28 August 2011

Food, glorious food!

As if eating a giant Vinylmation cake wasn't enough this weeks challenge over at Pike's Playground is entitled:

"Yummy in your tummy"

But I have been somewhat health conscious with my choice of edible fayre:


Now, this is bit of an "in house joke" - I love rabbits, having had 4 as pets in the past whereas my husband being a farmer sees them as pests!!

I forgot to take a pen-pic this time so to make up for it here are close ups:



Images: Dustin Pike - From Blogiversary and February Membership
Paper: Papermania Hampstead
Colouring: Copics
Additional: Ribbon from stash

Why not join in - don't forget you have to use a Dustin Pike digi and it has to have something to do with food!!
YOU HAVE UNTIL NEXT SUNDAY TO ENTER

So come along to the playground and join in the fun.


27 August 2011

Birthdays, Exams, Cakes and Cards

Yes I know I've been MIA but I have had good reason, honestly. 

August 25th is my son's birthday, he turned 16 and it was also GCSE exam results day!!
(he passed the lot - well done Ben!!!!)

So I have been busy baking, icing and card making!


And oh boy this year the darling boy asked me to make him a Vinylmation cake!
(For those not in the know Vinylmation are 3" Mickey Mouse figurines)


Here is a close-up of the cake alongside the original Vinylmation Ben asked me to copy with a request for proper eyes!

Image: courtesy of Walt Disney with a Box of Colours twist
Colouring: Wiltons Food Colouring Gel
Additional:  homemade American sponge cake, homemade Creme au Beurre, strawberry jam (not homemade), Royal and Fondant icing (cheated and bought it)

Oh boy I can hear Duff Goldman laughing as I type..........


Now for the cards, as it was a double celebration Ben got TWO cards, the first for his birthday:

Click to enlarge
Image: Lili of the Valley Rugby Mad and Sentiments
Paper: My Minds Eye - Stella and Rose
Colouring: Copics
Additional: Ribbon from stash, sewing machine, Quickutz


and here is the second for his Exams

click to enlarge
Image: Dustin Pike - Dudley Freebie
Paper: From stash
Colouring: Copics
Additional: Word Art by me

See,  I have been a very busy girl and there'll be more from me tomorrow.

20 August 2011

Challenge time at Make it Colourful

Hello everyone, hope you're enjoying your weekend!  My hubby is currently playing with, oops sorry, working very hard driving his combine harvester up and down the field - boys and their toys!!

Now the question is "are you up for a challenge?"

Over at Make it Colourful we'd like you to
"GROUND YOUR IMAGE"

How many of us are guilty of stamping or printing an image, merrily colouring it in and then leaving it floating in mid air - I know I have!

Well this time you're not allowed to - so there!

It doesn't matter if you just shade it, add grass, an entire scene or like mine, doodle something yourself:


I was desperately trying to come up with a snappy little caption for the poor elf at the bottom but my mind went blank - any suggestions would be most welcome!

Image: Make it Crafty Christmas Elves (free image), floor boards doodled by me
Paper: Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas
Colouring: Copics
Additional: Brad and bakers twine from stash, Chalk ink

If you are wanting to add your own doodles please make sure the pen you use does not bleed when used in conjunction with your markers.  I use Copic Multiliners - both water and Copic proof.

As usual I went mad with the Copics - maybe I should set myself a challenge whereby I limit the number of colours............................nah, where would the fun be in that!!


Come on, have a go, this is a really simple challenge and like me you can use it to make a start on all those Christmas cards you were planning to do this year!!!

Thanks for dropping by

19 August 2011

Graphite, Arches Aquarelle and me..........

Before I started stamping just over a year a go I was working primarily with die cuts and as many of you know 'cause I witter on about it, prior to that I was painting portraits.

Well, here is something that I started about 5 years ago (hanging my head in shame) and as you can clearly see it's not finished!!

ELIJAH WOOD
Click for close up view

I decided to experiment with some of my beloved Arches Aquarelle NOT watercolour paper, drawing on it rather than painting - a challenge to say the least.  The vast majority of my pencil work has always been done on cartridge paper and this behaves very differently.

Watercolour paper comes in 3 types:
ROUGH - Course surface
NOT - Moderate texture & most commonly used for watercolour.
HP (Hot Pressed) - Relatively smooth and great with pen and ink work.

In hindsight, HP would have been the wise choice, but I didn't have any and as you can clearly see from my sketch the bumpy surface affects the pencil, and it smudges like crazy - once completed I've got some serious clean-up to do and will have to spray it with fixative to prevent further smudges.

Why am I showing you this unfinished piece - simple, procrastination!!
I've come up with awesome excuses for myself as to why the poor boy still only has half a sweater and I'm hoping that by posting this I will be somehow compelled to finally finish him.



14 August 2011

Whimsy Stamps/Make it Crafty Blog Hop

Whimsy Stamps & Make it Crafty have come together to create a fun Urban Themed digi collection!

Ann Vento has whipped up her magic and designed an incredible collection of
funky wall sayings, city landscapes and of course a range of super cool street signs.


Make it Crafty is trying something new offering all the different elements for you to build your own urban backdrop.


Then of course, what better characters to incorporate into such a scene than the fabulous KennyK rubber stamps available from Whimsy Stamps!

Our incredibly talented Design Teams have had a blast playing with all the different elements to bring you LOTS of inspiration!

We have broken it in to TWO HOPS
HOP A Starts HERE & HOP B Starts HERE!


There will be a winner for EACH HOP and if you hop your way through BOTH, you’ll go in the draw for the GRAND PRIZE TOO!
HOP A & B Winners will each receive a $15 voucher from both Whimsy Stamps and Make it Crafty

GRAND WINNER will win our full Urban Digital Collection
4 Digi Sentiment sets by Ann Vento & the Urban Elements Collection from Make it Crafty


You are currently on
"HOP A"
 and should have arrived from Lisa

 
MIC Urban Street Collection, Kenny K - Club Kid, Whimsy Urban sentiment.
and here is the pen-pic


  
Your next stop on
 "HOP A"
will be my pal Vicky


 but before you go please make sure you leave a comment below!

You have until August 21st 8PM Australian QLD time to make your way through the hops!


Have fun!!!

Are you ready for a Dustin Pike challenge?

Woo hoo, it's Pike's Playground Challenge time again!

The challenge theme this time is
"BUTTON IT"

N'ah, not as in zip it, shut up, or QUIET!

Dustin wants you to create something using his uber cute digi's and adorn it with, yep, you guessed it BUTTONS!!

Here is my effort:


I have been feeling so bad lately, a lot of you bloggylanders have been so organised and started making Christmas cards and I had precisely zero!!

This little bundle of snow is the first, of hopefully many as I try to catch up with all the super-efficient gals out there.

He's literally jumping off the card - mainly due to the number of foam pads I've stuffed under him!!
.................take a look


I also had fun playing with Liquid Applique and Snow Writer, so much so that I forgot to take a picture of the Copics (sorry)

As you can see, you don't have to limit yourself to real buttons, die cut ones count too.


Now, come on everyone, have a go - and remember the winner of the challenge gets a:

 FREE DUSTIN PIKE DIGI

Click HERE to join in the fun & post your entry
(You have until Sunday August 21)

Happy Crafting

13 August 2011

Note to diary - visit Jane's blog on Sunday!


......................and this is why


So come back tomorrow for some awesome blog hop fun with

Make it Crafty
&
Whimsy Stamps

7 August 2011

I tried something new

Credit for this has to go to Zoe from Make it Crafty


How many of you automatically reach for that Tuxedo Black Memento when stamping, I know I always have.

Well, next time, grab Angel Pink and see how different your finished image can look.....

This image was coloured purely with Copics, although Zoe suggests adding highlights/low lights with pencil to add definition.
It gives a much softer, pastel like quality to your work as the stamp lines don't show - it's just your colouring that is visible.

This technique does come with a "warning" - it isn't easy and is much more time consuming than the traditional method.  I had quite a pile of bloopers around my feet by the time I'd finished, but it is such a cool look it is well worth the effort.

Tip: It's what I call my "sanity saver" - get your faithful Tuxedo Black and stamp the image on some scrap paper, then you'll have a nice clear image to follow when the lines disappear under the Copic ink.

What do you think?

6 August 2011

Make it Colourful and MAKE IT PINK!

 Oh yes, woo hoo, this weeks challenge over on Make it Colourful:
"Colour with pink"

and it's being sponsored by Bunny Zoe's Crafts

gif maker

This weeks winner will receive a £10 gift certificate


Here is my DT card for the challenge


I thought I'd have a change from my normal square cards! I realised once I'd made this that the swing now looks more like a window, especially after adding the extra piece on the top ( hides where I mis-measured the card & cut it too short, ssshhh) but I don't know about you, I quite like it.

 ..............and for those who like to know the colours I used I've included a pen-pic!


Other items used:

Images: Ribbon Swing from Make it Crafty,
Magnolia - Travelling Tilda (Bon Voyage Collection 2010)

Paper: DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl
Additional: Ribbon and stones from stash

Why not pop over to the Make it Colourful site HERE and have a look at the other georgous pink beauties my fellow teamies created.

Come on, what are you waiting for, get those creative juices flowing, get colouring and remember ...........THINK PINK!

1 August 2011

Hanging around for Christmas....

I am working with Copics too, honest, but pencil is really my number one medium of choice, I've used them since I was a teenager (ie a long time, in fact a frighteningly long time!!) and working on Kraft card just makes the colours zing!!

 That said, I have just bought some fab new white card especially for my pencils which I will be testing out this week.

Remember Little Elf Mim by Mo Manning from a few posts ago, well here is her friend Pipa, unfortunately the poor gal lost her balance and ended up upside down, but hey, she's still smiling!


As before I've coloured her using Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft (love these pencils, especially for the detail work) and Prismacolor on Kraft card.

More of Mo's amazing creations can be found HERE

Well, yours truly is off to test that cardstock, play with my Copics before they get testy with me through lack of use and grab a coffee (and sneak a biscuit sshh) - guess that's what they call "multi-tasking"

Happy Crafting