New stamps and dies are on the way.....

...from Sheena! If you love flowers then you're going to adore this Victorian Floral collection.  It comprises of 6 matching stamp and die sets featuring Poppies, Anemones, Sweet Williams, Lillies, Bluebells, Lilly of the Valley and last but definitely not least Pansies. They will be launching on Create and Craft this coming weekend, 9th/10th May, so you'll be able to see lots of demonstrations from Sheena.

Here are a couple of samples I've made, both featuring the Poppy stamp and die set but showing just how different, at least I hope so, that they can look. The first is showing the Poppy as most people think of it.....that gorgeous red flower that pops up along our roads and in our fields. I've used a couple of older Sheena stamps in this sample; the cottage is 'Milestones and Moments' and the poppies in the background hidden behind top panel are 'Poppies and Daisies', both are from the Little Bit Sketchy range. All the colouring was done with AquaTints...

Next we have a bit of arty up-cycling of a Liquorice Allsorts Tub that I'd saved from Christmas. I coated the sides with black gesso to cover up the writing, then crackled it with a layer of blue Dyna paint, layer of PVA and then a top layer of more black gesso. The Poppies, this time Blue Himalayan Poppies, have been coloured with AquaTints.... 

So what do you think? Pretty stamps and dies aren't they? So blooming (sorry!!) versatile as well!  I'll pop back tomorrow to show you one of the other flowers from the collection :) 

Oh and if you're a Sheena fan and are on Facebook, I've set up a group on there, along with my fellow Inkoids, called 'Sheena's Ink-ettes'.  Basically its a group where you can share your 'Sheena' creations, get tips and loads of inspiration.....we'd love to see you over there!

Donna xx

Another little scene....

....for the Country View Challenge 'Simply Scenic' challenge. Now I went all warm and sunny for my first make so for this one I've used similar elements but changed the colours for an end of day scene with maybe just a little frost in the air....just catching the branches and the hills as the bird soars high above the fields.....

The technique is pretty much the same as my first card; first I stamped the images (Sheena's Perfect Partner stamp range) to create the scene, added the wash of colours using AquaTints and then added highlights and a moon by damping areas with a damp paintbrush and blotting with a bit of kitchen towel.  I also flicked on tiny spots of water and blotted to give the look of the first signs of stars in the evening sky....

I used the black AquaTint to fill in the tree and to paint a bit of a ground line across the bottom to 'plant' the tree firmly to the picture, also darkened the edges with some black soot distress ink...... 

To add a bit of a frame I used Sheena's Wildflower and Shady Meadow stencils.  Then stamped the wording and the bird before adding a few extra highlights on the tree using a white pen.

Why not pop over to the challenge blog, join in the fun and create your own scenic creation :)

See you again soon

Donna xx

Simply Scenic....

....is the new challenge over at Country View Challenges blog, chosen by me this month :)

I've used some of Sheena's Perfect Partner range of stamps, along with some from her Silhouette Grasses and Silhouette Garden stamp plates. I've used AquaTints for the colour but if you don't have them you could get pretty similar effects by blending with distress inks......it's just not as quick!!

So first off I stamped the main images onto some white card using a black archival inkpad....

....next for the colour, I wanted a warm, lazy scene so I went for washes of bright yellow, orange and pink which I applied quickly with a flat brush....

....then I gave it a quick dry. Next using a damp paint brush and a bit of kitchen roll I lifted out some of the colour to give me a sun and some highlights.  All you need to do is damp the areas you want to 'bleach' of colour, leave a few seconds and blot.....

Next I darkened the edges by blending on a little black soot distress ink before stamping the leaves and grasses to act as a frame to the scene. Adding the dark black round the edges make the centre glow more and gives a feeling of looking through into the light. I then stamped the sentiment, the dragonfly and the little bird sitting on the front of the tractor. To give even more feeling of light and sun I used an alcohol marker in a pale grey to add extra shadows around the tractor and beneath the trees...

All that was left to do was to mount it onto a card blank.  Hope you enjoy the scenic challenge and have time to play along :)

See you again soon

Donna xx

A journal page...

...for my weekly That's Crafty DT make....

...as usual all details are on the That's Crafty blog.

 Donna xx

Keep It Simple...

...is the new challenge theme over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog.  I've made this quick and simple stamped and stencilled for the challenge...

...why not pop over and join in the challenge, you could win £20 to spend at That's Crafty :)

See you again soon
Donna xx

Back with another make....

... for the challenge over at Country View Challenges where the theme is 'Use Kraft'.  For my second make for this months challenge I've used one of the new Create a Card dies from Crafters Companion, the Moroccan Lattice but no Moroccan feel here more a touch of English countryside...

The dies are A6 in size so because I wanted to keep it all quite quick and simple all I did was cut a sheet of A4 Kraft in half lengthways, scored in half to create a tent fold card and then used the Moroccan die to cut the front side of the card...

With the card closed I stamped the sentiment through the aperture onto the inside of the card. Then I stamped the squirrel from Sheena's Little Acorn stamp set and cut it out, I also stamped some of the oak leaves and acorns and used the matching die set to cut them out. I roughly laid them onto the card before colouring to check if I had enough and then snapped a quick picture on my phone to help me remember where I'd positioned everything ....

.... I often do that it helps with positioning and it saves trying to remember where everything was when it comes to gluing! Lol! Anyway they needed to be coloured so I painted them with distress inks - Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade. Once they were coloured and stuck in place I decided the inside needed a little extra colour so I stamped and painted a few of the tiny acorn leaves around the sentiment...

..why not pop over to the challenge blog and join in the fun, you could win a £20 voucher :)

Donna xx

Use Kraft...

...is the new theme over at Country View Challenges. I often use Kraft card, it's such a versatile and easy card to work with so this was a fun challenge.  For this make I've used one of my favourite techniques, combining Kraft with gesso and embossing it...

I started off by painting a square of Kraft card with gesso and then using a mixture of the stamps from the Textures Collection by Crafters Companion added some stamping around the edges...

...then I embossed it with the Hessian Embossing Folder from the same Textures Collection.  Once I'd embossed it I sanded it back to reveal some of the Kraft card showing through the gesso, then I caught the edges with some silver gilding wax...

I mounted this onto a Kraft card blank and then set about sorting out the flowers etc.  I used Sheena's Wild Rose stamp set and matching die from her Perfect Partners collection and cut and stamped them from some more gessoed Kraft and some plain Kraft card.  The ones which had been painted with gesso I also lightly sanded back...

Next I stamped some words onto bits of Kraft, cut them out and roughed up the edges a bit. Then I just arranged and glued everything in place to finish.

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and join in the fun, you could be in with the chance of winning a £20 voucher :)

Donna xx