29 November 2016

Don't forget to take care of you!

At this time of year we all tend to end up burning the candle at both ends, sometimes forgetting to breath!

So here is a card using My Favourite Things new stamp Sweet Sloths - who as we all know have got "chilling" down to a fine art!


For my second Guest Design Team post I opted for my usual "no lines colouring" style - for those not familiar with this technique, you need to stamp your images in pale ink (I tend to use pale pink).  When I add the Copic ink, the lines disappear, giving a delicate, hand drawn look to the image.  But I would strongly recommend you stamp the image in black too on scrap paper, so that you have a clear picture to refer to as you colour.

I decided to add a little doodling of my own so this relaxed little guy is surrounded by greenery, framing him using Stitched Rounded Rectangle Frames cut out of kraft card.  Then I headed straight for my favourite die for A2 cards from Blueprints 15 for my background and stamped a Sweet Sloths sentiment with Versamark ink which I then heat embossed with superfine white embossing powder.


So whilst the world rushes by at this festive time of year, take time to chill so you too can enjoy your special day!


Well, that's it for now, all that is left is for me to say a huge
thank you to My Favourite Things for having me as a Guest Designer this month.

Happy Colouring everyone

28 November 2016

Tag time

Now as some of my followers will know I solved this years Christmas card dilemma by drawing and colouring my Robin and Holly (but I still have to make all the cards.....this weeks task!) so I thought I'd take the opportunity to create a tag or two.

I dusted off my pencils and coloured up this little chap.


SUPPLIES:
Paper: Crafters Companion Neenah Desert Storm
Colouring Medium: Caran D'Ache Luminance pencils
    Body: 002, 009, 495, 001, 802, 803, 808
    Feet: 069, 077, 876
    Eyes: 001, 661, 004, 009
    Stick: 037, 906
    Sky: 661
    Ice: 001, 002, 004, 504, 507
Tools: Spellbinders Grand Calibur, MFT Pierced Traditional Tags, MFT Blueprints 24, Dovecraft Tea Party twine, Memento Angel Pink ink, Misti

Thanks for dropping by, I will be back tomorrow with another 
My Favourite Things creation


25 November 2016

Nearly Christmas, just saying

Firstly, I would like to thank My Favourite Things for inviting me to be a Guest Designer this month, I was over the moon when they asked me and was thrilled to be given the chance to play with some of the November release.

This particular card was such fun to make and I have to giggle when I look at the snowflake, you'll understand why later on in the post.



I thought you'd like to know how I set about making this card:

Lets start with the background - this was achieved with a Copic airbrush, using a mixture of G000, RV00 and B01.  I then added white dots with a gel pen to compliment the Snowfall of Blessings sentiment that I stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with superfine white embossing powder.

It was then time to turn my attention to the centre panel.  Initially I stamped various Simply Snowflakes on a piece of smooth card with Versamark ink and embossed it as above.  Colour was added using very pale Copic markers G0000, B0000, RV0000 - just make sure you've cleaned off any dusting or embossing powder from your cardstock or it could damage the nibs of your markers - as you can see it gives you a very soft mottled background.  The oval was cut out using Dienamics Pierced Oval Stax.

Now, this is where I start to chuckle as I got in a bit of a pickle with my first idea for the focal point on this card.  Initially I cut several Stylish Snowflakes out of shrink plastic, blasting them with my heat gun.  Ha ha, as I found out, after several attempts, fiddly die cuts don't shrink very well.......lets just say I ended up with some very strange looking shrunken blobs wrapped around the tweezers I was using to hold them - I made a right mess!!  So I abandoned that plan and cut a single snowflake from matt shrink plastic, which gave the die cut more rigidity than acetate or vellum would and carefully coloured it with the same Copic markers as above - the matt surface made this really easy to do.  A little sparkle was added courtesy of Clear Wink of Stella, a sequin and a dot of pearl paint.  

Finally I mounted it all on an A2 white card, using small foam pads under the central snowflake to make it stand out.


Ta da, a clean and simple Christmas card with a touch of sparkle!


Thank you for dropping by and I will be back in a few days with another card using 
My Favourite Things.