Perfect Partners Scenic Winter Shows on Hochanda TODAY! Starting at 10am

Morning my crafting friends today our Sheena is on Hochanda starting from 10am showcasing her new and wonderful Perfect Partners Scenic Winter, these have been such a joy to work with. Rather than just comment on one I thought I would show you a few others I have made, if you want instructions on how they were done then please do not hesitate to ask and include your e-mail and I will get back to you.

All the backgrounds have been done with Aquatints and all the stamped images and dies have been coloured with Aquablend pencils.

A nice simple card

Want something special, great Christmas Wedding card

Beautiful Christmas Easel card

Lovely reflection

Not all for Christmas, another Wedding card

Do try and view at least one of the shows so that you may see all the stunning creations by the rest of the Design Team.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

Christmas Samples

Hello my crafting friends time to hopefully inspire you with another card and a gift box I made for the forthcoming shows with our Sheena Douglass on Hochanda tomorrow at 10am,1pm & 5pm.

I made this gift box to show all four of the new larger dies in Sheena Douglass Scenic Winter Collection, the Robin, The Rose, The Stag and of course The Snowdrops. These were all coloured using Spectrum Noir AquaBlend Pencils.

For the base I coloured Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card with Tim Holtz Distress Inks Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky then stamped on top some Snowflakes from Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Scenic Ornate Snowflake, again using the same distress inks, then putting Blue Glitter Glue over the top of the ones that were showing around each die. The lid was just decorated with the Snowflakes. The finished box measured 6"X 6". I allowed a 1" fold over the edge of each side.

This was a small tunnel card showing Sheena Douglass Scenic Winter Christmas Trees and Sheena Douglass Scenic Winter The Stag. To make the card I had my base which I coloured in the sky using Spectrum Noir Aquatints Bright & Beautiful.  Then I had my center card which I stamped on the trees, coloured it in with Spectrum Noir Aquablend Pencils then cut it down at the top hill and just above the top of the trees, the my front card was using the Stag die. This again was coloured in with Aquablend Pencils.

To fix them together I got two pieced of card and  folded it like a fan to make the concertina sides, make sure you really crease these so it does stand out. I attached one to the left side of my base card and one to the right side. I then attached the middle section on the middle fold of the concertina and finally the stag at the front.  You can make these tunnel cards a lot deeper by making the concertina a lot longer, I only wanted the three scenes for this one. I love the 3D look this gives a card. Of course this lends itself to a 6" X 6" card but you can make them bigger with these by placing this on top of an 8" X 8" card and just decorating  round the edge or stamping a sentiment around the edge.

I do hope you can tune in to one of the shows to view all the beautiful samples by the Design team and to watch some fabulous demos from our Sheena.

Thank you for looking,  Jacquie xxx

Christmas Snowdrops

Hello my crafting friends, the time has come again for our Sheena to grace our screens, on Thursday she has shows showing her wonderful Perfect Partner Victorian Flowers again on Hochanda 25th August at 10am, 3pm & 6pm, then on Friday 26th we have the most wonderful Perfect Partners Scenic Winter dies & stamps the shows are on Hochanda at 
26th August 10am, 1pm & 5pm
27th August 1pm & 5pm
28th August 11am & 3pm I hope you can view at least one of the shows to the see the Design team beautiful samples.

I did not do any of the samples for the Victorian flowers but I did do some for the Scenic Winter

 one inch flap either side.

I first took two sheets of Black Card and scored in two inches from each end then at one inch from each end, this gave me two folds either end of both cards both measuring one inch.  The second  fold goes back away from you the first fold comes forward, make sure you get a good crease on both of these folds, 

With one of the sheets of card I placed my Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Scenic Winter Christmas Snowdrops in the center and die cut it out and then embossed it. This left the beautiful open card at the front with the beautiful snowdrops in the corner. I rubbed Pebeo Gilding Wax over the embossed areas using just the Silver for the snowdrops and the two Golds for the leaves.

For the back of the base I cut a piece of Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card to size and stamped the beautiful Sheena Douglass Perfect partner Scenic Winter Snowdrop Cottage scene, I painted over it with Pebeo Drawing Gum then painted the sky using Spectrum Noir Aquatints Pastels Pink, Blue & Yellow. Once that was dry I rubbed off the drawing gum and coloured in the scene with Spectrum Noir AquaBlend Pencils. I then die cut the little snowdrops from Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Scenic Winter Snowdrop Cluster, coloured them with Aquablend Pencils then attached them over the ones in the scene. These make the image that little 3D, you don't have to attach them you can leave the card flat if you wish but it does add to the whole image. I attached this to the center of the second sheet of Black card (inbetween the two second score lines either end of the card) to form the backdrop.

Now to put the card together. The first fold is the one at the end of each card, it is this fold on either end that you glue with the first fold on the second sheet so you have the two one inch flaps either end. With the two second folds on either end going away from you, you should have formed a box. I hope this makes sense silly me did not take a photo of the sides so you could see!!! I hope you can see from the image looking straight at it the second fold goes in to form the sides of the box where the first fold sticks out to form the flaps at the sides. If you can imagine the second sheet at the back would be turned over to face the first one (before you attach the stamped image). Oh dear I hope I have not confused you? I think it is called a Diarama card so maybe the instructions will be on the internet.

Once it is glued together you can then embellish it as much as you like, I left it as it was as I did not wish to take the eye away from the gilded corner.

I have found some for you...http://beccysplace.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/technique-class-diorama-cards.html

http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/techniques-tutorials-tips-plus-super.html

and a you tube one...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13wTYxnec4s    I hope these may help.

Thank you for looking Jacquie xxx

Christmas Canvas

Hello crafters, cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted, my apologies but I have been a very busy bee lol!

Today I have something a little different for you in the way of a Christmas Canvas. I made this with all Sheena Douglass goodies along with some Pebeo Prism Fantasy paints, these were recently aired on Hochanda in the mixed media shows, they really are beautiful and create these wonderful patterns when dry.

I started with a plain canvas, painted it with White Gesso then added a couple of sheets of kitchen towel for texture and a few beads here and there and painting over this again with White Gesso to stick it down then left to dry. Don't forget to paint the sides too!

Whilst waiting for the canvas to dry I die cut some Holly leaves, Ivy and Poinsettias and coloured them in with Aquatints and Aquablend pencils. When dry I stamped over the Poinsettias with the matching stamps using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I also die cut some Christmas Baubles. With the baubles I spread out some of the Pebeo Prism Fantasy paints in each one, the Red & Turquoise I added a bit of Gold into the colours but left the Purple as it was, I put these aside and left to dry overnight. You have to leave this paint to dry at least 6 hours so it is better to leave it overnight but its amazing to watch it dry and see the patterns form, who said time is like watching paint dry? Or something like that lol! You can see more of the wonderful pattern in the Red one.

Once the canvas was dry I painted it with Aquatints Bright & Beautiful but decided it was far to bright with what I wanted so I painted over that with watered down White Acrylic paint to diffuse the colours. When this was dry I took the Pebeo relief gilding paste and drew some small circles and trails of dots over the board, and glued down some string to attach the baubles to. I also added a few small drops in the center of the Poinsettias and once dry rubbed Gold foil over them. When the Pebeo paste was dry I filled in the circles with Pebeo Prism Fantasy paints Gold & Turquoise and rubbed Gold foils over the dots, edges of the circles, string and edges of the kitchen towel, anywhere you want it to go really to add a bit of shine.

I placed the holly leaves, Ivy and Poinsettias on the board deciding the best place to put them before attaching them with glue. The next day I added some gilding wax to the edge of the baubles before gluing them into their positions. I added more gilding wax around the canvas and on the edges and corners.

There you have the finished canvas. Quite pretty I think and very colourful, just great for Christmas.

Items Used:

Pebeo Prism Fantasy paint (various colours)

Pebeo Relief Gilding Paste

Pebeo Foils Gold

Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Festive Fancies Festive Ivy & Christmas Ivy

Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Festive Fancies Hollies & Berries & Holly Jolly Christmas

Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Festive Fancies Pionsettia & Perfect Poinsttia

Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Festive Fancies Festive Baubles &Deck the Halls

Tim Holtz Distress Inks Abandoned Coral & Victorian Velvet

Spectrum Noir Aquatints

Spectrum Noir Aquablend Pencils

Small Canvas Board & Easel

Kitchen Towel

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx

A little Bird Told me ...

Hello my crafting friends, are you in for a treat over the next few weeks. As members of Sheena Douglass Design Team we have started doing inspiration posts on the Ink-ettes page (Facebook), these show how you can use different sets of stamps of Sheena's to make one image, you don't have to use just one particular set of stamps, old and new mixed together work just great. These posts will be every Monday & Thursday, our lovely Donna has set up a rota for us all and today is my turn.

This is a card I did for a work colleague who has now gone on Maternity Leave.

I started by stamping twice the Seasons Branches on the left hand side then I stamped the Bird's Nest from Perfect partners Bird's of a Feather down in the bottom right corner and painted over this with Drawing Gum. Once dry I stamped over the top with both of the branches from Little Bit Oriental Sakura until I was happy with the result.

I die cut the Bird from Little Bird  and coloured him in with Aqua-blend pencils then put to one side. I removed the drawing gum and coloured in the nest.

Using more of the Aqua-blend Pencils I coloured in the blossom and branches and inked round the edge of the card with Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks. I attached the bird to the top branch of the Oriental Blossom and stamped the sentiment from Perfect Partner Birds of a feather Stamps just above the bird.

I matted and layered the card up onto some Pink Satin Card then the White base card. I inked up a small piece of card the same colours of DI and matted this onto a small piece of the Pink Satin card and wrote a sentiment on top, I placed this in the bottom left corner and there is the finished card.

Items used:

Sheena Douglass Little Bit Sketchy Seasons Branches

Sheena Douglass Little Bit Oriental Sakura

Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Birds of a Feather Stamp & Little Bird Die

Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card
Pebeo Drawing Gum

Crafters Companion Spectrum Noir Aqua-blend Pencils Naturals, Primaries & Floral

Tim Holtz Distress Inks Tattered Rose & Victorian Velvet

Create & Craft Pink Satin Card

The next inspiration post next Monday 8th August goes to Jenny Shepherd her blog is:  - http://jensinkyadventures.blogspot.co.uk     I do hope you can pop along and view her wonderful creation.

Thank you for looking, Jacquie xxx