Sheena Douglas One Day Wonder 11th December

Well good evening you crafty lot!!,

  and do I have some FABULOUS news for you! well..... fabulous for me too! so last week, I spoke to the OMG amazinglytalented draw dropping sensation that is the one and only....drum roll please SHEENA DOUGLAS!!! .........................................................................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................( me being speechless!...ANY one who knows me...knows this DOESN'T happen!)

I haven't been that excited in a long time, and was smiling like a Cheshire cat for the rest of the afternoon!

 Sheena has a fabulous one day wonder this week, 11th December on Create and Craft with some totally amazing new products, stamps and stencils, and I was asked if I would like to hang out with the brilliant "Inkoids" and help with some samples! err YES please! Now these girls on this DT turn out some amazing work, if you have Sheena's products then you know the quality, just beautiful beautiful! so the pressure was on!!

 I'm a newbie to using stencils,  I have to say my first try was using some of Sheena's last stencils released and they are on my blog I LOVED working with them, and that's when I got the bug , I cant wait to get inking stamping, and digging deep into the pot of working with mixed media! but its a learning curve, right!? part of the fun, and if I can learn it then anyone can, so, I will stop waffling and share with you a sneaky peek of the gorgeous new products that will be winging there way to you...

be gentle with me guys , remember I'm learning lol, so here i have used a new stamp with Red Riding hood on! , the most fabulous tree stamp, and 3 of the new stencils being launched, that depict, landscapes, trees and  clouds...AMAZING! The top one I used the tree stamp, to stamp at different angles around my image, popped the image of Red in the centre, coloured up with my spectrum noir pens and then added lashings of distress inks to create some spooky atmosphere! I have to say you wouldn't catch me walking through there! and number 2, well..... this was a work in progress as it was my first time using a stencil to create a landscape... well any landscape actually lol, i thought i had lost it at one point and it nearly headed in the bin! but i ploughed through and persevered, got covered in more ink ( was fab!)  and kept working it! I had the best couple of hours ! honestly i kept thinking what i hear Sheena say on telly...its just a piece of card! it can be quite scary when your throwing lots of colours at it, but it was great fun! This one i coloured in Aquatints and then used distress inks to define my landscape.

now for a SPLASH OF COLOUR!

Here i have used the most luscious of lush colours!! Aquatints Bright and Beautiful!....and they are definitely that!, there was a stamp of just two Wolf eyes, and i just loved it, didn't want to use anything else, just that and my Aquatints, 

Simply by wetting some watercolour colour card then adding droplets of juicy colours i created the most amazing background

a touch of gold frantage to the corners, and using one of Sheena's sentiments that come with the stamp...voila! quick, simple and FUN!

right, the shows! Create and Craft 11th of December, show times 8am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm

get yourself a lovely cuppa and get your feet up ready, and watch Sheena bring you some dazzling new products! 

I will be showing the rest of my samples tomorrow! the Highland Cow is just superb!!!

thank you for dropping by!! would love to now what you think!

Crafty hugs

Nicole 

xxx

Aqua Tint Samples For Crafters Companion

Good evening crafters!! well ....a few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of receiving a set of the totally FABULOUS Aquatints from Crafters Companion to make some samples!! I was soooooooo excited!! Some fabulous Sheena Douglas stencils too and a lovely little pot of Drawing Gum, Well you can imagine how excited I was to received this parcel! I couldn't wait to tear into it to see what goodies I had, My Aquatints were the Pastel collection...oh...my.....beautiful beautiful colours!!

Now I must admit, I love to paint and draw so I couldn't wait to try these out, but, I have never used a stencil or drawing gum before.. so i was a little aprehensive!, 

I had the BEST afternoon in such a long time, got totally covered in ink, made a lovely mess ( remember i did say i've never used a stencil!) and came up with these...

 for this first one I used my pastel aquatints, and the Sheena stencil Eiffel Tower. drawing gum and a white pen. I decided to make a couple of my samples up into calendars for a change from cards. I printed a sentiment - both on water colour card, and used my aquatints to match up with the back ground. I really cant begin to tell you how easy this medium is to use, they blend together effortlessly!

 Next up I used the stencil Beach Huts, here I used a lot more of the drawing gum, this stuffs ACE! you simply paint in on where you want the white to remain, let it dry....paint, ink or whichever you are doing then simply rub the drawing gum away! genius stuff! I then decided on a little spray of Spray and Sparkle- Pearl Diamond in the sky

 now to try something different!, Taking one of my very cute Bebunni christmas stamps, I stamped the image using a Clear Versamark ink pad, then used a white embossing powder over the top, ...blast with the heat gun, and created a white stamped image, then using my Aquatints I simply used them the same as water colour paints stright from the pots, so EASY! for the background I embossed a piece of water colour card with Embossalicious folder Vintage Holly, and simply painted on my colours which blended PERFECTLY

 for my next two...( I was enjoying using my paint brushes by now!) I chose two digi images that you can find on the Spectrum Noir DVD, a Gold fish and a lIlly, I printed both onto watercolour card  as feint as I could, so you could just make out the outline, coloured in with my Aquatints, and then taking a fine line black pen, I sketched over the top

 I love the look of these two with the pen over the top!

and finally a little wall hanging. here I used the stencil Paris Springtime. I wasnt sure where I was going with this one when I started, but I just went with it!! these colours are beautiful! A lovely sentiment that I printed out and coloured up to match the background and finally using my black fine line pen, a few sketch lines over the top.

I really can't wait to collect the rest of the sets! I neeeeeeed them all!, I was amazed by how easily I achieved such smooth blends, you guys need to trust me and treat your self to these ! oooh and it's birthday week this week over at Crafters Companion, so why not check out the fantastic deals they have!! I will be!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my post

Crafty hugs

Nicole

xxx