Mixed Media tags with Sheena Douglass

Hello fellow crafters!

I hope you are well. Sheena has brought us some lovely new crafty things! Her new launch is mixed media tags, accompanied by floral dies and stamps as well as butterflies and more! As these dies are mixed media they allow you to cut out mount board and lots of other materials.

With this one, I had the idea of a rainbow of butterflies moving across the tags. The butterfly kaleidoscope is a such a fabulous, intricate die and has a matching stamp. There are also pattern stamps to add extra texture to your projects. I connected these mount board tags with black card joints and then covered the back with black card tags for a clean finish. The front tags were cut with Sheena card. We were also lucky enough to get to play with the gorgeous new harmony ink pads from Crafter's Companion! 😊 These are wonderful, blend beautifully, and can also be used as watercolours, they were combined with Sheena's sparkle pens for the butterflies.

I also created a card to show the different sizes, there are actually five to play with in the contemporary tag set, and as always, Sheena has brought us some uplifting sentiments. The background behind the die cut butterflies, was made by randomly painting drawing gum across the card, to give the feel of marble. I wanted the butterflies to really stand out, and it would also be in contrast to the gold embossed patterns on the card base. 

And now on to lillies! I thought they would make a nice contrast against the black for this wall hanging. 

A second card with the Lily and the tag, as you can see these are great for cards or as a stand alone tag. The Lily die is really easy to decoupage too as it has guidelines of where to cut, and you know me, I do love a bit of decoupage! 😊

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these projects. Can't wait to see what you make! 

T.T. F N

Adele

xx

Playtime with Imagination Crafts

Hello peeps! 

Well, what lucky Inkoids we are! We were so excited to get the chance to play with crafty goodies from Imagination Crafts! 😊😃 I do love mixing it up a bit with mixed media! The team have been able to play with the absolutely gorgeous Starlight paints! These are super sparkly folks! 😎 And, alongside the stencils, structure paste, gilding wax and glitter mediums you can really go all out for texture and technique! 

This creation was structure paste through a selection of the stencils, each drying in turn before applying the next. Elements were added, it was then painted with black gesso and rubbed over with the white pearl wax. For the shows we were also working with Sheena's Threader stamps, Beautiful butterflies and Blooming Brilliant. I stamped and embossed with black and then painted them with the paints, decoupaging the larger flowers. I used the uplifting sentiment as a focal point which I could then apply the glitter medium too. 

Thought I'd share with you the base I began work on before adding everything, so you can see how the layers were built. Stencils, with structure paste, wooden elements adhered with structure paste, a few die cut cogs and a key and lock from Sara Davies. String to add more interest and texture, and I also wanted to hang keys from this, I was later able to apply white pearl wax to this too once it was painted black. 

I'm a big believer in recycling and I think most crafty peeps are. So this is an upcycled old wooden box lid. Again, I was able to use several of the stencils to create this composition, it takes longer, waiting for each layer to dry, but it is definitely worth the wait and allows you to do so much more with them. 😊 I then painted it with the Starlights, and I think you can tell from the photos how shiny they are. For highlights on the pocket watch and cogs, I applied gold glitter medium with the brush. Extra spots and markings were also added to the butterfly.

Rice papers were combined with the stencils and texture paste for this project. The centre is a canvas sheet with the stencilled images, then shaped to look distressed. As this board was flat I tied strings from it so it could be hung, this also allowed me to adorn it with charms to add to the vintage feel. Sheena's stamps were again used to compliment the Imagination Crafts designs. 

The rice papers are lovely for creating a pretty notebook, which would be a perfect gift for someone.

And if you have a gift to give, you need a gift bag right? Here, I stencilled through with the paint first, then once dry, applied gold glitter medium through the text stencil. The rose image was then mounted on gold card and on to the front of the bag, with added charms and ribbons. 

I loved playing with these products and you will too! So much you can do with them. 😊Now what will you make?? 

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

Furry companions -Cats & Dogs with Sheena Douglass

Hello crafters and animal lovers!

A few months ago Sheena held a competition for fans, to send in photographs of their much loved pets, that could then be immortalized in vulcanized rubber forever. It was such a lovely thing and it was wonderful to see all the furry friends of our crafty friends. The votes were counted and we found our winners and here they are...

I have a neighbour with a beautiful snowshoe cat called Oscar and this just reminds me of him, so painted it with the appropriate colouring. And, as all cat owners will know, (my cat could stare for Britain at the Olympics!) they always have their beady eye on us! So, I created a background to suggest this and complement the sentiments, they have to keep a watch on us to make sure we are behaving to their liking. This gorgeous cat was an addition to the winners that were chosen.

Our fourth place winner was this very relaxed kitty just taking a break...

This beautiful cat, Tommo, won third place and these humorous sentiments remind us of our place in their world, beneath them. lol  I swear, my cat thinks it's her house and she just allows me to live in it because I provide food and cuddles! 😂

Here is another with the lovely Tommo as a model, for this one I wanted to capture the playful nature of cats with an interactive card. 

Our runner up was this adorable pooch! What a sweetheart! I painted him into a scene and made an aged paper background with paw prints. 

And the winner of the competition was this beautiful West Highland Terrier. How could he not melt your heart? For all of these samples I used Aquatints pens and white gesso for furry highlights.

Also it wouldn't be a collection without Sheena's Willow. 😊

And here is another, combining two images from the collection.

It was wonderful to work with these images and bring to life our furry companions. These are stamps that will me a must for any animal lover.

Craft hugs until next time

Adele

xx

Deck the Halls with Sheena Douglass

Greetings crafters!

In July we were still in the festive spirit at Sheena HQ as we launched Deck the Halls! This is a perfect partner collection, so the dies and stamps match exactly. I adore this collection! 

As you can see, there are beautiful blooms, ornate corners and tiny baubles. I decided to hang them from the fancy corners as they are the perfect size! Along side these stamps and dies are also other foliage, and that is always a good thing, so many uses. 

It wouldn't be Christmas without poinsettias and and Sheena has provided a corner, an edgeable and individual bracts for you to play with. For this card I also wanted to go full on decoration to signify the richness of Christmas and all the trimmings.

I love snowflakes and always like to make seasonal cards with them, so was happy to see another edgeable in the collection, as well as individual snowflakes. I love these sentiments too. 

The Queen of Messy Crafting also brought us a snowflake corner, which I turned into one giant snowflake for this creation. 

I was feeling truly Christmassy after working on this collection and can't wait to make cards for friends and family with this beautiful set of perfect partners. 😊

Back with more crafty goings on later. 

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

A Little bit Festive Churches with Sheena Douglass

Hello again peeps!

Well, as most of you already know, Christmas starts early for us crafters! June saw the launch of Sheena's new A Little Bit Festive stamps, and for this collection the theme was churches! But just for Christmas!? I hear you cry! No, these Churches are perfect for all year round as you will see, so weddings and Christenings and more... it's all good, lots of possibilites!  😊

I just had to do a diorama as the stamps called out for it. So here is a little village scene and who doesn't love a postbox at Christmas? I also incorporated some older landscape stamps from a previous release of Sheena's.

For this creation I combined the arched pathway with Sheena's brick stencil and ivy die.

I love stained glass and after painting this image, I clear embossed the window panels. the background was designed with another older stamp. 

On a winter's night...

I adore this postbox and felt compelled to go vintage with this one. I made it as if it were a postcard and then used Sheena's Christmas postcard stamp as a background. 

Now for something non Christmas...how about a summer wedding? Again used in conjunction with some previous Sheena stamps.

And here is an uplifting message.... 

I really loved working with these churches and I'm sure you will too, I think they should be a staple of your craft stash! 

T.T.F.N

Adele

xx

Fairies and Unicorns with Donna Ratcliff

Hello out there!

In May Donna invited us back into fairyland! Some of us never left! 😉As well as the wee folk we were also joined by unicorns, so this collection was right on trend! I loved working with these images and I think we all need a little bit of magic and fantasy in our lives don't we.

They came with some wonderful sentiments too.

Night falls for the unicorns...

And the fairies weave their night time magic! 

As the sun rises, another day begins in the fairy realms..

And welcome to the fairy village! I decided I wanted to do a triptych of the new images, as this would allow me to create a real scene, whilst also combining some of the stamps from Donna's first fairy collection, they work so perfectly together. I really wanted to keep this! lol, it took a great deal of time to make and it felt like my baby! 

Close up details of each panel...

After the sun has set once more, the hares play by the light of the moon.

I'm sure it will not be long before I venture back to see what the fairies are up to! You never know where their magic will take you! 

Crafty hugs and fairy wishes!

Adele

xx

Sheena word dies - projects for Die Cutting essentials

Hello fellow crafters!

I thought I would also share a little post with more Sheena word dies. I was very honoured to be asked to create some more projects with them for Die Cutting Essentials - issue 39. I really enjoyed making these and it was super exciting to see them in print. 😄😊

So, what will you do with your word dies? 

Crafty hugs

Adele

xx

Sheena word dies and stamps

Hello lovely peeps!

Back in May Sheena launched a brand new range of word dies, these follow on from her Christmas word dies and can be used for any occasion. They were also accompanied by matching stamps and image dies. You can really create some positive messages with this collection.

This Z fold card was created with sparkle pens and the Crafter's Companion metallic markers.

This is a glycerine and sparkle pen background. The dies also have an outer edge die, so they are great for shadowing and more, I was able to give the clouds a silver lining. 

For this card I just used the stamps from the collection.

A creation with the metallic markers.

A sparkle pen background with metallic markers.

I used Sheena's 60's circles stencil for this background and applied the metallic markers. 

There is no end to what you can do with these! I know you will have fun with them too! 😊

Back soon with more crafty makes.

Adele

xx