Behind The Mask...

...cor blimey and thrice!  Yesterday was a fab day... thank you for all the lovely emails, Tweets and messages about the shows, it is so good to know that you are liking to stashly goodies I am demo-ing with :O))  But what about the rain?  I know, terribly British of me to waffle on about the weather but my word, it was horrible driving over to the studio's... one of the main roads I go along had the biggest puddle I have ever seen... right across the carriageway, poor old Ferdy got more than his feet wet... but I got there and surprisingly enough, my hair didn't turn into the normal feathers that usually appear when it gets damp.  Anyways, enough about that... what about one of the card samples I made!  We didn't get enough time to talk through all of the samples so I thought I would share on here instead.

Using just a couple of mask and a couple of Distress Ink colours you can achieve some really cool effects, making your own background designs for custom cards and papers.  The That Special Touch masks are amongst my favourite, the designs are all really fab and they are such good quality too.  Now, many of you will know Ali Reeve and her amazing eye for technique and design, well, these masks are her babies and HERE is a linky to her blog where you can find lots of stamping and masking inspiration.  One of the main techniques I lurves is using a couple of masks together to create some cool effects.  The background on this card was made by popping the Grid mask over a piece of sand coloured card and using Old Paper Distress Ink to blend right over the top of the mask.  I then lifted that mask and popped the Floral Vines mask down and inked right over the top with Picked Raspberry DI.  See how you get the original card colour and the grid showing through the pink? I love that it draws the eye inwards so you aren't just seeing one dimension.  The card was finished with a couple of Wavy Rectangle Spellbinders and a sentiment from Everyday Expressions along with some cool Jewel Flowers and Flourishes Spellbinders, coloured with Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn DI.  A simple but pretty card.

Anyways, I shall away, I have a day of inkiness planned... but first, the dreaded tidying up of the Room of Stash.  Tis the same everytime I have shows or classes, the Room of Stash gets trashed... stuff everywhere... I did try to clear my desk yesterday before I set off so at least I have a bit of a head start, it is just the rest of the room that needs attention.  I really will never be a tidy crafter... mind you, who is (please say no-one, makes me feel better knowing it isn't just me with slatternly habits lol)   And then this evening I have a hot date with a hunky guy!  With all this busy-ness over the past few months I have been neglecting my lovely Grim, so this evening the phone is off the hook, lights are off in the Room of Stash and we are going to have a lovely meal and telly catch up, we have so many things on the Sky planner we are running out of room... like down to 23% or something silly... anyways... as ever... thanks for looking... have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x