Black 'n' White.......

....and playtime with one of the new Sue Wilson dies.....'Seville' from the Spanish collection. It's such a pretty die that I thought it was a shame not to let it take centre stage and keep the card fairly simply.

Started of by making a background by simply randomly stamping the fern background onto some black card and embossing it with clear embossing powder. 

Then to be honest it was just a case of cutting out the die in black and white and layering it up.......told you it was simple!! The sentiment was stamped and embossed in black and comes from the Steampunk Flower set. Finished it all off with a white bow topped with a dazzler.

Ooh and before I go.......if you're after some cut price crafty bargains then check out the Craft Clearance site.

See you again soon :)

Donna xx

Bit of journal fun.....

......featuring a fun Crafty Individuals stamp and couple of pics of my little monster.....

Full details are on the Thats Crafty blog.  See you again soon :)

Donna xx

Spring flowers....

.....another Creative Expressions creation today and thought as we've been having some lovely spring weather lately what better than some lovely spring colours and flowers.  I've got some lovely hellebores in the garden that are still going strong so decided to use the hellebore stamp of the Winter Flowers plate (they're so not just winter beauties!) along with the Ivy Corner single stamp and the little Bee stamp that comes with the Botanical Spray set 

Started off by blending some Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers and Lilac Mist distress ink onto a piece of white card onto which I had previously stamped the Ivy Corner stamp multiple times. Mounted this onto some white and lilac card (lilac card was white and coloured the edge with Lilac Mist).

Then I stamped the flower from the Winter Flowers set three times and coloured in with Distress Inks and a bit of cut 'n' dry foam. I then stamped a sentiment from Sam Poole's Steampunk Flowers set onto some white card, tied some lilac ribbon around the card and mounted it onto the background, then cut the flowers out and arranged and glued them into position. As a finishing touch I stamped a few of the bees and coloured them in with markers.

Donna xx

Easter tag.......

.......I'm hosting the challenge over at TagAlong this week and considering what time of year it is I decided it had to be an 'All things Easter' theme. I cut an egg shaped tag out of a gelli print to use as the base of mine....

Then I used a die cut cross and some daffodils stamped with a Sheena Douglass stamp to decorate....

Hope you all have a lovely Easter, see you again soon....

Donna xx

Playing with masks again.....

....well yesterday I showed a card featuring a That's Special Touch Mask and I have another one for you today, similar colours (got a thing for bright colours at the mo!) but different masks. Pop over to the Country View Crafts blog to find out all the details :)

Donna xx

Alpha Tangle....

....a bit of fun doodling today.  As part of the DT package from Creative Expressions this month I got sent the Alphabet Sprinkle mask from That Special Touch so I decided to have a play with it for this weeks make.....

Started off by blending some Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink through the mask onto a piece of white card. Then before removing the mask I added a bit of extra background interest by doing a bit of stamping with the Botanical Spray and Alpha Writing stamps and then finally before removing drew round the outline with a fine micron pen.

Then........now this is the really important bit.......I put the kettle on and made a cuppa! Well if you're going to sit and do a bit of doodling then you gotta have a brew at the same time! Lol! Once I'd filled all the letters with patterns I mounted the finished panel onto a white card blank.  Then I stamped, coloured and cut out the Zentangle Flower 3 times. I glued these in place and then glazed them with Cosmic Shimmer Varnish.

Well hope you liked my tangled alphabet card, see you again soon :)

Donna xx

My second piece.....

.....for the challenge over at Country View Crafts where the theme is 'New Beginnings'. So if you saw my first piece you'll know that I decided to use quotes that went with the theme.....when I read this I thought it summed up the challenges that a new beginning brings, the learning of new things, taking that first step and then as it says taking flight.......

Started off by colouring up a tag with Wild Honey, Brushed Corduroy and Pumice Stone distress inks, then stamped some wood texture on using a Kaisercraft stamp. Then I stamped the bird and the eggs (Invoke Arts) used a damp paintbrush to lift a little of the colour off the surface of the tag to lighten the breast of the bird and the eggs. Stamped the words, cut them out and glued them in place. Then embellished it with a little greenery cut with the Spring Greenery die.

Thanks for popping by
Donna xx

Getting closer now....

....to the launch of Sheena's India range of stamps, papers and embossing folders. So how about another little look? Here's another one of the samples I've made for the shows on Create and Craft......

 ....stamps and embossing folder on this one.  The main panel was stamped, heat embossed and then painted with h2o's; this was then mounted onto an embossed panel which I highlighted with a little Pebeo gilding wax. Once it was done I decided the main panel needed to stand out a little more so masked off the rest of the card and sprayed panel with Crafters Companion's Spray and Shine.

So don't forget to tune in on Monday for the start of the 4 day deal.......great product, some brill demonstrations and some lovely inspiration from the rest of my fellow inkoids :)

Donna xx

Something bright and cheery....

.....for my weekly piece for That's Crafty......a journal page featuring a cute little Lost Coast stamp I had as part of my DT package....

Pop over to the blog for a step by step and list of what I used.
Donna xx

A trip to India.....

....with a couple of examples from Sheena Douglass's great new India range that launches as the 4 day deal on Monday at 8am on Create and Craft. There are stamps, embossing folders and papers so lots to play with! Make sure to tune in and have a look :)

This first card was made using nothing but the embossing folders...

and the second features the stamps on a background made by laying a mask over a layer of promarkers and removing a little of the colour with blending solution......nice and bright this one!!!

Back with some more sneaky peeks over the weekend :)

Donna xx

A Floral tag....

....for this weeks Creative Expression piece....

Right now I would normally do a little step by step for you along with some pictures........but......hands up I was happily playing and getting inky when I realised I'd finished without taking any pics! So I'll just give you a quick talk through.

Started with a plain white tag onto which I blended Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers Distress ink. Then I added a little background stamping using Alpha Writing, Ivy Corner and Botanical Spray. I made myself a little flower using the Button Floral stamp set and also stamped the sentiment from the same set. Once I'd glued it all together I decided to add a few of the bees that come with the Botanical Spray stamp, so I stamped three, coloured them in and cut them out before attaching to tag. Then finished it off with a little doodling round the edge of the tag.

See you again soon....

Donna xx

Time for this weeks...

....piece for the That's Crafty blog, pop over to the blog for full details but here's a little look at this weeks offering.....

Donna xx

You Spin Me Right Round....

.......is the theme for the new challenge over at That's Crafty.....basically you need to include something round on your project somewhere, somehow.  So my 'round' is in the form of lots of stencilling and a few stamped and doodled dots and circles on my rainbow coloured tag......

So for the background I actually opened a packet of Gelato's that I bought last year and as yet had never played with and blended the colours onto my tag with my finger.  Then I  placed a circle mask over the top and removed some of the colour with a baby wipe. Then I added few more dots with the use of some good old punchinella and a bit of Peacock Feathers distress ink. Then I added the quote from Artistic Outposts Chalkboard Wisdom plate and some dotty stars from the same plate, once those were in place it was just a case of adding a little doodling.
Don't forget to pop over and join in the fun here......£20 voucher to spend at That's Crafty is also up for grabs so you don't want to miss out on the chance of a little spending spree!!
Donna xx

All squared up.....

...for this weeks card for Creative Expressions....

So I started by placing an aperture template (That Special Touch Patchwork Set 1) onto a blank piece of white card. If you want to be sure of it not moving you could lightly spray the reverse with some repositionable adhesive but I lived dangerously!

So then I blended Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks through the apertures. Once the colour was added I splashed a little water onto the surface and blotted and then added a little background stamping using the Alpha Writing background stamp and the chequerboard stamp from the Vintage Flight set.

Once I was happy with the background it was time to keep my fingers crossed that the mask hadn't moved! 

Once I'd trimmed the background down I stamped and embossed the Botanical Spray stamp in black in three places. 

 Then I mounted it onto some black card and then onto a white card blank, to finish off I added a little Happy Birthday sentiment.

 See you again soon...
Donna xx

New Beginnings.....

.....is the new theme for this months challenge at Country View Crafts. After thinking about what I would do for this theme I decided to use a quote that summed up the theme and this particular quote is pretty apt for me because I've been forced into trying to make a new beginning......so think I'll be keeping this quote in my head for awhile......

I started off with cutting a tag inking it up with Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks and then running it through my Big Shot with the Damask Texture fade. I've actually used the debossed side as my 'right' side, and to highlight the texture a little more I lightly blended a bit of Pumice Stone distress over the top.

Then I stamped the quote onto a little piece of card, cut a flower using the Tattered Florals die and some leaves using the Spring Greenery die and coloured everything up with more distress ink. Then simply glued everything together......the centre of the flower was simply made by adding a hand cut and rolled rose.

Thanks for stopping by

Donna xx