The Spirit of Winter - Define the Line by Sheena Douglass

Hello again,

I'm posting lots of things at once, but so much to catch up on! You might want to make a cup of tea! lol Another great addition to the Define the Line collection came in June with The Spirit of Winter launch, a beautiful set of stamps and dies. Again, I extended my cards for my samples.

So as always, there is a edge cutting die and then extra dies and stamps to help build layers. As the sun rises across this snowy landscape, this little rabbit is just wondering what the day will bring.

I love to mix it up and use the new collections with stamps from previous releases, it's fun to do and helps build scenes, there is no reason not to use them together, this way you get the most out of your stash, the possibilities are endless. 😊 This new robin works perfectly with the older cottages. 

Night has fallen over the village church and the snow is getting deeper. The Christmas Tree is an extra die for decoupage and I love the holly corner dies too. I added glossy accents to the baubles and berries. 

It isn't Christmas without a wreath. I wanted this card to have a cosy warm glow. Again, with this set you get extra dies and stamps for layering your cards.

Brrrrr. it's getting cold out there, Jack Frost is working hard, I used a glossy pen on the web and different types of glitter for texture. I decided to keep him cool like the frost, he sits on top as a separate die cut as do the icy stars. 

Another favourite of Christmas cards, we can't forget snowflakes! I created a inky sponged background and did a little faux bleaching. I initially stamped the snowflake in a pale ink, so I knew where to cut the edge. Afterwards, I then stamped it again and embossed with white.

Crafty tip:

For this card, I used base card, stamped the snowflake, so I knew where to place the die and cut the edge. I then cut and glued two thin strips of card to each point to create strength. A topper of Willow card was then stamped, the edge cut and decorated and added for the finished make. 

I hope you are feeling festive, as crafters know, Christmas is never too far away. 

Love and hugs

Adele

xx

Musical Define the Line with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafters,

More catching up with you. 😊 We've been having lots of fun at Sheena HQ, so many gorgeous releases to play with! In May Sheena added to her Define the Line collection, with these musical dies and stamps. They are perfect for creating cards that are just under 6" square but I like to extend my cards too. These are 8" x 6"/5.5" I made these out of a base card and added a stamped topper of Willow card, it makes them really sturdy, each time cutting the die cut edge.

I'm sure we all know someone who loves music, so these are a perfect for any craft stash. All types of music are appreciated in this range.

Who remembers listening to the top 40 as a kid and making a mixed tape? I decoupaged the headphones and flowers too.

I love Rock n Roll!! Sing along with me!! Again, decoupaged, I can't help myself! 😊😀

Who's coming to the beach in this cool camper? The guitar and flowers are an extra built up layer.

I decided to park up the van and set this against a beach scene.

"New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do..." I had this song in my new head whilst making this, and four ladies, I am sure you will be familiar with, of course, it had to be a Manhattan cocktail! 😊 I decoupaged the orchid and added glossy accents to the glasses. 

And now, how about an evening at the ballet? As extra, I decoupaged the swan's neck, and the dancer and added another leaf below the swan for balance. The flower is also a die. I created this deep red by gradually layering the colour to build the richness. 

Inside these flowers are die cuts. 

How about a theatre show? The masks and the flowers are the extra dies in this set.

I also love these tiny musical notes dies. I am sure I will use these on other projects. 

I hope you are feeling inspired to make a musical creation! 

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

Flowers of the World with Sheena Douglass

Hello peeps!

Team Sheena recently got the opportunity to play with these beauties! I do love flowers, especially orchids, so this collection was right up my street! 😊This launch brought us dies and stamps, and they are perfect for decoupage as they have guidelines for cutting. I went for full on oriental and created panels for this card. These ornate corners will come in useful for many things.

I put these Cattelya orchids against a salt background and decoupaged. 

With these dies and stamps you get a lone carnation as well as some in the jar, so I thought I would use them altogether for this make. Again it was decoupaged and I used glossy accents on the jar. 

I used and cut up the corners to create a trellis for the lanterns to hang from. 

So many wonderful colours of Iris to choose from but this is one of my favourites. All decoupaged. I also added glossy accents to the dragonflies wings.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these blooms. If you have flowers in your craft stash you can never go wrong.

Crafty hugs,

Adele

xx

More Paint Fusion with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafters!

So, still back in April, Sheena launched some new stamps perfect for paint fusion/folk art. We all love making cards but it's great to also break away from the paper and create home decor pieces. 😊 Keep those old jam jars and coffee jars, you never know what you can do with them, they could very well make a nice gift for someone! To paint this on the glass, I used a base of Imagination crafts Starlights paint, it works incredibly well on this surface and allowed me to then paint over the top with a mix of gesso and Sheena's pigment inks.

I stamped the image on to some paper and then used spray adhesive to stick it to the inside of the jar, which then allowed me to trace the flowers. 

A perfect gift for a artistic friend. 

Sunflowers, I do love them, always bright and cheery. 😊I used gesso mixed with the pigment inks again to create this. 

                             

I wanted to do a card with these little fish. This might be one of my favourite salt backgrounds, that is the beauty of this technique though, you never know what you might get! Sometimes it works out better than you hoped! 😊The fish and the shells were decoupaged, and I stamped the foliage in different inks to create depth. 

Feeling inspired by the fish in my dad's pond I stamped and embossed these koi in different colours. 

And now for a summer meadow....

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these makes.

T.T.F.N

Adele

xx

My Kind of Mindfulness with Sheena Douglass

Namaste!

I think we could all do with a little mindfulness, especially now. 💗 It seemed, although not planned that way, appropriate for Sheena to release this collection in April. We all find our own way of coping with the things life throws at us, whether it is meditation, listening to music, dancing or using our artist talents and channelling our energies into making something beautiful.

I really enjoyed making this card, I love listening to music, it can reach us on so many levels and truly lift our spirits. To create this I let the pigment inks run along the card with water. I thought using the primaries and the green would make it striking, I was thinking of how some people, who have synesthesia, see colours when they hear music and it does bring colour to all our lives. The headphones were decoupaged on to the background.

This is a  inky sponged background with black embossing. The third eye sees all! I decoupaged this mandala to give it more impact. 

For this card in pretty pastels, I used white embossing and used the gold powder to decorate the borders. 

I love this little elephant and it works well on a small card. You get some fabulous wording too! 😊

Many could probably agree with this! I don't drink gin myself, (wrong's wrong with her!?😮 I hear you cry! My friends no doubt wonder the same thing! lol - Maybe it's just about finding one I like!)  but I agree with the sentiment.

I hope you are now feeling peaceful and calm.

Love and hugs

Adele

xx

Illuminated Letters with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafters!

Just catching up with you all again with everything I have been up to. We've been busy at Sheena HQ with lots of lovely things. March saw the release of Illuminated Letters. I also love this type of artwork, so it was great fun to get to play with this collection. Wish I could have played more at the time but these are the ones I made for launch. I've continued to play with these dies and stamps since. They a must have for a craft stash! We always need letters and this is a fabulous set!

So, the dies are all capital letters and then there are stamps to work with them. Sheena has brought us several panels of art work to either be used behind the letter or separate if you wish. With this card I used the foliage stamps to create a scene on to a salt background. I fussy cut some of the fish from the main image. The verses are written by our Debi.

I do love the peacocks, they are such beautiful birds, and inspire many crafters and designers. This is another inky sponged background which I thought gold embossing would sit well against. Gold and copper powder was also added to the feather panel.

Back soon with more makes. 

Adele

xx

Baby Blessings with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafty peeps!

It's been awhile I know, so much going on! I hope you are all safe and well. Covid, as we know, has changed so many things for lots of us, and I for one am glad to have a love of crafting. It is good to have something that brings us joy during this unprecedented time, and allows us to spread that happiness with others. We can spread our love by using our crafty talents. 💗Across social media, I have seen some amazing creations, it's truly wonderful what people have been making!

Now, speaking of spreading joy, earlier this year, Sheena released a collection perfect for welcoming that new little bundle to the family, Baby blessings.

These are the samples I made for the launch. For this one I combined the new images with some die cuts and stamps from the previous Through Any Window collection. I wanted it to look like a scrapbook page with photos.

This was a crisp and clean card, which I don't often do, lol. I tend to go for the fancy cards as you may know, but sometimes a simpler works very well. 😊 I brought the sun's rays through the window across the book and lamb, I mixed a little of the gold powder with the yellow ink, to give it a sparkle of holy light. 

I love this beautiful font and decoupaged it on to the scene. I will show you below how I made this card.

To create the heavenly rays, I used Sheena's tape and cut it in to thin strips, by putting a length of it on to a glass mat and cutting it with a craft knife to the same width. This allowed me to ink the background and easily peels off afterwards. 

After it was all decoupaged I added highlights with a white gel pen.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these makes. 

crafty hugs

Adele

xx