Love Bunny

Well today I get to start off the new challenge over at Craftin Desert Diva. 
It is Love themed with a Pink/Red theme. And if I say so myself, I think I nailed it!



Now this is not strictly a Valentines day card.  You could give it to anyone at anytime to tell them you love them.  I can see a little girl who loves bunnies getting this and being very happy.  Bonus points for the shaker element too! 
I haven't even told you the image name yet!  Good grief.  It is Spring Friends.
The love sentiment is from the With Love  just trimmed down to just the one word and printed straight onto the card.  I used Distress Oxide Spun Sugar ( I just adore this).  Made the shaker element for the front using Inside Scallop Hexagon die.  The bunny I coloured using my copic markers R81 R83 and R85.  My go to colours for pink. 
Again CAS does the trick. 
Thanks for looking.

Koalas again!

Now you know I love the owls but this one stole my heart.  Koala Couple from Craftin Desert Divas.  The colour scheme is inspired actually from the  Diva's very own logo.  And it didn't hurt that I love this purple cardstock. 

I tried something a little different.  I was playing with the CAS style of card and didn't want to use patterned paper or much ink.  So I used little strips of coloured card to add the colour element aside from the main image.  A little oxide for grass and sky and 2 floral sequins in each corner.  I used the Inside Scallop Rectangle for the main focal point. 

Hopefully we see more koalas coming out.  A girl can dream.

  Thanks for looking.  

Soft Spot for Owls

Aaaw I have a real soft spot for these two, the  Owl Couple from Craftin Desert Divas.
And being a digital image it is handy to resize to whatever your project calls for.

I used my Distress Oxide inks on the background for this one.  The diagonal "splat" was done with swiping the oxide ink pad  on my Glass Media Mat and then spritz with water and lay the card stock on top.  The splatters were done using the same ink just using an old toothbrush.  So many things around the house you can use in your crafting.  Just have to think outside the box a little.  The sentiment comes with the image so that is definitely handy. The moon is some spare card sponged with Lemonade oxide ink and cut into a circle (I actually done this one by hand!  Yes I kid you not!  LOL).
I am sure any owl lover would love this card.  I know I do!
Thanks for looking.

Kindred Stamps

Hi everyone.  I am back with our favourite acquaintances.  One in particular.  This young man makes the girls hearts beat faster. So why should he not have his very own Valentines card.  This one was very simple. 

I took 2 different sized hearts and die cut out some plastic to make my own stencil.  Then I just randomly sponged (not the whole way, just the outline on the inside) the different sizes down one side of the card.  Filled the gaps with some gems. 

The sentiment is so good for this type of card.  And it was just looking a little blah so I added a single heart to dot the i.  

Mounted it onto a red card base and added our little Romeo.  See?  I told you it was a simple card.  You could use this for other things too other than Valentines.  

Thanks for looking and have a great crafty day

Size Doesn't Matter

WOW!  Talk about getting excited about new stamps!  The geek is coming out of me again.
This is one of the new sets from Kindred Stamps January Release.

Size Doesn't Matter

And I have to say, I had sooo much fun making these cards.  I even had a go at making my own backgrounds using my copic markers ( inspired by Amy Young and Jammie Clark).  And I loved how they turned out.
The first one is my favourite.  Between the character, the grass around the path and the storm clouds with the sunrays peaking through, I love the simplicity of this.  Looks almost like a postcard.

This next one was the first design I sketched for this set.  And I love the use of real chain.  I was originally going to draw the chain in but so glad I didn't.  A little 3D on a card does not hurt at all.  And I love the little smoky background behind the characters, so easy to do with Distress Oxides. 

Here is another hand drawn background.  This is the second version  The first one was a little to sandy coloured and didn't fit the mood for the theme, so then I went with my W copic family.  The  rock, the"creature"and ring are sitting on, is popped up with foam tape.  All the sentiments used on these cards are actually from this same stamp set. They fit so perfectly with the theme too!

This last one is very simple.  A mix of oxides to make the background then copic for the trees.  I felt it needed something else so I added the ferns to make it look like a little snap shot of these fellows, walking on a log, on their journey.  

I hope you enjoyed my creations  as much as I did making them.  

The entire Kindred Stamps January release will be available Friday, January 25th at 8am PST/11am EST. Be sure to check out the Kindred Stamps blog on Friday for the full product release as well as the complete line up of all the Kindred Stamps Design Team projects from release week! If you visit and comment on all of the designers' blogs this week, you could win $15 in Kindred Stamps shop credit! So join the Fan Club and release event, show the design team some love, and get ready to empty those wallets this Friday!

Cupid in Love

Well that time of year is getting closer.  Valentines day is just around the corner.  Today I share with you a card using Heartcraft Paper's 

Cupid In Love digi image.  

This is definitely one of the CAS cards.  It was the mood I was in when making it so I went with it.  

And the sentiment comes with this little fellow ( I just love that font!)  The red strokes in the background are from a new stencil I not long bought.  Inky Alpha Stencil and I got that through Create By Me Studio.  Uniquely Creative is the brand and it is nice to buy from an Australian company for a change too (support local business where you can).  

So not too girly, and not to "sappy".  Just the right card for someone who you want to let know you love.  Thanks for looking.  

From Us With Love

Today I am sharing my project from Craftin Desert Divas.

The image I used is not a new release but still a cute one none the less.
With Love Digital stamp.  I could see this one being used with a few different colours so that is what I did.  4 to be exact.
Now these could either be a set of thank you cards or even a set of thank you tags.   

As well as the image and sentiment from CDD, I also use the Inside Scallop dies for the card/tag base.  If you really wanted to you could even mount these on the front of a card.  Instant embellishment.
Thanks for looking.  Happy crafting!  

Sketch Saturday

Good Morning Everyone...

Welcome to another week at Sketch Saturday!

We have an amazing new sponsor joining us this week.

Scribbles Designs!!

The super prize offered this week is 

a $10 GC to use towards digital images only.

Here is sketch #547:


And here is mine.  Kept it fairly simple but very bright to suit the sentiment.

I used Tropical Drink and the thongs are a freebie from their website.

Don't forget to have a go yourself for you chance to win some images!

Until next time, happy crafting.  

Owl Couple

Back again with another card for the new release for Craftin' Desert Divas.

This time I am using Owl Couple.

I love this card so much.  I am not one to layer cardstock like this but all the colours really complement each other nicely.  I used R81, R83 and R85 for the owls and you could use any brown or green combo's you like for the branch and foliage.  I use the Inside Scallop Die on both Purple and white card with a light blue oxide in the background.

Thank you for popping in and taking a look at my little card.
Until next time..... Happy crafting!

Kindred Stamps

Hi from me again!  I am sharing another project using this friendly Kindred Stamps set. 

For some reason I am totally obsessed with making shape cards lately.  And this set is no exception.  I love anything to do with coffee, except smelling or drinking it.  I love papers, stamps, the colour.  So with this "The One With The Friend"set I was inspired to use the coffee and tea cup as the shapes for the cards.  

If you have no idea where to start (I free handed mine) you could always use our friend, google, and look up pictures of the cups and print them out and trace the shapes.  Easy peasy.  

All sentiments are in this set which is very handy. 

                                     

For my coffee cups I use T1, T3, T5 & T7 for the lids.  Shading out edge darker and working back to the lightest colour.  The darker brown combo is E71, E74, E77 & E79.   The belly band around the middle isE41, E42, E43 & E44.  If you feel you do not have enough highlight in the middle don't be afraid to use a white pencil to add more.  I then added the character on the front.  Adhered this to acetate, cut and folded just like a normal card.  When sticking your coffee cup to the front make sure the top of the cup is at the bend in your card so you can trim the excess acetate away.  For the inside, just cut out the shape of the coffee cup and stick it on both panels of the inner.  That way you now have somewhere to right. 

For this one it is all the same except before you do the darker brown I just added some leaves to break up the darkness.  And the white belly band is done the same as the lid.  

I love a good cup of tea, and this is a good one.  If you have traced or hand drawn your cups, make sure you rub out the lines so you can only just see them.  That way once coloured they have the no line colouring look.  The colours I used for this cup were R81, R83 & R85.  Touched it up with my white pencil to add more highlight.  Added the character and repeat what we did with the coffee cup on the front (right on the fold of acetate) then hand cut around and add the outlined cup shapes only so you have somewhere to write.  

I had fun making these cards and I hope you liked them and the tutorial on how to make them.  Any diehard fan would love these.  I know my daughters did!  

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time, happy crafting.  

CDD Digi Design Team

My first post and my first release with the ladies over at Craftin Desert Divas.  And what a release it is!

Today I am sharing my project using KOALA COUPLE.  And being an Aussie I love it when companies bring out our wildlife in images.  So I could not wait to play with this.

As well as using the Koala Couple image I used the The Torn Paper Dies to cut a stencil out and used that with some Tim Holtz oxide and sponged the background.  

The branch and leaves are hand drawn and coloured with copics.  The gumnuts were a little genius idea I had.  I used one of the flowers from the Inside Scallop Circle Dies set and just cut the tip off the petals. I used 2 together to give the effect of a little bunch of gumnuts.  It is amazing what your imagination can come up with. 

Keep an eye out for more projects in the coming weeks using this and other images from the release.  

Till next time..happy crafting!   

Nature Fairy

Hi and welcome to another of Heartcraft Paper's release images for January. 

Today I am sharing with you the Natura Fae.  Seems to be a bit of a fairy theme going on lately! 

Anyway here is my little creation. 

Sometimes I like to keep things simple.  This card is one of those but still looks really effective.  

The base card is SU Bermuda Bay.  The paper is one I had in my stash from many, many moons ago (Kaisercraft I think).  The flourish stamp is Hero Arts in SU Highland Heather.  I place a little rectangle of vellum behind the fae, and randomly placed some blue heart sequins from Craftin'Desert Divas.   The sentiment is also part of the Digital image when you purchase.  I used my copics to colour (no surprise there!).  

And please do not forget to participate in this months challenge for your chance to win this releases images.  You can go to the HCP blog here .

Until next time, happy crafting!

How You Doin?

Hello and welcome to another crafty day. Today is the day I share my first official project with you using one of my Kindred Stamps

The One With The Friend

This is one of those cards that you get the idea in your head, it stays there, pesters you until you actually make it.  And it also turned out how I imagined, so I was totally happy!

If you followed the colouring tutorial for each character in a previous post you will know what colours I used.  Here is the link to that post. 

I white heat embossed both the grey card and the city scape black card.  I used my MISTI tool for this, that way when put together they fitted perfectly.

The city scape outlined I just used my ruler and pencil to draw it first then used my pen knife and steel ruler to cut it out. The windows of the building are just white pencil.  The coloured dots in the sentiment are just enamel accents.  Once I stuck the black card onto the grey card I use the square die (1 1/2 inch.) to cute the six panels out.   It fitted perfectly for their heads and still kept the symmetry of the card.

I hope you like the card as much as I did.  Keep on eye out as I will be doing more projects using this set over the coming weeks.  

Until next time, happy crafting.

Earth Fairy

Today is my very first post for Artistic Inspirations Challenges as a member of the Design Team.  

I am so happy to be here.  They are a gorgeous bunch of ladies and it is so much fun to play along with challenges.  If you are ever stumped for ideas why not play along, or even just visit everyone's page to see what they come up.  You may just surprise yourself. 

 This month's sponsor is Fabrika Fantasy  and the image I am using is Earth Fairy

It was so hard to choose between all the fairy's, they are all so beautiful in their own way and very elegant.  I knew I wanted to try something a little different with this project so I chose this one.  

The one noticeable difference is I removed the fruit when cutting her out. I just wanted her to look like she was floating.  I nearly got there.  And she looks great on an easel card.  This one would be great to gift to any fairy lover.  

Thank you for visiting and looking at my project.  Don't forget to visit the other DT members projects.    

Until next time happy crafting.

Sketch Saturday returns for 2019!

Hello and welcome to another Sketch Saturday.

Our sponsor this week is
Heartcraft Paper

And our sketch this time around is

Sketch  #545

Monica, owner of Heartcraft Paper has been kind enough to allow us to use one of her latest release images, Draco.  Isn't he just gorgeous?  Yes Ma'am!

As you can see, I kind of stuck with the stone age look with the stencil I use in the background.  It so suited this project. 

And the banners in the sketch I changed to flames.  Again, went with the theme.

The sentiment is another of Heartcraft Papers images.  All in all I love how both the image and sketch worked together so easily.  

And a side note - I raided my sons dinosaur collection and gathered some rocks from our driveway...lol.
Whatever works, am I right? Hehe

Don't forget to play along with the challenge for your chance to win.

Until next time.

Happy New Year and Release!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  

A day late but never the less.  Have been enjoying some time away from the craft room but I am ready now to head back in.  

Today we have Heartcraft Paper's January release.  We have a new DT ( some regular faces and some new ones too) and they have done an outstanding job this month.  Seriously!  Without a further ado let us get stuck into  it.  

This month we have some fantastic images of the FAE kind.  There is even a boy one.  

For my project I have used Aquapura Fae

I just love the background for this one. It was totally made by mistake.  I spritzed my dylusion spray (sorry I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it, and I am on holidays as I write this so I don't have my room to find out), over the top of my stencil but I spritzed a little too much and the bits that should be white had puddles of colour in them....lol.  But I love the patchy look.  I even just rubbed my TH sponging tool over it and filled in some of the white so it was not so bright.  

I coloured up my images, fussy cut out and placed on the front.  Had some clear dot things and randomly placed those to add to the water look.  Add the sentiment and you have a card.  I love the simplicity of this, yet it has a lovely looking background.  Below I have the blog list for the new release hop.  Please check them all out and leave a little love for each artist.  They really do deserve it.  

HeartcraftPaper

Tania Cordie

Tina Turner

Andrea Jacobs

Kelly Millett

Alina Tanner

Amanda Stevens

Alina Florea

Angela Yearous

​Niccole Kulig

There is a challenge that will be up for all to participate in and have the chance to win the new release images.  Cannot wait to see the entries.  

Until next time!

1st Post for Kindred Stamps 2019!

A little dream of mine has come true.  I have been asked to be on the Kindred Design Team again.  

This stamp company is one of my all time favs.  And I was so excited when I got the email from owner Audra.  This made my 2018 Christmas I can tell you!

Today I am sharing a little tutorial on how to colour up the set

"The One With the Friend"

Over here in Australia we have the reruns on (conveniently for us) at our dinner time.  So not only did I love watching when it was new to air, now a whole new generation (my kids) are loving it.  

WARNING - this will be a long post as I will do a step by step on how I coloured this set.  

Over the next month I will be making a few different projects to show off its versatility.  

Let's get started. 

I always use my Copic sample book when choosing my colours for any project.  Not only does it show what colours I have in my collection but also the "in real life"sample of each colour.  They don't always match up to the colours on the pamphlet.  This is my MUST HAVE for all projects.  

Firstly I do the skin.  If you do the hair first you can sometimes pick up the darker colour from the hair and smudge into the skin so skin is always a first for me.  I used E30 E00 and R0000 over the top.  And for reference I done the same for all of them.  They all have that city tan....lol.  And the characters with their mouths open, I used C9 and R20 for the tongue. 

Second,  I start with hair.  I find sometimes (depending on my mood) the hardest part to do.  

First I use C5 in the part of the hair and where the shine in the hair will go. 

Then I go to the ends and use C9 using flicks.

Then I use C7 to blend from the darkest to lightest leaving a little of the C5 for the shine.  

Lips are R37 and the buttons on the top are C9

Pants I start with C9

Then I use C7 and finish with the highlight at the bottom of the pants with C5

Shoes are C7 and C5

Spatula is C5

And there you have our first character.  The Chef Acquaintance. 

Now onto character number 2.  The outfit colours I used were B23 B24 &B26

The hair I used four colours.  Firstly  I coloured the whole of the hair in E21.  This style of colouring is slightly different to others.  

Next I went to the darkest and used E27.  Mainly for the roots and shadows.

Fill in slightly with E25.  

Then I used E23 to fill in the rest.  I did slightly overdo this one but hair is fairly forgiving.

Then just add some more darker bits.  Really just play with it until you are happy.

The apron I used Y19 Y17 Y08.  

The cup was in R81 R83 R85and the tray was E35

Boots are C9 and C7

And there we have the Waitress/Fashion Acquaintance.  

The guitar is coloured with E08 E99 and E97.  Start at the darker end and work your way back to the light.  Her undershirt is B91.

I don't think I have ever shaded this hair in these colours before but I can say I was really happy with the results.  Starting with the lightest colour E41 to colour the hair part and highlights.  Then use the darkest to lightest E44 E43 E42.  

Skirt I base coloured with C0 and then added stripes with C3

I love the boots and jacket.  Again started with the darkest colour to the lightest colour.  

E23 E25 E27

And there we have the Hippy/wants to be a singer Acquaintance.  The girls are done!

Now onto to the boys.  To make the fun loving actor a little more versatile, I masked off the penguin.  Here is how I done it.  

Firstly I stamped the character onto some paper or cardstock.  Using the MISTI or similar tool is a must for this one, if you want to do multiple images.  

Then I cut out the part I actually want to keep.  Where the cut is on the side of the paper I used some sticky tape to keep the paper in exactly the right place.  

Place the paper back in the corner and it should be in the exact position you need it to be.  Ink your stamp and stamp it out.  

And voila!  You have a penguin-less character!  Now to draw in the missing pieces.  

What I did was to stamp out the image again on paper and turn it over.  Put a light source behind it and add your penguin-less character and line him up.  So really you are just mirror imaging your character in part.  I used a pencil to start with so if I made a mistake I could redo it.  I also coloured my image in first then drew over the lines with a fine tip black pen.  That way it didn't matter what kind of pen I used, it wouldn't smudge. 

His shirt was R14 R35 R27

Pants are just jeans coloured, B21 B24 B26

Shoes I went black C9 and C7

I find some of the characters have "challenging"hair lines...lol.  So it can be hard to colour.  But with this it wasn't too bad.  First done E74 on the fringe tip and highlights behind fringe.

Then went to the darkest colour E79

And blended from dark to the light with E77

Lastly I Went over the pencil with fine tip black marker.  Phew.  Was a little long winded but he is totally worth it! 

Next up comes the Paleontologist.
First step after skin is hair.  Start with C5 in the tip of the fringe and the highlights on the side.

Then back to the darkest which is C9

Then blend the two together with C7

Add a little more C5 to finish the blend

The shirt is B21 and then we start with the shadows on the suit with E43

Then blend out with E42

And finish with E41.  The tie is E43 with stripes of E25.  The shoe is E27

And finished off with E25

First thing I done was to draw in some extra lines on his shirt.  Sometimes I like that little bit of extra detail.

I started the hair with E74 on tips of fringe and and highlight areas.

Then work my way back with the darkest colour E79

Blend out with E77

And if need be a little E74 to finish the blend.  The pants I start with E43

Then work with E42

And finish with E41

Cardigan and shoes I start with E79

Then I coloured the stripes and shadowy areas with E77

Then finish with E74.  To give the burgandy hint in the stripes I added R56 over the top.  Breaks up the browns.  and finish the shoes off with E74.

I coloured these while away on holidays.  I had a nice break from colouring first (2 whole weeks!) then I could not wait to get back into it.

Here are my acquaintances on holiday with me beside the beach.  Nothing like a photoshoot with coloured paper....hahaha.  My daughter was horrified!!!!

Until next time!