A New Artist at Crafts & Me - JASMINE BECKET-GRIFFITH!!!

OMG OMG OHHHHH MYYYY GODDDD!!!  Jasmine Becket-Griffith has joined Crafts and Me and she has got to be my most favourite fairy artist EVER!  A few weeks ago I was on the phone to Teresa and she told me and she'll tell you how excited I was, picks jaw off the floor!!  Well now they're here and will be released for sale first at the Stamporama show in Stevenage on 6th Feb and the shop release date will be soon afterwards!

Please visit Jasmine's awesome website to see her works, she is right up my street!

So here is the first of the designs which I hope you love as much as I do - PINK LIGHTNING.  You can see Jasmine's original painting here.

She's coloured with promarkers and pencil and I've used my letrajet airbrush around the outside.  I kept the card simple and white as the image is very colour intense.
So here's your first peek of the new range coming to Crafts & Me, hope you love as much I I do!!!

Would like to enter into...

Flutterby Wednesday - White on White (No colour except main image)
Penny's - Anything goes
Magical Mondays - Flowers
Stamp Something - Cute
One Stitch at a Time - As you like it
Everybody Art - My favourite thing (Fav artist, fav promarkers!)

A big day!

Sorry I'm a bit late posting my DT card for this weeks Passion for Promarkers challenge but I've really been flat out as today is my eldest DD's 18th Birthday!  Last week she passed her driving test and all and sundry have been offering her cars to buy but unbeknown to her whilst she was out taking her test we were picking her up a shiny red Micra!  Its been so hard trying to keep it quiet, I even had to phone her boss as a relative of hers was offering her a red micra and we've already got one lol!

We all went out for a pub meal and my friend works there so I'd popped round last night with a cake and balloons so she could sort the table out which she did (Fankoo Maz!)  Staci being 18 of course wanted a drink so I managed to steer her away from that but told OH we're going to have to tell her soon before her mate buys her a drink!  Anyway I gave her a keyring I'd made with a car charm on.  She said she already had one (no that was a pure swarovski bag charm at least 4 times the size!) then my OH said its a keyring to put this on and gave her a key.  She went running round the car park looking for potential cars and decided it must be one of the 2 red micras there (The other one is Maz') and found it!

Staci hugging her new wheels!

 Staci's Birthday cake!

And this is her 18th!  The theme at Passion for Promarkers this week is 'Let it Shine' so I chose an image by Some Odd Girls called Dancin' Mae as my DD is a bit like that!  The card is not my usual style or colours, it was more aimed at her tastes, black and pink, bold, fun and SPARKLY!  She's coloured with Promarkers and I've added shading with pencil and sparkle with sakura stardust pens.  The background I scribbled on with pencil, used sansador to spread and mingle the light and hot pinks then scribbled over again (Staci is VERY messy!)  The flower in her har is iridescent gems, Stace usually wears a huge flower in her hair and I've used Coredinations black magic (hocus pocus) and embossed with a divine swirl folder and rubbed with a nail file.  The flowers are all wild orchid and added stickles so they're all sparkly too!  18 logo is die cut from foil.

There is a prize of a pack of promarkers from Crafty Emmas Store so use promarkers or aqua markers and Let it shine and it'll fit!

Thanks for looking!

Also entering into...

Some Odd Girl - (I thought it closed Friday, nevermind!)
Sarah Hurley Challenges - Birthday Girl
Crafty Purple Frog - Distressing (Coredinatons card & background to image)
My time to Craft - Emboss
Tuesday Throwdown - Distressing
Craft your Passion - Use 2 patterned papers

Monochrome at Crafts & Me

We're havng a monochrome theme over at Crafts & Me for the next fortnight.  For this one I've used a new image which will be released soon which is part of Lemon Shortbreads range of "Melody" stamps.  This one is Flapper Girl 2 and she's just as pretty as 1!  The team are also busy working on samples as Crafts & Me are doing their first show at Stevenage on 6th Feb so do pop over and say hello to Teresa and see her range of stamps including some new ones and see the girls samples in the flesh :)
This one was coloured with promarkers and artist pencils for shading.  I added a bit of a halo with pencils around her and spread out with sansador then distressed around the edges with brilliance ink in red.  Papers are print outs from Bearly Mine, very handy having digital papers as I dont have many red ones so I just print and theyre ready to go :)  Text was stamped with an alphabet set and I've added ickle butterflies from the martha stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch and whole card finished with a couple of squirts of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer mist.  Hope you'll love the new images by Lemon Shortbread, I've seen some of the others too and they're gorgeous!

Would also like to enter into...

Papertake - Ribbons & Pearls
My time to craft - Spots & Dots
I Love Promarkers - Keep it sweet & simple
Flutterby Wednesday - Open Week
Oh Alice - Mostly Red
Cute Card Thursday - Monochrome
My Partner in Crafting Crime - New (Stamp)
Make it Colorful - Colour with Red

Some close ups below, the flower and halo

And the bangle, the centre was coloured with a clear sakura stardust pen then  added little red dots from a red sakura stardust pen.

Thanks for looking!

A recipe at Bearly Mine

We're having a recipe this fortnight over at Bearly Mine Challenges and the DT are all using images from The Paper Shelter.  This one is Dragon's Birthday, he's a cutie!  I designed this with a child in mind so I kept embellishment to a minimum as if they're anything like my kids it'd just get pulled off lol!  I've used papers by Bearly mine which are from Christmas Frolics (The dotty red one I love!) and Grunge Days (The gorgeous blue)  which can be found in the Bearly Mine shop.   I've coloured with Promarkers and artists pencils and a yellow souffle pen for the icing (The red icing is promarkers and pencil)

 

There's some prizes up for grabs too which are below!

 

And now for the prizes, we've got three sponsors this challenge.

Prize #1 - Peachy Keen Stamps - offering a $30 gift certificate (awesome)

Prize #2 - The Paper Shelter - offering 3 Digi images of the winner's choice

Prize #3 - Bearly Mine Designs - offering 2 Digi sets of the winner's choice

 

Hope you can pop over and join in!

I'd also like to enter into...

Alys Sunday Challenge - Things with Wings
Creative Cottage - New


Thanks for looking!

 

 

A spotlight on Pencils at Crafty Cardmakers

We're having a spotlight on PENCILS over at Crafty Cardmakers for the next 2 weeks (Remember the main challenge also runs for another week too!)  Jenni chose this theme so after hyperventilating and thanking my stars I played in the challenge last week so it wasn't my turn I thought why not?  I was curious if I could actually colour with pencils as I've always been more of a marker or watercolour kinda person so only one way to find out and thats to have a go!

We are thrilled to be sponsored by Derwent Pencils who are offering the lucky winner a Tin of 12 INKTENSE pencils. 

Pen and ink offers strong, intense colour combined with a translucent effect. Now you can enjoy these distinctive qualities in an easy to use pencil. Inktense has a highly blendable texture and comes in a range of 71 jewel-like colours, plus a non-soluble outliner which allows you to draw outlines that are permanent, even when water is applied. Apply pure, vibrant dry colour then wash the pigment out completely to leave an ink-like effect. Once dry, the colour is permanent and can be worked over with other media. The possibilities are endless, the results stunning.
Inktense pencils can be used on fabric to create interesting silk paintings and unique quilting projects.

They do a huge range of pencils from watercolours through to metallics and coloursoft, something for everyone, do go check them out!

BTW Lin has used Inktense pencils on her creation for the challenge so have a peek as its so lifelike and beautiful!

I did the same stamp as last week which is a soon to be released Hannah Lynn one from Crafts & Me only we aren't allowed to use pens or anything else, just pencils.  I did ask Jenni to clarify the rules and she was quite firm that markers and pencils wont cut the mustard lol!

So here she is lol!  OK nothing to see here, move along now!

She was coloured with my very limited range of polychromos, I have a tin of 36 derwent coloursoft on order I'd hope would arrive on saturday but it didnt.  I've only been playing with them about 2 weeks and never on their ownsome, always with promarkers (the results are quite spectacular then!) so I definately need more practice lol!  Still thats what CRAFTY CARDMAKERS is all about, getting stuck in and having a go and there's fab prizes up for grabs too!

New Baby at Passion for Promarkers

Its a New Baby theme this week over at Passion for Promarkers and we're sponsored by the fabulous Joanna Sheen who's offering a £10 voucher for her store.

For this I dragged out a *really* old Magnolia stamp which I've never actually coloured (to my knowledge!) with promarkers before though did it plenty of times when I used to watercolour and I've been using promarkers a good 18 months!  Again I'm having a play with artists pencils to add shading and I'm getting better I think!  It does seem to make a difference, what do you think?  The shading is under the arms, jeans, neckline and face.

The DP's I've used are from unknown, the yellow diamond one is also ancient as the shop I got it from has closed a while back.  I've mounted the squares (which are distressed) onto starburst stains and the nesties labels is also starburst stains (from The Stampman)  Cute little tag is from my favourite sentiments place - Stamping All Day and flowers are Wild Orchid (of course!)

Hope you can pop over and join in, even if you don't know anyone having a baby soon you can always put it aside for when you need it!

Would also like to enter into...

Totally Tilda - Roses & Ribbon

Cute Card Thursday - Out with the old (Stamp, papers)

Red and a Die cut at Crafty Cardmakers

For The Stampman awards & blog hop scroll down or click here!

We're open again at Crafty Cardmakers after our Christmas break and Sarah is kicking us off with a challenge to use Red and a Die Cut.  Yes a red die cut also counts!  The challenge is for 2 weeks so plenty of time to get your thinking cap on.

We are sponsored by One Stop Card Crafts who are offering the winner a £10 voucher to use in their online store! 

At One Stop Card Crafts we have a big range of ever changing discount making and card making craft supplies.

We are always adding to our range of craft supplies which are ideal for making handmade greeting cards, do-it-yourself invitations scrapbook pages, altered items and much more.
Our card making craft supplies include free UK postage, our popular discount scheme and quick service means our customers keep coming back for more.
Our prices are very competitive and this & makes us an ideal place to buy your card making supplies online. Some of our new products include Petaloo flower layers, Ranger Glitter Glue and Martha Stewart Punches.

For this one I've used a new Hannah Lynn stamp called Heart on her Sleeve but its not released yet but she's coming soon!  I've coloured her with promarkers and I've also been playing with artist pencils too to add depth after hearing it was supposed to be pretty good!  This is my first attempt using just a black and blending it in with oil and I'm getting a little better at it as I have a few more colours now ;)

The papers are by Brenda Pinnick and Bearly Mine Designs and the gorgeous organza ribbon printed with hearts is from fleabay.  The die cut I used is a borrowed one from Mrs Stampman and is a Tim Holtz Bigz elegant flourish.  I've also used a new toy Teresa sent me for xmas which is the martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch.

Would like to enter into...



One Stitch at a Time - Love & Valentine

Sweet Stampin - Try something different (Trying artist pencils with promarkers)

Rainbow Lady - All new to me (Image, ribbon, butterfly punch & technique)

Crafty Purple Frog - New things

Crafty Hos - Monochromatic

Getting crafty with Ann - Hearts

If the shoe fits - Ribbons & Bows

Colour Create - Pink, Red & White

Crafts & Me - Paper Tearing & I've got a new toy!

Its our first challenge of 2011 at Crafts and Me and for the next 2 weeks we'd like to see your PAPER TEARING projects!  I know this is difficult for some tearing all those lovely DP's but you can do it lol!  For this one  got to play with my new toy :D :D :D   I got a Letrajet - Promarker Airbrush System for Xmas and I'm loving it!

I've used a stamp by Hannah Lynn called Glacier Lily Fairy which is first time I've played with her.  I coloured her with promarkers and sakura stardust pens and used a yellow souffle pen on the stamens and dots on mushroom.  Then I got to play with my new toy :D  I didn't mask the image as the airbrush has pretty good control and started with canary going right into the image then some pumpkin then some bands of orange and red.  I used the same colours on the flowers which were white to start with, they take literally seconds to do and dry quickly.  I think we're going to get along just fine and think they go great with the fairies and fantsy type stamps I favour :)

I've finished the design with a few sprays of Glimmer Mist Iridescent Gold which Teresa is now stocking along with dazzling diamonds and pearl, I use all 3 depending on what colour the card is as they give such a pretty finish.  If you're wanting to try them the gold is what is what t says, clear from one angle and a beautiful shimmery gold in the light.  Pearl is the same only a pearly sheen and dazzling diamonds is quite clear and just gives a really subtle sparkle.  DP is from DCWV pocket full of posies stack.

 Showing the airbrushed flowers :)

 And you can see the iridescent gold glimmer mist on here

Would also like to enter into...

Flutterby Wednesday - Open week

Sparkles Challenge - New things (Stamp & Airbrush)

One Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew - New (New technique)

Simon Says Stamp - Newest Stamp

Craft your Passion - Anything goes

Crazy Challenge - All things New

Passion for Promarkers #81 Thank You

New Year and New Challenges from Passion for Promarkers and this week ts all about giving thanks for all those prezzies we got over xmas!

The sponsor is Simon says Stamp who are offering a $10.00 voucher for their store!

Image is by Aspects of Design and is Funky Flowers by Kay Carley which I've coloured with promarkers.  Its not my regular choice of colours but the pantone colour for 2011 is apparantly Honeysuckle which is a kinda pinky red so I decided to have a play with it (I used promarkers in Antique Pink and Salmon Pink with a touch of cool grey 4)  DP's are various including MME and papermania.

Also entering into...

CRAFT - Thank You

Allsorts - Thank You

Bearly Mine Challenge 1!

Happy New Year and we have a brand new challenge blog to come play on woooo!  Bearly Mine Challenges opens today with a sketch (below) so hop over and come see the new blog :)  There are przes to be had too!

Bearly Mine Designs - 2 Digi sets of winner's choice

Crafty Emma - cupcake stamp

 Kenny K - 5 Digi's of Winner's Choice

For this I've used a Kenny K image called Lady Raven coloured with promarkers and mounted on black card which has been embossed with the cuttlebug divine swirls folder.  All DP's are by Bearly Mine Designs and are from the new love dreams set (rock text is a freebe over there too)

Would also like to enter into...

Creative Inspirations - Something New (Kenny K image, papers, large flowers)
Pile it on - Brand spankin new (Image, papers, large flowers)
Sew many challenges - New
Stamp n Doodle - New
Marks finest papers - New