcraft.blogspot.com/2013/11/creative-expressions-couture-creations.html
Zentangled Flower Pre Cut Stamp
GlitterCosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder 

PAM SMITH
http://smiffyscards.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-hop.html
Zentangled Owl Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

NEIL BURLEY
http://perfectly4med.co.uk/2013/11/19/cc-ce-bloghop/
Zentangled Saying Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

DONNA RATCLIFF
http://donnaslittlecraftycorner.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-hop-fun.html
Precious Purse Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

TRACY HEATON
http://ahintofmagnolia.blogspot.com/2013/11/oh-hoppy-day.html
I Do Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

KERRY HICKTON
http://kezzyscraftyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/11/creative-expressions-blog-hop.html
Bouquet Frame Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

KIM DELLOW
http://www.kimdellow.co.uk/2013/11/creative-expressions-couture-creations.html
Your Carriage Awaits Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

TRACE METCALFE
http://inkypinkycraft.blogspot.com/2013/11/creative-expressions-couture-blog-hop.html
From This Day Forward Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder 

CATHI O'NEILL
http://celticknotted.blogspot.com/2013/11/joy-in-life.html
To Have & To Hold Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

TRACY EVANS
http://craftaddicts-tracyevans.blogspot.com/2013/11/creative-expressions-couture-blog-hop.html
1 x Doilies CO723401
Wedding Bells Pre Cut Stamp
Glitter
Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue
Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Details Embossing Powder

Winter Wishes Card......

.......it's time for this weeks Creative Expressions make. I've stamped one of the Christmas Roses from the Winter Flower set onto a piece of white card and then die cut it using a scalloped circle die by Spellbinders. I've coloured the image with Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles distress ink by splodging (technical tern there!) the ink onto a craft mat and picking up the colour using a damp paintbrush. I've also used the Aged Mahogany to shade the edges.

Next cut two Medallion 5's from the Die D-lites range by Spellbinders out of some plain white card. On a rectangular piece of burgundy card stamp the other Christmas Rose from the set using Perfect Medium and emboss with Cosmic Shimmer Clear Embossing Powder. Then mount onto a slightly larger piece of white card and then again onto a bigger piece of the same burgundy card.  Stamp and emboss the Warm Winter Wishes sentiment in Cosmic Shimmer White Embossing powder.  Add some pearls around the edges using Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA glue. To finish glue the two medallions and your coloured topper into place.

Thanks for visiting
Donna xx