Sheena Douglass - Back in the Room

Hello Readers! Once again the amazing Sheena Douglass is on our TV screens demonstrating her little socks off. Tune in at 11:00 and 18:00 to see her on Create and Craft TV, Sky 671. There are some NEW products on these shows. Sadly not new stamps this time but some essential (hint hint) new H₂O paints and a popular type of crafting card (may have got my spelling a little wrong with that one!) 'The clues are there!' Of course you will be able to buy the featured stamps to add to your collection if you don't already have them!

With the launch in mind I was tasked with making a few samples for the show, which was harder than you might think for me this time. I had originally said that I was too busy to help what with it being Birthday week for several family members, but then I got itchy fingers and made some anyway!! It was a quick turn around, but that is what made it exciting. It was lucky for me that Sheena was doing a workshop locally so I was able to hand them over in person saving the postman the trouble of lugging the haul up to Douglass Towers!

Better show you a few of the cards I made then I suppose, it is very easy for me to get carried away with the back story and completely forget why I am here!!

This first one features stamps from the 'Happiness' plate, the extremely versatile crackle from the Ageing Beautifully plate, Wine + Roses H₂O, a little Tim Holtz distressing ink Antique Linen if I remember correctly, and a touch of Gilding Wax. I painted the dove (Hobbycraft, fabric covered wood) with the H₂O and gilded the edges. I 'pulled' some of the colour off the card in the area of the window to make it lighter simply by wetting and blotting the paint. This has the effect of bleaching without the smelliness! For the glass in the window I simply sanded a bit of thick acetate (probably cut from packaging - never waste a thing!) to give the look of aged glass.

This next one uses some of the new Silks paint, in my favourite colour Bolivian Blue teamed with the luscious Olive Vine. I painted a border using the Olive Vine on the black base card making sure it was just slightly bigger than the next layer which was the same type of black card stamped with the Bolivian Blue using the linen stamp from the Ageing Beautifully plate. I love the way the Silks work as a stamping medium. I then took the Destinations stamp and stamped onto some Neenah card using black StazOn and water coloured the elements with H₂Os in the same colours as the Silks. A bit of fussy cutting held on with silicone glue and there we have it. The shimmer of the Silks and thes is lovely. 

Then just because I had the idea in my head I simply had to do a mono-chromatic card. I wanted to do a black and white water colour thing, sticking to just the black, but something made me add the Sunflower H₂O coloured bits to the street lamp and windows! I used the linen stamp again to make the background and added some lovely yellow ribbon. The sentiment from the same plate was added using Silicone Gel glue.

All in all a varied selection of cards. I hope you enjoy watching the shows tomorrow. I know I will be sitting comfortably with my cuppa, feet up and 'phone off the hook!

If you have any questions for me or Sheena feel free to get in touch. 

Cheery bye for now! Kim xx

LAVINIA CHALLENGE - #9 - BRIGHT HOT COLOURS

Ok, just scraping in by the skin of my teeth! What does that mean anyway? I feel the need to do some 'Google-ing' now!!

This month (and for the next few days only!) on the Lavinia Challenge blog the theme is Bright Hot Colours. Bit of luck really as I have a fan-tab-u-lous new set of paints from LuminArte called SILKS. They have been available in the States for some time now but thanks to me being an Inkoid I was lucky enough to get my inky mits on some purely for research purposes prior to their official launch recently. Hah! Who am I kidding? I played like a child with these paints, they are wonderful!! Sploshing the wonderfully named Spicy Tomato all over the place and getting Ginger Peach under my fingernails!!

I also recently won a Lavinia challenge and the prize for this was a free shopping voucher to spend within the Lavinia Shop. As I didn't own any Faerie stamps I used this opportunity to get some and I felt it appropriate to use one of my new stamps in the challenge for this month. 

So here we have it, all bright and hot. Why not pop over to the Challenge blog and check out all the lovely DT examples and the entries?  If you have any Lavinia stamps then have a go yourself.

Need to dash, 'you-know-what' is nearly upon us and I need to make some appropriate cards for the occasion.

Take care! Kim x

TWINCHIE CHALLENGE #9 - SILHOUETTES

Morning! Well, actually it is no longer Morning, but I did start this challenge in the morning so that is why I said 'Morining!'

We have a new theme for the Twinchies Challenge blog this time of SILHOUETTES. Now I am not one to miss a challenge on the Twinchies blog but I have been, and continue to be, VERY busy at the moment. Not just in the crafty world but also at home. 

This is therefore a flying visit and a very 'bland' Twinchie from me this time. No fancy 3D stuff, I simply have not had the time.

The background is painted with those lovely NEW Luminarte Silk paints that Sheena Douglass launched the other week on Create and Craft TV. Me being a frugal crafter (do you know a crafter that isn't that way inclined?) I 'painted' my brush clean on a scrap of card before rinsing it in water. Now that is tight I know but why make your water a nasty muddy colour and pour it down the drain when you can make a plain piece of white card all beautiful? 

Here we are then, the Silhouette Twinchie. 

I say it every time, but why not have a go yourself? Pop over to the blog and check out all the lovely entries and the DT examples. Be inspired!

Busy, busy, busy, must dash! Take care my Lovelies! Kim xxx

MOO MANIA #49 - TOOLS - WERKZEUG

Hurrah! It is Moo-Day. Yes, I know it is Wednesday, but in my world it is Moo-Day. Only comes round once a fortnight and each time it comes round I get all excited!

This time on the challenge, which you can find HERE, the theme is tools. I don't own any stamps with hammers, screwdrivers, pliers etc. on so I found a stamp that shows MY tools, well some of them at least!! For those that are keen stampers you might recognise the image. 

I didn't finish it in day light so I had to use the flash on my camera so not the best picture. Once again I have added some dimension by making the brushes and pot 3D. It doesn't show too well on this shot. 

Anyway, time to get on with some important sample making, (that is a hint by the way!) so I will love you and leave you.

Thanks for dropping by, if you have time please leave a comment, it is nice to hear from you.

Kim xxx

Today is the Day - New Stamp Launch - Sheena Douglass

Hello followers and visitors! You should already know about the launch today of some new, really beautiful stamps from Sheena Douglass on Create and Craft TV at 2pm. 

They are all about the coast. They come in the group 'A Little bit Scenic' and feature a whole plate of stamps of shells. When I received my stamps from Sheena a week ago to create the show samples I was a bit nervous about the timing, I like to 'get to know' my products well before making anything; you know, playing around with their shapes, using different colours, different mediums, different papers, etc. but this time it was quite literally TIME that I didn't have! So I dove (or is it dived?) straight in. 

The time spent cutting the stamps out from the plate was used as thinking time, designing in my head, but the more I cut the more excited I became about getting on with the sample making! These stamps are awesome!!

 'Sheena you've done it again!'

So here is a card that I made using only the stamps from the Shells plate. If I had had the time I would have made a box, a shadow box, rather like a museum tray in black with a different shell in each section, but there was no time, so I made a card representation of this idea. Using black card as the base I stamped each shell, or a group of the smaller ones, onto some grey card in jet black ink. Just look at how crisp these stamps are! I then added a shadow line and some shading to each shell with ProMarker, I think I used Pastel Beige. I am really pleased with the simplicity and 'cleanness' (does that really have 2 'n's!?!) of the finished card.

You know the phrase 'A bad workman always blames his tools'? Well, the exact opposite is true as far as using Sheena Douglass products are concerned. It is because we have such brilliant tools that us Inkoids are able to produce samples of the standard and quality we do. I would like to bring in the phrase 'A good crafter always thanks the tool maker' for without the right tools the job is never going to be right!  'Thank you Sheena!'

So, tune in today at 2pm with your favourite beverage and nibble ready, to watch Sheena weave her magic, pick up a few tips along the way and be inspired!

Happy crafting!  Always pleased to get your feedback.

Kim xx

Time for another Sneaky Peek - New Sheena Stamps!

BREAKING NEWS FRIDAY 2PM 

(That is what happens when you pre-blog!!)

 Firstly, I don't have any news to share yet about ShowTimes but hopefully I will know soon. Keep an eye out for the updated schedule at C&C. I can tell you that it will be a brilliant show. No, I am not able to see into the future, I just know that with these stamps and the LuminArte Silks are going to fly out of the warehouse!! 

Here is my sample for today, it is in complete contrast to the bright shimmering orange card I showed you in my last post, but this just goes to show how versatile the Sheena Douglass products are.

For this card I used Tim Holtz distress inks, Peeled Paint, Dusty Concord and Broken China on some earthy, rustic paper and card. I love using bits of card and paper that I have rescued from packaging and the pale brown card on which I stamped the sentiment and the main shell come from a Volvo car brochure! The back piece is ribbed craft card, probably from Hobbycraft, and the main body of the card is some heavy weight burgundy paper I found in a clearance bin at Paperchase many years ago. I can't resist a bargain especially when it comes to paper!

Taking this range of new Sheena stamps as a whole I am getting a holiday feeling and with that in mind I remembered I had this natty little punch. It is reminiscent of old photo albums. It takes a wee while to get the measurements right but it provides a fantastic way of putting the layers together.

So there it is, sneaky peek number 2. I'm going to hit 'publish' now so you technically got two peeks today. Tomorrow I have a craft room to tidy and I want to get it sorted ready for some Christmas crafting.

Check out the other Inkoid samples on their blogs, link via HERE.

Great that you dropped by, if you have any questions please feel free to ask me. 

Happy crafting! Kim xxx

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside! New Sheena Douglass Stamps.

Yep, Sheena is launching another set of stamps this weekend on Create & Craft TV.  Me and the other Inkoids have been having a fantastic time trialing the stamps and also a wonderful new range of paints from LuminArte. It is a hard life but somebody has to do it!

I will dive straight in and show you one of my samples, it features the new paint and a couple of the images from one of the stamp plates.

I really like the combination of orange and black, always have done. The colour that I have used is Ginger Peach, it is a goldfish orange and it shines so much because of the mica and other minerals in it. The paint can be used on a variety of surfaces and cleans up with soap and water.  I have used one of the embossing folders from the Oriental range to create a watery background to show off these lovely shells.

So what about that shine? Normally when taking a photo I try to avoid the glare from my light but this paint simply won't let that happen! It just shines and shines and shines!! 

As usual Sheena has done a fantastic job drawing these beautiful images and giving us such fabulous stamps to work with. Wait till you see the other coastal related images, they are wonderful, and so versatile!

Pop over to the other Inkoid blogs to see some of their samples, find their links HERE.

Come back soon to see another one of my samples and get more information about show times.

Happy crafting! Kim x

MOO MANIA #48 - HANDS

Quick Moo while I was waiting for a parcel to arrive (which still hasn't by the way!)

HANDS is the theme this time at MOO MANIA and I have used a part of a much larger stamp depicting God reaching out to Adam by Michelangelo.

Coloured with sprayed inks in vibrant magenta, cyan and yellow (why has poor old yellow been left with such a simple name?), cut out and 3D mounted onto a base of the same colours but switched round to give contrast.

Iconic image and perfect for this challenge.

Why not pop over to the blog and check out the other entries and the DT samples. Have a go yourself. It will only take a few minutes as it is such a tiny little thing but so very satisfying.

Comments are very welcome. Happy Moo-ing Kim xxxxx

SAD and HAPPY at the same time - FUN WITH ATCs CHALLENGE #100

I was quite sad to read that this challenge from Fun with ATCs is to be the last. I have only been taking part for the last 10 or so and really looked forward to them. 

Anyway, my mind started to think about their brief for this 100th challenge which oddly enough was the number 100. Instantly I thought of 100 ATCs and then realised that was a big ask. With another special project on the go with a deadline of next week I felt that was pushing my limits a bit. I then thought I would look back at the ATCs I had done and that was when it struck me.

Teeny tiny weeny ATCs! Even better, replicas of the ones I had made for the challenge!

Oh My Goodness was this a fun challenge! And I think it worked! 

I couldn't fit them all on so I started with #95. Check back on my blog to see the full size ATCs for these challenges, but here is a shot of them together with this 100th ATC which shows just how small the replicas are!

It was fun doing this ATC and doing the challenges! I will miss you 'Fun with ATCs'. 

Check out the other entries and the great inspirational ATCs from the DT.

As always it is great to read your comments.

Happy crafting! Kim xx

Fabulous NEW Stamps - Cheering me up a bit!

Been a bit off colour these last few days. Sitting looking at my craft desk and not much happening in the way of inspiration. Kept fiddling with things, trying to tidy up, having a tinker with Twinchies, but nothing 'HUGE' was happening in my head.

Then I remembered I had some new stamps arrive the other week from London. London ONTARIO that is. I had opened the packet, given them a quick trial stamp and them promptly lost my mojo!!!

With a big NEED to do something crafty running around in my head I cleared the decks, placed the stamps, black ink and white paper firmly in front of me and told myself I WAS going to make something!!

First I just stamped the images using black ink on white card. When I saw all these black on white images I felt the urge to do some 'colouring in'. Always good for the soul, who doesn't feel calmer, happier, and comforted when they do some colouring in? I used H₂Os - Wine & Roses and Ginger Peach for the leaves which led on to the creation of the background which was those 2 colours plus Sunflower and Hot Cinnamon. I used the droplets stamp to a little more interest to the background stamping in a red ink.

Having coloured all the leaves in I decided to cut them out and it was during this process that I decided to make a flower out of them. It has a sort of poinsettia look about it don't you think? I am still not sure if I should add something; a sentiment somewhere or a single leaf. I will just wait and see what happens. With my mojo being on some sort of sabbatical I think I might wait till it returns before making any hasty decisions.

If you like the stamp why not pop over to the web site Designs by Ryn and take a look at the other fantastic stamps there are. FYI HERE is the one I used for this card.

Hope to be back soon with more makes - mojo willing! 

Kim xx

TWINCHIES GALORE! Bling, Animals, Animals with bling - all rolled into one blog post!

So, call me lazy if you like but I wanted to get these beauties in a blog as soon as possible because very soon I shall be working my little fingers to the bone on a new project which will need my full attention and time.

By the way, did you know it is only 51 days give or take a few hours, until Christmas? Check here for current status. You can see now why I shall be busy!!

The challenges in the Twinchie world this time are ANIMALS for the Twinchie Challenge and ANYTHING GOES plus BLING for the Show us your Twinchies.

I started the Bling challenge with a particular stamp in mind, the lovely bee from the Sheena Douglass stamp set Floral Fantasy Violets. It looks like a jewellers plan for a gem encrusted brooch. I wanted to use a combination of colours that I like but haven't used for a while, purple and lime green. 

In the end with this Twinchie I didn't think I had really embraced the bling enough, so I have simply made this for my own library of Twinchies. Mind you, the shine on the black embossing and the reflectivity of the mica in the H₂O paint is quite good.

This led me on to the next version of the bee, this time I went all out with the faux gems! It isn't really my thing to use this many gems on a piece but hey that is what the brief wants so here it is!

Show us your Twinchie - Anything Goes + Bling

I don't have many green or purple gems so I had to use a different colour combo. This time I used gold embossing powder to give the look I described earlier of a real piece of jewellery. (I still prefer the purple/green one!)

And then there is the final Twinchie I made which is for the Animal challenge. I used one of the free Craft Stamper magazine stamps of the boxing hares. Somebody needs to tell me if the Twinchies came first or did the size of their free stamps launch the whole Twinchie thing? I did my usual moon and dimensional thing on this one. It is nice to be able to use up those little scraps of card that have interesting designs and colours on them. I used a little circle punch for the moon. I was amazed to find one that was exactly the right size! I stamped the moon part of the image again onto another part of the paper so that is was a different colour from the background. 

Twinchie Challenge - #8 Go Animal

That is all for today my lovelies! I need to get my work space cleared down for some serious work next week. Don't expect to see me for a while as I will be VERY busy!

Pop along to the Twinchie blogs and see the other wonderful entries and be inspired by the DT samples. Have a go yourself, you will be amazed at how much pleasure you get from making little pieces of art.

Thanks for dropping in, please leave a comment, I love reading them.

Have a great November! Kim xx