Castles in the sky (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a sample created using the beautiful fairy from the July Fairy set and one of the stamps from Fantasy Castles. I really enjoyed messing around with paint and ink to make this project

I began by stamping the fairy and castle with Black Archival ink on to watercolour card I masked them using masking tissue. Next I roughly 'splodged' on some white and some pearl acrylic paint to create the clouds. Once the acrylic paint was dry I started adding colour to the sky with lots of water and Twinkling H20 paints Once I removed the masks I had a bit of a panic as some of the blue had seeped under the mask but I found that using diluted bleach removed the colour but not the stamped image. The blue paint had also discoloured the clouds so I added some more paint and left it to dry. Next I painted the castle and then decoupaged the fairy (also painted with Twinkling H20s).

I added a little gem to the fairy's wand and stamped the sentiment (from Fairyland Words) and embossed with gold embossing powder. 

I added some chipped sapphire distress ink around the edges and matted the scene on white and then blue card to finish off

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Into every life a little rain must fall .... (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample using the beautiful Fantasy Castles, I love this castle image I combined it with the cloud stamps from Magical Landscapes to create a rainy scene.

I coloured the image with distress markers and used Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges of the image. I matted it up on some dark brown card and layered it up over square of card with a brick effect made using a Crafters Workshop Template and distress inks. Again I matted on brown card and layered up over a more muted background made with more distress inks and a brick stamp from Abstract Fragments. The sentiment is on of my all time favourites and is from Loving Sentiments. To finish of I've added a little seam binding bow and an umbrella charm from my stash.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Fantasy Castle with Blue and Green (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope all is well.

I have another design today using the new beautiful Fantasy Castles set.   These castles have so much wonderful detail, I enjoy colouring them with pencils.

The background behind the castle is Broken China and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks using an acrylic block and water.  I coloured the clouds from Magical Landscapes and castle from Fantasy Castles with Prisma pencils which I used Cobalt Archival ink to stamp.   I added glitter to the rain and water fall.

The larger background was created with Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks again with an acrylic block.   I stamped Wisteria from Wisteria Lane and the trees from Magical Landscape with Mowed Lawn DI ink.   I stamped the brick work using a fragment from Abstact Fragments with Salty Ocean Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day,
Shirley

Eastern Adventure (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I wanted to show the versatility of the new MagicalLandscapes/Fantasy Castles Multibuy stamp set and made a card with a bit of an Eastern flavour which I am showing you today.

I created a wrinkle free Distress background , and then stamped a large paisley stamp from Indian Elephant using the same colour Distress Ink. I used a palm tree stamp from Peace on Earth showing that Christmas stamps can be used all year round, not just at Christmas! The sentiment is from the Artistic Affirmations stamp set.

I stamped the main image onto a piece of white card using gold embossing powder, and coloured the image with Distress Markers, sticking to the blue and orange theme of the card as much as possible. Finally, I swirled some blue and orange Distress Ink around the edge of the card to soften the white background. I used some Versamark around the edges of the main background card, and added some gold embossing powder, which I heated to melt. Some dark blue card to mat the layers completed the card.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Have a Fairy Happy Birthday! (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here's a project for you using stamps from the new Spring Fairy Collection stamp set combined with some older favourites. I wanted to create a gift set that comprised of a card, gift tag and matching wrapping paper, using soft pastel tones. I picked five shades of Memento Ink, and created a background on my tag, and a large piece of white card. I stamped the fairies and butterflies using Versafine Onyx Black Ink. The extra fairies and buterflies are from the Winter Fairy and Autumn Fairy stamp sets.

For the tag, I added a sprinkling of glitter on the butterfly wings and the trail of stars. The sentiment comes from the Fairyland Words clear stamp set. For the card, I added some clouds from the Magical Landscapes/Fantasy Castles Multibuy stamp set and a flower from the Decadent Brocade stamp set, which has been decoupaged. I have added some die cut leaves, and a sentiment as before.The wrapping paper was created using the same stamps as the tag, stamped with each of the ink colours, graduating across the paper.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Flying High Fairy (by Debbie)

The weather here yesterday was beautiful and perfect for a little tidying in the garden. The spring bulbs can be shown in their glory with all the fallen leaves swept away. I'm looking forward to seeing sunsets this year when the sky changes to a to a rainbow of colours and sitting in the garden crafting.

I started by stamping the castle with black ink and then cut masks for the sun and the landscape. The sun was placed over the castle and the landscape laid over the bottom third. For the sky I used Dried Marigold, Victorian Velvet and Broken China Distress Inks blending each into the next to avoid lines. With the sun still in place I removed the landscape mask and covered the sky and blended Peeled Paint for the hills then tore and moved the mask to create the small hills. The grass at the sides of the scene are from Eastern Grass, this is one of my go to sets as it is so handy. The flying Fairy is from the January set of Fairies and I searched my stash for Shrink Plastic. I stamped her with Black Archival ink, cut her shape out and I'm proud to say when heating she didn't curl and stick. I attached the fairy and stamped the sentiment in the top corner then matted onto black card and trimmed a border around. Many thanks for visiting, Debbie xx

Make a Wish (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I hope that you are enjoying some Spring sunshine wherever you are. My card today uses some of the stamps from the Magical Landscapes/Fantasy Castles Multibuy stamp set. I stamped the castle and masked this off by stamping a second image onto masking paper and covering the image. I then added some trees from this set, Country Views and English Cottages before colouring the background with Pan Pastels. I added some rain clouds and extra colour with the Pan Pastels, and then completed the background with a rainbow, using the Pan Pastels, blending the colours into each other for a softened effect.

I coloured the stamped images with Distress Markers and a waterbrush, and added a sentiment from the Fairyland Words clear stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Dream castle by Miranda......

Hi there,

Today my creation with one of the lovely new castles from the 'Fantasy Castles'. These stamps are great to colour and to visualize your own 'magical' place! I've made this one on soft blue Basic Grey scrap paper.
I've stamped with shades of blue and green Memento inks and coloured with my Derwent Soft Colour and added gold accents on the minarets with Viva Maya gold paint.

And of course there are lots of great CB sheets which matches perfectly with these stamps. So to frame this lovely castle I've used also 'Wisteria Lane' and Spring Foliage and my favorite feathered leaf from the 'September Fairy'.

Well, hope to have inspired you and appealed to your imagination to create your own 'magical' place with these stamps.

Thanks for your visit, your comment is always appreciated and hope to see you next time.

Fairy Castle Card (by Debbie)

Happy Sunday to everyone. I was so excited when Glenda sent the new Fantasy Castles and Magical Landscapes stamps which work beautifully with the Fairy Stamps. The Fairy I have used is from the December Fairies stamp set.

I started by stamping the Castle onto white card with Black Versafine and stamped again onto copier paper to make a mask. I also cut a circle for the sun. As these are Fantasy Castles I chose to colour the sky with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. The clouds are from the Magical Landscapes and I shaded with Cut and Dry foam as I wanted the castle to stand in the foreground. Stickles was added to the waterfall. The Fairy was stamped with clear Versamark Ink and embossed with Black Glint WOW Powder then trimmed. I mounted the Castle onto blue and placed onto the centre of the square card then added the sentiment and a few black pearls. I love this Fairy as she looks so relaxed leaning slightly against the frame. Thanks for visiting, there's lots more inspiration coming during the month. Debbie xx

Fantasy Castle (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.  It's still very cold with piles of snow here in Ontario, Canada.  We are looking forward to Spring, it's been a very long, cold winter, the toughest that I can remember.    However the sun has been shining a lot in the last month which always feels good.

I have a design today featuring a castle and clouds from the gorgeous new Fantasy Castles.  I love the details in all the new designs they are quite beautiful.  I wanted to create a true fantasy with a castle in the sky surrounded by clouds.   

I used Teal & Cut Grass Dylusions Inks to create the smaller background.   Next I stamped the castle and clouds with Cobalt Archival Ink.    I bleached the ink away from the clouds and painted them with Midnight Dylusions Ink (using my craft mat, water & brush).   I coloured the castle with Prisma pencils and added glitter to highlight some areas.  

The larger background was created with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink using an acrylic block.   I stamped with a decorative textile stamp from Indian Textiles using Shaded Lilac Distress Ink. 

I distressed all the edges and added a little Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.   I added a strip of background between the layers that I had cut away from the smaller background.

To see who won February's commentor prize  please see this post here :)

I hope you can come back often to see what my talented teammates have created using the new stamps.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

New stamps: Fantasy Castles and Magical Landscapes (by Glenda)

If you've checked the New Stamps section of the website this week, you may already have spotted our gorgeous new stamps.

Firstly we have Magical Landscapes

which go perfectly with Fantasy Castles

and of course we have a multibuy

We are also launching our Spring fairy stamps comprising March, April and May, available individually or as a multi-buy.  

As with our previous Autumn and Winter fairy collections, we've put together a Fairy Inspirations Leaflet which is free for a limited time when you purchase the Spring Fairy Collection.

 

The card above has been stamped onto a brayered background using a home made kaleidacolour inkpad (I inked the strips with Distress Reinkers) and I brayered onto a matte card rather than the usual glossy or silk.  After stamping the image, I continued some of the lines of the hills out to the edge of the card, then masked off the roof and stamped the clouds.

There are two sets of clouds on Magical Landscapes with rain going in different directions, so I simply rotated the small one and stamped it so the angle of the rain is the same as the large.  The scene is coloured with Coloursoft pencils.

The background is Dylusions sprays with a little stencilling and stamping and I've used a nutmeg brown card for the base and layer.

At the moment you can find all these stamps in our New Stamps department and until the end of March, they are all at fantastic introductory prices.

I can see lots of possibilities for these stamps and you'll be delighted with what the DT come up with over the next month so stay tuned.

And if you don't already know, we reward our loyal commenters each month with a Chocolate Baroque gift voucher, and the more often you comment, the more chances you have of winning, so why not leave a kind word or two for the girls - it means a lot.

PS - talking of Design Team, yes we have selected our new team members and we will be introducing them in a couple of weeks once they've settled in!