A Magical Day!

Helloooo!  Greetings! Did you feel the warmth in that sunshine on Wednesday?  I tell you what, I actually went and laid down in the garden and soaked up the rays... it was so good to feel the heat in my old bones again... it feels like it has been the longest winter ever *I think as I get older, I find I hate the cold more and more*    Anyways, speaking of sunshine and summer and all things warm... today I have a card to show you that I actually managed to demo on the tellybox shows on Tuesday.   Meet Audrey, one of the Art Nouveau Ladies, she is, IMO, the Goddess of Summer... or Aestas to give her her proper name.  And before you think "oh she's going all clever"  I'm not, I actually know about the Roman Gods/Goddesses of the seasons from my most very favourite and beloved book from when I was a kid... it's called the Winter of Enchantment by Victoria Walker and if you ever get chance to get a copy, do it!  It is the most charming book and I read it frequently still... anyways, in the book the main character has an adventure and meets the Four Seasons... and they are all called by their Roman names... so I am not clever really... just well read 😉

So, back to the card... I stamped Audrey in clear ink and then embossed with Glass embossing powder so I immediately created a resist on the stamping card.  Next, I smooshed Avocado and Khaki Rare Earth Blending Inks (herein known as BI's) onto my craft sheet and spritzed with water, smooshed the card through the inkiness and voila, lovely resist image!  I carefully dried the ink with a heat tool - carefully because we have embossing powders here and they love to re~melt and sink into the card... so gently does it.  I then picked up more of the inkiness and dried again, then used a Dusting Brush (be still my heart, I have found new love... Dusting Brushes... what did I do before I met these little fellas?) where was I... ah, yes, Dusting Brush with Khaki ink, blend around the edge of the card to give it a nice frame.  Next I used my waterbrush to remove some of the ink from the card, let it soak a little while and then blot with kitchen roll to remove the ink.  I added Lavendar Mist ink using a waterbrush to the flowers on Audrey's image and extra Avacado ink to highlight the image.

I made a dinky little envelope from vellum using the cool Tattered Lace Envelope templates... and made a little sentiment to pop inside the diddy envelope.  Finally, I used the Peony die set from the Fleurs range and made a rose... you know how I loves my roses... and the Peony die set is more than perfect... it has loads of different size dies so loads of different size roses can be made... hurrah!

Right, I shall away... I will be back tomorrow taking part in a very special blog hop (tis about 281 years since I last did a blog hop!) so please do pop back for a nosey as I know there be prizes!  Thanks for looking... have a grand day! TTFN

Hels x

P.S... Happy St Patrick's Day to all my lovely Irish followers x

Strike A Pose!

Goooodly afternoon!  Corrrr, I have been busy having fun with the brand new Rare Earth Strike A Pose stamps and I have a couple of cards to show you that I had made for the tellybox shows on Tuesday.

First up is Heidi - she's a gorgeous gal in her ballgown, awaiting the arrival of Prince Charming to swoosh her off for an amazing evening (yes, my vivid imagination is still here).   

I stamped Heidi onto stamping card in clear ink and embossed her with Soot Embossing Powder.  I then stamped her again twice, same method, onto vellum.. cutting out her dress so I could layer it up.  I used Rare Earth Kuretake Clean Colour pens to colour her and her dress in - the turquoise I used is from the High Fashion set (I think this is my fave colour at the mo)  I then used a waterbrush to get that lovely shaded washy effect... vellum always acts the goat when water is added to it, going all flippyfloppy and wrinkly but that actually helped as her dress is more contoured and looks more dimensional.

Whilst Heidi was off with her Prince Charming, Cindy and Elle got together for a night out on the tiles... actually Elle is here twice as I masked Cindy and stamped Elle twice onto the card so we have the three of them, all dressed up, ready for a boogie.   Again I used Kuretake Clean Colour pens to colour in the images and added a touch of sparkle with a Sakura Shimmer pen.

I have been a busy bee this past few weeks and I am currently working on the next lot of shows for the Screen Sensation and I CANNOT wait for you to see all the new screen designs that are being released... you are going to LOVE them! All I will say is that if you like animals and you like colouring in.... bingo!!!   That's all from me for today, must dash, I have left the Screen Sensation alone for 20 minutes and I think it is getting lonely ;O)   Thanks for looking, have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x

Just Bloom!

Ohlalaaaa!  I am in a tizzy of excitement at the moment, what with the new Screen Sensation and... I am going to be demo-ing the fabulous Rare Earth brand from Gwen Fletcher and Stephanie Weightman.  If you haven't seen Rare Earth before, I will tell you a bit about it: it is a collection of inks and stamps that simplify the myths of stamping and make it more accessible to both new crafters and us oldies who have been crafting for 271 years.  I am so honoured to be asked to guest present the Rare Earth brand on Create & Craft and my first show will be tomorrow, March 2nd, at 9am and then another show at 1pm. 

A new addition to the Rare Earth family is a set of brand new blending inks.  Now, blending inks... most of us have inks that we blend with so why are these different?  Well, firstly, these are totally permanent once stamped so they won't budge with water, on porous card, they air dry, on glossy surfaces, simply heat set.  However, they blend perfectly and as they are water based you can colour with them, use them to make inky backgrounds, which unlike an oil or solvent based ink, makes a very interesting combination.  Permanent but you can use them to watercolour?  VERY clever!  This is exactly the ink I have been waiting for for a yonk and a half!

Here's one of my demo's I have prepped... I have used a faboooolus mask and stamp set, some vellum and a couple of the new ink colours.  The main colour is called Avocado and it is my favourite (I know, I always have to have a favourite but I just love the tones in this beautiful green). 

I hope you can join me at 9am on Create & Craft - you can watch on Freeview channel 23, Sky 674 or Virgin 748 or online HERE.  If you do get a chance to watch, please do send me an email in and if you have any questions, that will be your chance to ask... plus, I will be giving this card away at the end of the show!   Thanks for looking... have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x

P.S  Happy St David's Day to all my lovely Welsh friends!