Define the Line with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafters!

Well, what can I say? Sheena's collections just get better and better! The team really couldn't wait to play with these beauties! What an stunning release for August this was. So, there are stamps, dies to cut the edges of them, other stamps and smaller dies, so that you can add more decoration to your makes. Sheena also launched some wonderful new sentiments on an A4 sheet, alongside these. There is a mixture of humour and thoughtful wording, everything you need to cover many occasions.

We all fell in love with this lion, it's impossible not to. So, for this one I combined it with the "So proud of you sentiment" as it went perfectly with the imagery and sentiments from the lion collection. The idea behind this came from the contrast of the sun and moon stamps and dies, and the feeling that I wanted to create a card that would be a really positive message to send to someone going through a tough time. You been through it and now things are going to be good.

It's a larger card being 9.5 " x 7.5", so I could really set the scene. I wanted the impression of the vast skies above. It was made by cutting the larger back panel and allowing a seam to attach to the front.

The skies were created by using glycerine with the blending and pigment inks and I thought the sunrise would be a lovely contrast and suggested hope of what is to come. I decoupaged the feathers and beads on to the mane. The front was strengthened by cutting a second piece of ordinary white card, with the lion outline, the seam could then sit in between these two layers. I then added another panel to the back for further strength and counterbalance.

I do love sunflowers! So cheery! And I was so happy to have little bee dies and stamps! I have a soft spot for bees. 💗Again, I strengthened the front and made this card from separate pieces. Several layers of clear embossing powder were added to the bee wings to make them shine. The concept with this new Sheena collection is that the art work can carry on inside the card and it works wonderfully. 

How I adore these wings. They come with separate rose dies, so that they can be built up to add depth. This was another card with a positive message. I used ethereal colours to suit the imagery and sentiments, and positioned the tiny feathers so they were gently floating down the card. 

The beauty of trees never escapes me, and I love this one. I thought this quirky sentiment would suit this design well. This was also a strengthened card front. 

And now for something a little different.. a little vintage, which I love. They can also be used on 8" cards to great effect. I applied 3D glue behind the books and butterfly, to make it stand apart from the musical background. A second butterfly was also stamped and cut and layered on to the books. Can't tell you how much I love the little key and the ivy dies and stamps. The sentiments came form the A4 stamp sheet mentioned earlier. 

Sigh, the mountains... set on to another 8", with the mountains standing away from the card, I was thinking of Canada when I painted this. Sentiments are from new collection, I thought they worked well with this image and the blossom stamp and die too. I added some of the gold powder, mixed with water and pva, to the centre of the flowers. 

I felt so lucky to be able to work with these and inspire people. It really is a beautiful collection that will just keep on giving. 

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

Kitchen Wall Art with Sheena Douglass

Hello again,

I'm binge blogging! lol.. I'm finally able to catch up with you all... and now for vegetables. Being a vegetarian, these are right up my street! Loved playing with this collection. These are really big stamps, so you can create wonderful things to decorate your kitchen. The team made some absolutely stunning projects. I designed my projects as cards which could be framed.

And this one is also good for Halloween..  not long now... I stamped and embossed the pumpkin with gunmetal powder and painted it as if it had just been dug up. I added gold foil highlights.

As well as the tomatoes, which I decoupaged, obviously, I'm not obsessed...😄 there are also some fab splatter stamps, so I thought these would make for a brilliant background border. Glossy Accent drops were added here and there, so they look like they've have just been washed. 

I've always thought chilli's have a strange name considering. I also embossed the chilli's with gunmetal powder, so that I could do the wet into wet technique with the inky background. It creates a great barrier. I then added the sentiment, with first, second and third generation stamping. 

For the garlic I created a wall hanging tag. This is just a large wooden tag. To decorate this, I mixed white gesso with the blue pigment ink, it meant that I could stamp on top of this. Again, stamped the sentiment as above and painted the garlic, with gesso adding colour from the pigments. I love that pinky hue that comes through with garlic. I added silver foil highlights.

There are so many recipes with this collection! What will you cook up? 😊

T.T.F. N

Adele

xx

Flowers of Britain with Sheena Douglass

Hello  crafty peeps!

I hope things are all good with you out there. Well, what a busy time we've had at Sheena HQ and so much fun too! Back in July Sheena launched her Flowers of Britain collection, which consists of stamps and matching dies. These are really wonderful to work with and perfect for lots of occasions. They also come with what I refer to as embellishment stamps, so this gives you the opportunity to create your own backgrounds and borders to frame the flowers.

Flowers of Wales

Daffodils are one of my favourite flowers and always make me smile. The base was created by applying ink with glycerine, once it was dry, I then sponged on watered down ink and splashed on spots of ink. The border was stamped to frame the die cut shapes (Tattered Lace). To accompany the flowers, Sheena also designed die cut flourishes, which are great cut out in mirror card. The daffodils are decoupaged and this is really easy to do as there are guidelines for cutting.

Flowers of Scotland

There was a beautiful paper pad launched with this collection, so we were able to use it to create complimentary backgrounds for our flowers. For this make, I stamped on to the sheet from the paper pad, it has a lovely sheen but still allows you to add ink. I stamped the thistles and gave them a paler wash, I then painted the die cut thistles with stronger colour to bring them more to the front. 

Flowers of England

This stamp and die set worked so well with some images from the previous release, who doesn't love an English rose? I placed this wild rose against a country scene, again with the paler wash to emphasize the flowers. I created a border with the corners and vine stamps. Flowers were decoupaged on both of these and I added gold flourish die cuts again. 

Crafty tip:       Don't throw way your extra bits from decoupaging, you can use them in other ways,                             they look great tucked in behind layers to add depth and interest. 😊

Flowers of Ireland

Clover and primroses, how sweet! The paper pad was used for the background and with the Tattered Lace nesting dies, I cut some hexagons, the centre one was cut in Willow card. I created the blue marbled background by sponging inks to a wet background and then added white gesso veins. again, I decoupaged the flowers and arranged them to look natural. 

And finally... I used the clover stamps and dies for this card. I set it in a scene which I thought would suit this lovely little plant and the uplifting sentiment, I wanted the imagery to say, don't worry, it's going to be ok, here comes the sun, good luck is on its way. 😊

Thought I would let you in on how I made this card.

I cut a mask from A4 card, choosing yellow, for the contrast, and a large circle. The suns rays were created using the Screen Sensation tape! This is amazing, how did I ever craft without it!? It can be used over and over again, so does not go to waste. Sheena now has her own tape too. 

Painted in the sky

Mask and tape was removed, I then added a very pale yellow wash over the sun and the rays. 

I used the other side of the card mask to create the hill, this was done using glycerine and ink, darker round the edge. I then had a base for my flowers.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these blooms of Britain, there are so many ways to play with them. 

Back soon.

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

Christmas Perspectives with Sheena Douglass

Hello peeps!

I hope you are well out there! Sheena recently launched her amazing new Christmas collection on Create and Craft, and the team loved working on these beauties! She has brought you snowy outside scenes and warm, cosy rooms and trimmings. These designs are perfect for decoupage and you know I love a bit of that. We were also introduced to some fantastic new inks which are light fast, so what's not to love!? And, some fabulous new card, which is called Willow, now, who could that be named after?

First, let's see what is going on inside, it's time to hang those decorations. 😊What is also great about the new inks is that, similar to oxides, you can layer them on top of each other. For this background I initially fully wet the card with with clear water, and then sponged on watered down ink, yellow, orange and magenta, added salted, spritzed with more water and then left to dry. Once dry, I then went back in with watered down blue ink and sponged over the top again. This gave me a colourful lights glow, and I wanted the blue to complement the baubles to come. I stamped some of the pine branches in grey and then more over the top in black to create depth, painted and added white highlights.  The small baubles were also stamped in grey on card for the same reason and glued flat to the background. We also had some wonderful coloured card on the shows, brights and darks. So I was able to stamp and emboss some of the decorations on to that, as a base, and it works really well, shading them with the inks. So they were decoupaged on this card, including the feather, which was embossed in the appropriate colours, in the right place, before being painted.

I love this pretty birdy! Again, this was stamped and embossed on to the coloured card. I decoupaged the wing and added extra tail feathers. 

And who doesn't love a poinsettia at Christmas? It also comes with some gorgeous embellishment stamps. 

Let's not forget about a festive rose....decoupaged again...

Now, it's time to see what is happening outside, there are cottages and forests to play with and much more... Sheena has given us the corner of a window, from which we can keep an eye on the world. As you can see, there are also things to trim the ledge with. 

This was an idea I had as soon as I saw the window. I stamped the first corner, flipped it, stamped the diagonal corner and then drew the rest in myself. And I managed to get it straight first time and only had to do this once. I was overjoyed! lol It does mean, if you do this, that you have to cut out the panes as a few of them will not meet exactly, but that was what I wanted to do anyway in order to create this diorama. It meant I could combine stamps from across the collection and set the scene for Christmas eve. The trimmings were all decoupaged on to the window, The snow people were one layer, and then the houses another and then the final background with the trees and Santa Claus. I really had fun making this, it took a long time but I knew it would be worth it. You know how I like a quick card! lol   ;) 

Night has fallen on our scene... and the Northern Lights are dancing. I was able to achieve this by using the inks with glycerine to make the sky. When it was dry, I went over the blue, applying yellow ink with a brush, I then added green over the top and then green Stickles for a bit of sparkle. 

Morning has broken and the cheery robin is up and about... The post and this little fellow were decoupaged on to the scene, I even decoupaged the ivy! What can I say? I'm obsessed with layering!  I created branches by turning one of the trees upside down and stamping a section of it. 

I hope you are now feeling the spirit of the season. We loved playing with these and we are sure you will too, so many possibilities! Also, they don't have to be just for Christmas, have a play with the scenes, many of them will work for all year too, I know I will..

T.T.F.N.

Adele

xx