Call of the Wild - Native American Stamps with Sheena Douglass

Hello, peeps, it's me again! Binge posting! lol

Back in October we were super excited at Sheena HQ! There was a very good reason too!  I love all of Sheena's collections but this was something close to my heart, Native American. It was like the Steampunk incident all over again, I needed Camomile tea to calm down! What a giddy kipper I was, well, so were all the team, and rightly so! This is an amazing set of dies and matching stamps.

Without further a do.. I shall introduce you to the tribe! Here is the wise and wonderful chief, as the sun sets, giving thanks to Grandfather Sun.

“Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.”
― Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief ( 1868-1939)

As we know every tribe needs a medicine person or woman, although this is not a term created by the Native Americans. This wise woman carries with her the power of Eagle medicine, a connection to great spirit which enables her to bring balance to the realm of the Earth. Here the sun rises on a new day. I made the medicine wheel to compliment this scene. 

"Native American women will lead the healing among the tribes. Inside them are the powers of love and strength given by the Moon and the Earth. When everyone else gives up, it is the women who sings the songs of strength. She is the backbone of the people. So, to our women we say, sing your songs of strength; pray for your special powers; keep our people strong; be respectful, gentle, and modest. -Village Wise Man, Lakota. " 

This is a medicine bag I made using the faux leather technique, hand stitched too. 

Here the great eagle soars into the sky..

"The voice of Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of might waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers..." Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Dakota Sioux -1876-1938) 

Grandfather Sun has risen, and the eagle brings you a message from Great Spirit, he carries with him creative forces soon to be unleashed! 

For this sample I combined it with the birds in flight from Sheena's Urban and Country stamp collection. 

. "The old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence." Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief ( 1868-1939) 

For this card, I multi cut the cactus die and then cut it into segments, working into the centre. This could also work as a Dhalia. 

Grandfather Sun has set and made way for Grandmother Moon, and the wolf meets his silver ally. The wolf seeks to teach all of Earth's children the mysteries of life, he seeks out new paths for you to follow, so, take the courage of the wolf and set out on your adventure. 

I do love this dreamcatcher, such an intricate die! 

With this creation I wanted to do something different. The Native Americans believe that all animals have souls like humans, each bird has its own spirit, and the energy of that spirit is contained within it's feathers. They are viewed as 'gifts from the sky' and when they arrive they always bring a message and a purpose. So, for this card I tried to interpret that belief and wanted it to look like they were floating and tumbling from the Heavens.

This is another more modern interpretation with the dreamcatcher on a notebook. 

So, I hope you have felt the Call of the Wild and the power of Great Spirit move through you.

Be at peace with yourself, your brothers and sisters and the world around you. 💗

Crafty hugs

xx

Vintage Circus stamps by Stacey Barras

Hello crafty peeps!

Happy New (crafty) Year!! Hope you are all well out there! Sorry it's been awhile since posting but we've been super busy at Sheena HQ with lots of lovely new things! 😊

We were also able to play with some more stamps from the lovely Stacey Barras. Seen as how I have a lot of catching up to do, I will attempt to waffle on less and just show you pretty pictures. How does that sound? Is is even possible? I wonder to myself... lol

Roll up, roll up... and enter the big top! This is a diorama I created using a range of stamps across the collection.

This one I made with Distress ink and Sparkle pens, whilst creating it, I had in mind the film, The Great Oz, the scenes in black and white before it turns to full on colour, also wanted it to look like an old postcard. 

And now for the carousel...decoupaged of course. 

Let's not forget the aerial dancer, combined here with a Stencil from Sheena's 60's range. I was really honoured when Sheena demonstrated this on Hochanda. It was decoupaged, so I cut out extra limbs for her, which led to a funny incident with Leonie, it was a limb too far apparently! 😂Too funny. It was armless fun.... I'll get my coat....

You really have a lot of stamps to create your own backgrounds too. 

And back to the big top. 

I was also very honoured and excited to be asked to work with these again for a feature in Making Cards magazine, so these are the projects I created for it. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed seeing these. I didn't too bad did I? Not too much waffle after all! 😉

Back soon.

Crafty hugs 

Adele

xx

New Pastures with Sheena's Sketchy stamps

Hello peeps!

Back in September Sheena launched a collection of new stamps to add to her Sketchy range. These are wonderful scenic views with flowers and a butterfly to help decorate your scenes. I had so much fun working on these and I know the team loved them too. All the stamps really do work so well together.

For this card I combined much of the new range. There are amazing sentiments with this set too, really positive and uplifting.

Sigh... I do adore bluebells and luckily have a bluebell wood, not too far from me, that I am able to visit to see these blooms. What can you do though if it's not the season? Make your own. For this creation I stamped the flowers several times and then cut into them to have them falling at different angles. 

I designed fancy cards and more simple ones for this launch, to show the different ways you can use them and still get a effective make. Sheena also brought us her new sparkle pens at the same time as these stamps, so we were able to create backgrounds with them as well as colour.

This Meadow Cranesbill flower is great, I went for a vintage, old botanical look with this one.

And finally... I decided I wanted to make a big wall plaque with almost everything in the collection.
It also combined perfectly with some of the stamp images from the Urban and Country set and some of Sheena's word stamps. The aim was to make it look like a board of treasured memories and favourite places. I made the scenes look like old photographs by keeping the colours subtle and then went full on colour with the flowers and butterflies to add contrast. I felt really happy with how it turned out and was so honoured when Sheena said she wanted to demo this on the shows. 😊😀and breathe!..lol.. this one felt like my baby 😉but I knew it was going to a good home.

I've seen some great things made by others with this collection and no doubt will see more. Have fun, why not mix it up with other sets and see what you can do? The possibilities are endless!

Crafty love and hugs
Adele
xx

Christmas stamps by Donna Ratcliff

Hello crafters!

I knew it wouldn't be long before we saw some more amazing creations from Donna, our chief Inkoid! This time she has turned her attention to Christmas and bought us a beautiful collection of classic and timeless images.

Firstly, I adore this gorgeous stag! It's the first card I had to make!....And we see as this beautiful creature makes his way to the top of the snowy slope and pauses to survey his surroundings, lit by a full moon, which seems to emphasize his majesty... I felt like I was channelling Attenborough whilst making this. 😉

I wanted him to be the focus, he seemed quite pagan with this holly antlers, therefore, I wanted him to look a bit magical and spiritual and thought creating a full moon, as a halo behind him, would achieve this. 😊 The background was created by flicking drops of Pebeo drawing gum on to it, to make snow later. I used a die cut circle as a mask for behind his head, I wanted a really bright moon.
Then Distress Ink was blended on to the background, paler in the centre. The stag was stamped and fussy cut. I didn't need to cut out some of the very tiny bits, around his antlers, they were white so would not show up against the moon and would blend in.  To create the glow around the moon, I removed the mask after inking, watered down clear sparkle pen and sponged it round the edge of the orb, it bleeds and becomes feathery, which is perfect. Coloured the moon with clear sparkle pen and then applied a little 3D foil glue with my fingers to add texture here and there, added the silver foil when it was dry. Rubbed away the drawing gum and positioned the stag which I coloured with Aquablend pencils.

This is another evening scene I created with the trees. I wanted to do something fairly simple for this one and a bit cleaner, so just a snowy landscape and a pretty sky, again, inspired by my love of the Northern Lights, something which I hope to see in real life one day.

Also, with this collection by Donna, comes this lovely cosy cabin. It teams up perfectly with the trees from the stamp set in the Aurora Borealis card above, so you can create a real scene. For this one I stamped the trees on the background and then stamped the house on a separate piece of card and cut it out. This is a decoupaged card but doesn't show up on the photos, it's comprised of three layers and then the decorated tree at the front is also decoupaged. There are lots of companion stamps with this set that allow you to create your own backgrounds and papers. 

Not just for cards as you can see, home decor too! 

Where would we be without a cheery little robin at Christmas? Donna has drawn us some cute little birds to play with. You can have them realistic or they also come with hats and stockings for a bit of fun. This Robin was decoupaged in the foreground as you can see they "play nicely" as Sheena would say with the other images.

I've got a soft spot for this little chappy, he's a real sweetie pie. I think he's hoping someone will throw him some crumbs whilst he's waiting for Santa to arrive. As Hayley and Sheena have just discussed on Hochanda, you've guessed it, this little bird is decoupaged! I know, shocker! lol.. He was fussy cut, shaped and placed on the background. He was stamped a second time and then I cut out his wing, the top portion is glued flat and 3D glue is placed under the middle of the wing to raise it and make it realistic. 

And now for something warm and cosy.. for these poinsettias I decided to go a bit vintage.

The moment is finally here...Santa Claus is coming to town!... He really is a lovely Father Christmas and because of the way he is drawn, he is really easy to decoupage ( not at all obsessed, actually yes I am! lol.) There is no hope...none at all... 

And finally, this is a door hanging I created with Saint Nick. I thought this would be nice to hang on a child's door, or the door of the room where the presents will be found... complete with jingle bells too! And I'll let you guess the other technique I used.. 😉

I had such fun making these and I am sure you will love playing with this collection too! So many things you can achieve with it. Can't wait to see what you make. I'm sure it won't be long before we see something else from our Donna. 

T.T.F.N peeps

Adele

xx

Christmas words with Sheena Douglass

Hello lovely crafters!

So, are you still feeling Chrismassy? I know we are having worked on such lovely stamps and dies of late. 😊 Sheena is launching her new range of Christmas dies and stamps today on Hochanda. The team have loved playing with these and have made some amazing creations! They are absolutely stunning, just wait till you see them on the telly! 😍

Some of them can be used for more than Christmas. The inspiration for this was brought to you by unicorns and rainbows! Everywhere I go I see them! There is no escape..lol..And anyway, we all need rainbows and sparkles in our life don't we... and unicorns if truth me told! 😉

Another with twinkle... a Christmas themed one, using a previous Sheena folder. 

Jingle bells, jingle bells... I love a jolly Christmas song.. I've combined Jingle with one of Sheena's previous Christmas stamp launches, the bells went perfectly with this. 

Brrr... it's getting cold out there. I love to see a pure white blanket of snow across a landscape, so used another die from my stash to help create this.

In this one I used the word itself as the focal point and just complimented it with a Distress Ink sky with foil highlights.

I adore snowflakes, so anything with them on is good with me. 😊 For this creation I wanted to use a limited colour palette and give the feeling of a blizzard and then snow melting, so gave the background a watery feel.

This one is a shaker card.

And another teamed with Sheena's previous snowflake embossing folder. 

And finally back inside to warm ourselves by candlelight.  This is Distress Ink and Aquablend pencils. 

I've really loved working with these, there is so much you can do with them. They will work perfectly with many other things from your crafty stash! So what's not to love? 😊

crafty hugs

Adele

x

Christmas concept folders and stamps with Sheena Douglass

Hello peeps!

Hope you are all well, as promised updating this post with Sheena's Christmas Retro concept folders. These innovative embossing folders work in conjunction with stamps for an amazing collaboration! How fabulous is that! This has never been done before, but as we know with Sheena, she really likes to push the crafty boundaries and develop new things for us to play with!

So we have a cute little deer which you can stamp and then emboss with your folder! Love this little sweetheart, really enjoyed making this card. 

I recall my Nan having baubles just like these on her tree, so these bring back memories.

You can go full on colour with this collection and gilding wax will also work perfectly with them. Here I also used a VersaMark pen to add embossing powder highlights and make the words stand out more. 

You can also decoupage the folders. So many ways to play with these. 

If you love all things retro, these are the crafty beauties for you! They will help bring back memories of Christmas past. 

T.T,F.N 

Adele

xx