Wednesday 29 February 2012

A gorjuss girl

Morning all!  Wow not often I say that here is it lol!  Got a few mins before I go and pick the Moo up so thought I'd share one I just just finished.

This is the sitting pretty gorjuss girl coloured with promarkers and I also dragged my coloursoft pencils out and added a bit more to it.  I used papers by Crafts & Me and the spotty one from Bearly Mine separated by a border of black magic coredinations card which is turquoise inside, also used that as the card matting.  I added one of the de la rue swirly die cuts glittered with letratac and glamour dust and a turquoise punched butterfly with added bling on the body, a magnolia birthday sentiment and various flubbers and leaves :)

Thanks for stopping by!



I'd like to enter into...


Tuesday 28 February 2012

Pastels at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Its my turn to pick the challenge this week over at Passion for Promarkers and the theme I've chosen is Pastels as it goes nicely with the new Limited Edition Promarkers just released.  We have 2 sponsors this week so double the chance.  We have Letraset offering a yummy set of the new Promarkers and Digistamp Boutique offering 6 digis to the lucky winner.

For this challenge I used the very cute King Tilda, I love this one she's so cute.  I've coloured using the new limited edition colours of daffodil yellow, april showers, budding rose and fresh meadow.  Papers are the Tatty Teddy spring ones which are a great match and the die cut is a memory box la rue I got it off Caz5555cards on ebay :)  I pressed it down onto some letratac and added some glamour dust then added letratac on the back to fix it to the card.
Ive added mother of pearl flat back pearls, organza ribbon and magnolia sentiment.

Hope you can join in my pastels challenge, you can take part using promarkers, tria, flex markers or aqua markers.


I'd like to enter into...

Celebrate the occasion - Birthday
Cutie pie challenge - flowers
Truly madly crafty - ribbon and bling

Monday 27 February 2012

Don't believe everything you read

I've got my serious face on tonight, yes I can be serious sometimes!  I just want to really bring to your attention that you know the saying "There's always one" well blogger is no different.

Recently a friend of mine on blogger has been accused of doing something by another blogger.  I won't go into any too many details but suffice to say the poster, although she didn't name her, made some accusations and the ensuing comments I can only describe as a witch hunt.  I was absolutely stunned to read comments from people who knew NOTHING about my friend nor had been shown ANY evidence of her 'crime' whatsoever but took this posters word at face value.  I know we do try to see the best in people, hell I'm as gullible as they come, but I was actually incensed reading comments that she should be thrown of DT's and forced off blogger. 

I've followed my friend since 2004 as she is a well established crafter with so many publications under her belt and she's such a lovely person I was so shocked to see people talking about her in this manner based on the ramblings of one blogger who as I said offers absolutely no evidence whatsoever.

I know in the past I have been quite challenging of certain people and would probably have jumped in and commented similar stuff myself in the past but I'm a lot older and wiser nowadays and tend to not believe everything I'm told.  I just want to say PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you see any postings anywhere that makes accusations against someone whether they name them or not then please think before you type out a "Burn them at the stake" response as the person being accused will read that and imagine how upset you would be should it ever happen to you?


Blogger is such a wonderful community and theres lots of great groups out there too but now and then you'll see something like this and people just dive onto the thread in support of the 'hero' poster, well please stop and think next time that it might be about you or a friend too and the effect that can have :)

Thanks all x



Sunday 26 February 2012

Yippee a card!

Evening all!  Blogger let me on again so editting this post!  I have a card to share tonight yay!  I do often spend evenings just colouring and dont make full cards all the time but this is one that made it lol!

I've used the limited edition Raining Hearts Tilda and I'd actually planned to do her dress in glitter white so just wanted to add a touch of grey underneath in the shadows but you know how it is once you get colouring you kinda get carried away so she ended up grey and pink :D

I had some lovely pink Tim Holtz papers and put a mat on the front then I wanted to do half grey so used the very versatile Floral Fantasy papers in the greys from Crafts & Me HERE.   I've recently got some die cuts off a lovely lady on ebay called CAZ5555CARDS who sells small quantity beeeeeautiful die cuts for people like me who just like to try things and this one is the memory box cherish border which I inked up in spun sugar and worn lipstick and glued to the card using letratac which is great for delicate things like these.  I've punched out grey and pink butterflies and added a flower from wild orchid and organza ribbon.  Ive added glamour dust to the little hearts on Tilda and quite happy with this one for a change lol!

Thanks for stopping by :)




I'd like to enter this into...

Totally Tilda - Punches and die cuts
Magnolia stamp lovers - Punches
PanPastelUK - Ribbon



Saturday 25 February 2012

Eefies cake

Evening all! Just about to sink into bath to soak me bones so tonight I'll give you a peek of Eefies birthday cake for tommoz. He was totally u.impressed with original which was plain white with a pink posy on top haha!  I altered it with yummy chocolate fudge icing and borrowed some bricks from his angry birds set and added the awesome angry birds toppers made by my mate Nicola who does fantastic cake toppers and these were her 1st angry birds :)

And my latest scribbles which will be transformed onto a card next week which is the limited edition raining hearts tilda. I've just got some die cuts with hearts so looking forward to this one :)

Well off to read mail in the bath before party tommoz, thanks for dropping by!



Friday 24 February 2012

What a night!

So glad to be hitting the sack tonight!  OHs birthday was going well until DD decided to go out and couldn't find her car key. She turfed house up looking and nowhere to be found but her bag with phone, purse and work stuff was locked in the car so only conclusion was that she'd locked keys in car. To add further problems I discovered her tyre was completely flat. Luckily for her mummy pays for family cover with RAC who arrived in 10 minutes as they often wait at Lymm services just up the road. The guy tried various methods to get in the car then took 20 mins to take the sunroof off and finally got access but no key aaaargh!

No idea where it is but at least she's got her stuff out the car now.

So glad to chill out now :). Got a little pic to share tonight of sitting pretty gorjuss girl who'll be coming to a card soon. Just need to do the hair a bit deeper and add more shadow. Loving the turquoise combo Deb gave me (duck egg, cool aqua, aquamarine and honeydew), added a little ice grey in too :)

Anyway off to bed, thanks for stopping by x


Thursday 23 February 2012

New family member and a ramble :)

Evening all!  Got a busy few days ahead as its OHs birthday tomorrow then Im picking Nan up for the weekend between decorating Ethans birthday cake for his party on Sunday. My mate Nic has made him Angry Birds toppers, will show you when they arrive tomorrow, they're awesome! 
Ethans birthday is on Tuesday so we'll be doing something then too and still got to finish cleaning house *again* 
Was close to meltdown today as Hoover keeps saying its blocked and does it all the time. Id planned my schedule today so that threw me!  Reminded me to chase up my specialist referral anyway and that caused a massive anxiety attack lol! 
In case you didn't know I used to see a clinical psychologist for 6 years who said he believed I had Aspergers. When i was in a work environment you learn to mask but can't say i made too many friends along the way, except last place in Salford as I think they deal with more diversity so dunno maybe they're more accepting of peoples quirks. Anyway being out of a work environment I've got nowhere to hide so the traits come out a lot more which has a massive impact on home and social life so I sought some MH support and psychologist said original diagnosis doesn't stand as he wasn't 'qualified' to give it so she passed me onto psychiatrist who quite frankly had no clue about AS. She said I can't have it as people with AS don't have relationships and babies - umm its hereditary!  So she finally passed me onto another psychiatrist who does know a bit and felt I do display symptoms of AS (no sh1t Sherlock!) so was referring me to a specialist and I've waited months sparkly chased it up and found they've referred me to one in London!!!  OMG massive anxiety!!  I don't do London sorry!  I asked a friend who lives near and he was assessed by one.in sheffield who is one of the leading experts in the world so i rang back and requested I see him instead :).

Sorry I've rambled lol but its also for my own record to look back on as there are so many adults undiagnosed and the hoops you have to jump through are incredible!
I also suspect that the lack of diagnosing is maybe due to the fact that the health trust has to provide services so if adults with AS just don't exist they don't have to dig in their pockets! 

Fortunately im quite a strong character and know the system and complaints procedure so will take it all the way if only so that those behind me will get an easier time. They might not provide services but if they fail to diagnose there never will be any and all these kids who get diagnosed will be adults one day and what is there for them?

Anyway got a little pic to show tonight of our new family member - Sergei, how cute is he!  I was getting email reports of where he was along the way lol!  Glad i got him as hes my fav :D

Will be short n sweet over next few days so toodle pip!


Wednesday 22 February 2012

Letraset's New Stamp packs

Evening all!  I've got a cutie to share tonight :)  Letraset are releasing 2 new stamp packs especially designed for newbies (or more experienced too!) so I'm showing you one of the packs and one in the week.

This one is the Mother's Day pack and included in the set is a sweet stamp which is very large so no fiddle faffy bits, 3 promarkers (Blue Pearl, Buttercup & Pink Carnation) a hints and tips sheet and some sheets of A6 card.  Can I tell you a little secret?  The card in these packs is THE BEST card I have ever coloured on and I've tried lots!




I started colouring this in my usual style with like 5 shades on the skin then I looked again and thought you know it would look better just keeping it simple and achieveable by all.  There's no fancy tricks just plain colouring using the 3 pens in the pack, blush for the skin and tan for the hair.  To get the top darker I just waited for the 1st layer to dry then did a 2nd layer so it looks darker then the jeans :)


This pack will be available at Letraset stockists near you right about now!  Thanks for looking!

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Black & White at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Gosh I'm stiff today, dont know if I slept funny but everywhere hurts ouchy!  Darn fibro!!  Might be a bit stressed too which can cause a flare, my lad having a tough time of it in school and today he came out, threw his bag on the floor and by the time we got to the car he broke down sobbing.  Its heartbreaking as he's only in reception :(  He was having trouble with some boys and OH spoke to the head about it who promised to deal with it blah blah and nothing seemed to be getting done so he pointed out 2 of the boys and I happen to know their mum so WE sorted it hopefully.  I know its 6 of 1 and half dozen of the other but the school never told us anything, Ethan told us.
Today he's hit another kid so is in the grey cloud yet again, I think he's frustrated.  He told his dad he cried because his coat wasnt zipped up but you know your kid dont you and he was proper sobbing.  Just dont know what to do for the best sometimes.  I sometimes feel like the teacher is thinking god not her again when I'm asking for feedback but the thing is he's been seeing a paediatrician since he was 18 months old because of behaviour issues so she SHOULD be feeding back any issues to me seeing as we've got an appointment soon.  Grrrr getting mad now!


Anyway I've got one to share with you tonight which is for passion for promarkers DT and the theme this week is Black & White.  We're sponsored by Tickled Pink Stamps who have provided us with images.

Sorry its such an awful photo, my camera is playing up and phone not much better and scanner I havent worked out properly yet!

If you havent seen already I have a promarker tutorial HERE about colouring in greyscale, its really easy honest so please do have a go as you'll get hooked!

The corner pieces are actually cut out from a corner adourner and glued on and the swirl is sizzix attached with letratac by letraset which is a repositionable dry adhesive which is permanent when burnished, its fab for fiddly swirly things :)

Anyway back tommorrow x


Monday 20 February 2012

New Tilda

Yay my new stamps arrived today, I got stamping tilda and winter skates. Been having a play around but not much time free today booooo!  Did get this started after a couple of mis-stamps. As its a box canvas it dips in the middle so found a solution by the way of a chunk of firm foam so having a little play. Hope to finish it later in the week into a hangy thing lol!  Needs a couple more coats and blending but feeling optimistic :)

Sorry im short n sweet tonight, back tommoz x


Sunday 19 February 2012

A turquoise Tilda

Evening all!  Had a lovely time at craft club, spent the day scribbling away which I find very relaxing :)
I made a card up with one of the images I coloured today using a fab new colour combo I picked up from Debs (Thanks sweetie!) and it uses duck egg, cool aqua, aquamarine (flex) and a smidgen of honeydew (flex)
I added the image which is Tilda with small present, to 2 doilys, OH came in and said it didnt look right, sheesh let me finish!  I said yes there is a butterfly going there and flowers there - Ooooooh!  He of little faith!

I've coupled it with the new papers from Crafts & Me, Floral Fantasy (Can you tell I like them yet lol!)  Tracy had a great idea about the papers too, she said she'd print them out a couple of times and decoupage the flowers and add a simple sentiment in the middle, fab idea!

I've added white brilliance ink to the edge of the butterfly and 3 diddy crystal gems down its centre and a couple on the bows in her hair and the stopper is a nesties labels, embossed and added broken china distress ink.  Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'd like to enter this into...

Make it colourful - Spring colours



Saturday 18 February 2012

A nice easy card

Evening all!  Have finished my rounds of birthday parties today, worn out dot com lol!  They both had a really great time at their respective parties although they were both jealous of the others party bag, always the way isnt it!  Ethan got a whoopie cushion in his and how to amuse a 5 year old for hours on end it was! 
Off to craft club tomorrow for my monthly haven yay! 

Have got a really simple card to show you tonight using the papers I showed last night (FLORAL FANTASY BY CRAFTS & ME) and I'd said I thought these would look nice with just a simple sentiment so thought I'd try and see.

I printed one out and cut a piece of bazzil jewelled cardstock 1/2" bigger then used a corner adourner and popped it in and mounted on a white card base then printed out a sentiment on the PC and used a nesties label to cut it out, embossed then ran a glue pen around the embossed edge and added some glamour dust and 3 tiny roses and a prima flower.
I added some more touches of glamour dust to the edges of the flowers and butterflies.

It was really easy to make and you wouldnt need to add anything really.  I think if you're making several for sale to colleagues or charity then this would be a good choice as you can do really quick makes with them.

Hope you like my lil card, I'm off to bed x


Friday 17 February 2012

New Papers from Crafts & Me

Evening all!!  Wow today I got the new papers just released from crafts and me, they're called Floral Fantasy and are stunning!  Have printed a few off tonight and think they'd look gorgeous on their own with a simple sentiment.

I had a kiddie card to do for a party tomorrow, both the kids have a separate party each tommoz aaargh!  I thought I'd go with one of the Emerald Fairies and popped her onto one of the backgrounds and coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers and added some glamour dust.  I added one of Crafts & Me's silhouette fairies and reduced the brightness of the paper and the opacity of the silhouette.


Here's the papers thats included in the pack, they really are beautiful and are available at Crafts & Me HERE



I'd like to enter into...


Thursday 16 February 2012

Stamping Tilda

Evening all! Just been playing with inky stuff this evening doing some backgrounds so got mucky mitts now :)
Its craft club on Sunday, my escape for the day where I can chill out in good company and colour or mess all day, see you over there gang!
Wanted to mention tonight Im all excited as I ordered a new stamp (or two!). and they're sooooo cute!  This one is Stamping Tilda available here
http://www.creashop-duymelot.nl/nl/product/special-stamp-02-stamping-tilda/
How adorable is that!  Its been shipped so should get in a few days as I've had excellent service from there before.
Anyway will be back tommoz so night night x

Wednesday 15 February 2012

For Janessa

Evening all!  Howz your day been?  The kids went down to their little friends house today and had a ball, its Ethan's little girlfriend and they always greet each other with hugs and hold hands and stuff since they were in pre-school ahhhhh!  He has good taste, she's got blonde curly hair and is a pretty little thing, they're 4 god love em!

I'm back tonight with the one I was engrossed in last night, bit of a story behind it.

A while ago I looked at Hannah Lynn's paintings and saw that one of them is called Janessa.  I have a cousin called Janessa and its such an unusual name I said to Teresa I'd love her forever if that was made into a stamp.  Anyway 1st of this month it was so I sent my cousin a message asking her to pick me 2 colours.  She ended up not getting the message till a couple of days ago and she replied with Black and Beige.  I said dont you like pink thinking awww gawd its not going to look too good,  mean its a Hannah Lynn and they're meant to be colourful!  Janessa said her favourite colour was green so I settled on black and green and got to work.

Its the first outing for this image for me so was only right Janessa picked the colours so I've made it into an easel post it holder so its useful too and added some bling, a feather, flower and a black swarovski heart crystal under the bow.  I unmed and ahhed over the hair as was going to do black but settled on brown as she has brown hair.

I quite like the black and green, will have to bring that out more often :D

So Janessa sweetie this is Inspired by you and your disco costume lol!





I'd like to enter into...

Divas by design - Wings
Flutterby wednesday - Open week
Top tip tuesday - Magical/Fantasy
Truly madly crafty - ribbon and bling
One stitch at a time - anything goes
A gem of a challenge - Fairies
Allsorts - Free and easy february
Charisma - Things with wings
Rainbow ladys - Have a heart
Southern girls - Magic & mystery


Tuesday 14 February 2012

Distressing at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Huff puff just about making it tonight!  Been making one for tomorrow and been totally engaged with it, ever had them where you just cant put it down from start to finish?

Tonights creation is for Passion for Promarkers DT and the theme this week is distressing.  There is a £10 voucher up for grabs for the winner from Joanna Sheen.

For this I did something a bit different.  I started with a die cut from my Go Kreate set then folded it in half, adding paper from Tim Holtz.  The image is Magnolia Hawaiian Flower Tilda and I actually coloured this in bed in the dark using my flashlight app lol!  I used all browny colours and I love love love the look of it.  That colour doesnt work well with everything but looks splendid with that stamp :)

If I remember rightly I used cocoa, cinnamon and the new Ltd Edition pens, March Hare and Daffodil Yellow.

I added distress stickles (antique linen and vintage photo) to parts of it and the flowers and added vintage photo distress ink around the edge and stamped a flower pattern.  The swirls are gold and are a sizzix die.

Hope you can come join in our distressing challenge this week!



I'd like to enter this into...





Monday 13 February 2012

Creations for sale

Evening all!  Im shattered tonight, kids on half term keeping me on my toes and haven't had much time past few days. I think I'll have early night tonight.
Just wanted to tell you tonight that I've put some (lots!) of creations up for sale in my Facebook album. As most of you are crafters and its a bit selling coals to newcastle i'd appreciate if you have any friends who might be interested and share the album which is HERE.
Im on a task this year to pay for the kids holiday in August based on sales of things I've made alone. Sometimes you need to feel a sense of achievement and have a goal that drives you and last year Nan gave me some pennies and I booked a last minute holiday at Rhosydd Bach (blinkie on my sidebar) on the Llyn Peninsula. It was the kids first proper holiday and we all loved it, Molly still talks about it often, even today, so I've booked again for August and the lovely Ger gave me a great discount so Im on mission Rhosydd now :)
They're not priced, they're 'Make an offer'. Dunno maybe peeps would prefer a set price?  Eitherway it all goes towards Mission Rhosydd!
Please do share with friends as Id really appreciate it plus they're in 2 massive boxes and i need space lol!

Sunday 12 February 2012

Kiddie cards

Evening all!  Howz your day been?  Today I took Molly to a party for a set of twins (Boy & Girl) and it was fab!  Us parents were well looked after with coffee and cake and once the kids had had their buffet there was loads left over so the parents were let loose, it was what I call proper party food, cheese and pineapple on sticks, sausage rolls, ham sandwiches etc, dont you just love party food like that :D

At the end of the party Mols decided to make a show of me by hitching her dress up and smacking her bum....!  She gets it from her dad!  She sticks her bum out at home and says Smack my bum and you have to try and smack it before she runs away screaming with laughter :)

I made the kids a card each, I dont usually do kiddie cards much but I have a collection of images because I knew eventually they would start going parties and I'd be needing them! 

The first one is a Teddy Bea from Teddy Bo and I coloured her with promarkers using the new budding rose pink from the limited edition colours and added lots and lots of glamour dust as little girls love pink and sparkly :)  Its edged with distress ink and mounted on silver holographic card and tatty teddy spring papers. 


This one is by Dustin Pike coloured with promarkers and flex and added sakura souffle to the lights on the ufo.  I used a backing paper from bearly mine and punched out some stars.


And a couple of pics of the kids today too.  Ethan and Molly engrossed in Mario Kart on the wii.  Mols cant drive for toffee but she enjoys herself so thats all that counts :)  Ethan can beat me fair and square now, I need more practice lol!



And Miss Moo at the party, took her picture before she got too grubby which never takes long lol!


I'd like to enter into:-







Saturday 11 February 2012

Take one pack of Promarkers - A review of the Limited Edition 2012 Spring Colours

Good evening all!  I have a little review for you tonight of the brand new 2012 Spring Limited Edition colours of promarkers by Letraset.  These are only available for a limited period of time and once they're gone they're gone!

Postie sent me my pack courtesty of Letraset Paul (Fankoo muchly!) and they arrived this morning so after Ethan finished his footie practice I have a whirl with them.



There are 6 in the pack and they are:-

BUDDING ROSE
MARCH HARE
DAFFODIL BLOOM
FRESH MEADOW
APRIL SHOWER
MORNING MIST

I'd already seen these posted up on facebook the other week but its different once you get the pens in your hand and you start scribbling.  One thing I noticed straight away was that there are 2 potential skin tones, a blusher, sky and grass and you'd also be able to do hair so with this in mind I wanted to see if I could colour an image using ONLY these colours.  I have a couple of 'Shoestring tutorials' in my tab up there which are designed for those wanting to try a pack or just a handful of colours so I was looking at if I was a newbie and bought THIS pack would I be able to do anything with it or would I need to expand?


I chose a Magnolia image for this, Beautiful Tilda as I love her wings and love colouring them in in multi-colour so I started with this and used budding rose, feathered into daffodil bloom then fresh meadow and finally april shower.  I quite liked how this turned out so I moved onto the skin tones so using March Hare I added some shadows then some Budding Rose for the cheeks and also added this as a shadow mixing it in with the march hare then used the morning mist to fill in.  I felt it was a bit *too* brown so I used a blender pen to lighten it then added another layer whilst it was still a bit wet from the blender to give more tone.

The hair I used the daffodil yellow and the March Hare as the shadow keeping a bit white.

Onto the dress I added Budding Rose just in the shadow areas then coloured over with the blender and added a little more so so far so good!

Onto the sky I drew in my clouds then coloured the sky with April Showers then coloured over it all with the blender and again repeated.  When that was dry I added a bit of shadow using the april showers underneath the clouds to give some definition.

The grass I coloured the floor bit first with the blender then added the Fresh Meadow using the chisel end then coloured over with the blender.  I then coloured a smaller area in and gave a quick colour over with the blender then when that was dry I added a shadow underneath with the bullet end.

So there you go yes you can do an image using just one pack and a blender pen.  I do have my favourites for skin tones and this wouldnt be my first choice but I think its perfectly acceptable as a combo if you're wishing to try a small pack out and don't know where to start then you have skin, hair, clothes, sky and grass in a pack of 6 pens right here :)



If you're a hardened Promarker addict like myself then yes its a great addition.  The yellow is like a paler pastel yellow, the green is delicious, love the pink and I think that will replace my usual baby pink as a cheek colour and the blue reminds me of stormy sky distress ink :)

BTW the papers I have used are the Taddy Teddy Spring Collection and they match PERFECTLY to these ;)

These pens are available at LETRASET and other promarker stockists.

Friday 10 February 2012

A lightning make

Evening all!  Kids broke up today so I have them for a whole week, and I can UNSET my alarm for a whole week too yay!  I have to drag Ethan out of bed most mornings so I think he'll appreciate a lie in as well :) 

I've got a lightning make to show you tonight using brand new digi papers by Crafts & Me.  I absolutely love them as I love fantasy things, purples, blues and green so was thrilled with these and with new printer they're printing out a dream. 
I wanted to try a really quick make as I usually spend at least an hour on colouring an image alone so I used one of the new digi papers and dropped another digi on and printed out, OK not quite that straight forward but I'll try and explain further down lol!

These papers are called Forest Fairy and you can find them HERE.  There are 30 in the pack and are available for immediate download.


From printing to photographing this took me 32 minutes which must be a recond for me!  OK the arm needs a little more blending but I'll do that tommoz!  If you're familiar with photo editting software (I use paint shop pro) then I made a copy of the paper then then opened up my digi image, May by Sara Burrier Oh it needs to be the JPG format as the PNG is transparent and you DONT want that!

You might need to resize your stamp so do this then I used the magic wand and clicked outside the lines on the stamp then selected SELECTIONS -> INVERT then copied and went back to the background and pasted as NEW LAYER.

With Layer 2 selected in layers panel I clicked on any white bits I wanted removing with the magic wand then used the eraser tool.  This will erase just inside the area you selected with the magic wand and only affect the 2nd layer (the digi stamp) as thats selected.  Most should be OK and only need a touch up but remember you'll need the JPG version.  This then leaves your image filled in white on top of the background so you can colour as you like :)


For this I used flexmarkers on everything but the skin and added glamour dust to the wings and turquoise glitter to the stars then gave it a spray with dazzling diamonds glimmer mist. Really quick make for me and will be handy for last minute birthdays!

Thanks for stopping by and back tommoz x

I'd like to enter this into...

Crafty Bloggers Network - Pink & Blue

Thursday 9 February 2012

Thank You's and a new toy

Evening all! Hope you've all had a great day!  Had a lovely post day today. First I got 2 postcards from the mixed media postcard swap. Im doing mine next week but its so exciting to get my first two, aren't they fab!
The one with the flower is by Jenna and is canvas and material and very sparkly and the strange but beautiful one is by Cindy in Canada, love them both, thanks girls!

Then this afternoon my new printer arrived!  I wasn't expecting it until 20th and im thrilled with it. I can't believe how much they have evolved since my last one which is easily 10 years old and this is a 3 in 1 and half the price I paid for old one!  Its so fast and touch screen and swishy!  My old one was getting well past it and leaving lines and flecking round the printing and my separate scanner broke a while back so I decided to invest in a new one given its used about 5 times a week and as there is a newer model to this one that means the price dropped and its so much more sophisticated than the 2 we have here so im well happy with it :D

Anyway that's my news for today. I'll have something nice to share tommoz using my printer and promarkers of course ;)

BTW have you got your new limited edition promarker colours yet?  Im excitedly waiting for mine, can't wait!




Wednesday 8 February 2012

Use a new image at Crafts & Me

Evening all!  Blimey where's the time gone tonight?  Still got loads to do tonight so flying by with my DT for Crafts & Me and this week I'd like to see you use a new image.  Doesn't matter if its rubbah or digi or even if its brand new today or a year old so long as it's its debut performance.  We all have them don't we lol!

For this I've used a new rubbah which will be debuting at the Stevenage show on Sunday so if you're there pop over and say hi to Teresa and Tracey on the Crafts & Me stall.
This stamp is one from the new Jasmine Becket-Griffith collection and is called Emerald Angel.  I coloured with promarkers in similar colours to the original (although not a patch on it lol!) but I think I'd like to see this one in lighter pinkys and purples.  I made quite a basic card as the team all contribute to the show books so if you go to the stall you can see a live example of all the rubbah stamps they sell but we also keep them quite simples so the books dont get too bulky :)

So I do hope you'll join in my little challenge and get round to using that new image that hasnt had an inking yet :)



I'd like to enter into....

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Colour theme at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Its Tuesday again (just about but you know I'm a cinderella blogger!) and that means another challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week is a colour theme of Purple, Lilac and Grey.  I was a bit dubious at first but I think it turned out nicely and the grey complements the purple really well.
There is a great prize from Whiff of Joy stamps this week - you get to choose one from their store and theres loads of gorgeous ones!

For this I used a new Magnolia stamp - Tilda with peony tails which is coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers and added glamour dust to the peony.  I used the flexmarkers to create the shadow around her and mounted on card and papers cut with a go kreate die.
Fnally treated myself to some new C & B plates really cheap off ebay,  Not official ones and you need to use a shim but for the price I can live with that :)  Means everything is cut out much cleaner now so I've gone a bit mad die cutting everything lately!

Anyway hope you like my DT offering this week and hop you have a go at the colour theme as you can see it works out really nice :)


I'd like to enter into...




 



Monday 6 February 2012

Monochromatic magic at Crafty Cardmakers

Evening all!  I'm early tonight as I dont think I'll be standing much longer!  Had awful headache last night and I kept thinking it was because I was tired and if I get some sleep it will go away.  Of course it doesnt and I had no sleep - The simple sloution would have been to get up and take some paracetamol but it was too cold lol!  Serves me right!

Anyway onto Crafty Cardmakers DT and they would like to see Monochrome this fortnight. There is a fantastic prize on offer by Indigo Blue and also from Digi Doodle Shop so please do pop over to check them out.

For this I went nearly CAS, apart from the stamped letters and base, its as close to CAS that I generally go lol!


I've again used Ladybug Tilda and coloured with cool greys and added black diamond stickles to the base card, punched hearts and stamped letters on 1cm squares.  If you haven't seen my tutorial on colouring in monotones then have a looksie here :)

I'd like to enter into...





Well peeps I just got Mols out of the bath and the water felt so warm and inviting I'm going to sink into a hot bath x


Sunday 5 February 2012

A Maggie Valentines

Evening all!  How you been today?  No snow here boooo!  Been scribbling and tidying today as Ethan has his girlfriend coming round for tea (they're nearly 5 ya know!)  He's just so excited bless him!  Its 11pm and I just decided to clean my desk as when it gets *too* bad it irritates me so now I have everything off my desk on the flor behind me - so much for tidying up!  Oh well as I would say to my OH - Chaos Theory!  It will all come right and look tider than ever tomorrow ;)

Got a maggie valentines to show you tonight, I love this little image which is Ladybug Tilda from maybe a couple of years back but she's so cute :)  I went with a pink and grey theme to match the papers which are Tim Holtz and added some torn paper and stamped the word love and distressed the edges of the paper and image with pumice stone distress ink and also dyed a couple of the flowers with victorian velvet distress ink.
The swirly boingy things I think I saw these the other day in a packet with Magnolia on, well mine are from the works, well actually carols crafts which sell a lot of the embellishents the works sell ;)

Anyway thanks for stopping by, I' off to tidy up some more as it really is a mess lol!


Promarkers used:

Skin - Ivory, blush, coral, cinnamon
Hair - Pastel yellow, burnt sienna, cinnamon
Clothes - Ice grey 1, 3 & 4, sunkissed pink, dusky rose, antique pink


I'd like to enter into...

Just Magnolia - anything goes/valentines
Joanna Sheen Challenges - Love is in the air
Sarah Hurley - Love is all around
Magnolua down under - love is in the air
One stitch at a time - with love
Di's digi designs - Valentines
Gingerloft - Love s in the air
Bling it on - Love
Addicted to stamps - Valentines
By the cute & Girly - Love is in the air

Saturday 4 February 2012

Im blind!

Evening all!  Gosh isn't it cooooooold!  Im a tad peeved we don't have snow yet, we've got lots of frozen slush which will make the roads lethal. My car went round 2 corners sideways on way home today and I was bearly doing 10mph so fortunately steered it back but its much worse out now. Much prefer snow, people become friendlier as they walk rather than drive and I love the quietness it brings :)

Anyway sharing a work in progress tonight. Zoe from make it crafty has been encouraging people to ditch the black inkpad and try something lighter. Not to be one to do anything by halves I went for peach bellini which is *really* light!  Oh my word I think I've gone blind trying to do these!  I think I'll leave it till daytime as I like to plonk in front of the box with a pile of colouring and I can't see it lol!  Looks ok so far so will show you finished one next week :)

Thanks for the comments on my tutorials, I hope you're enjoying them and do let me know what else you'd like to colour.

Night night and stay warm peeps!


Friday 3 February 2012

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Monotone

Good Evening all!  I'm back again with another promarker tutorial for you and this time we're looking at colouring in monotone.  It might seem a bit daunting as of course your colours are somewhat restricted but in case you haven't noticed my banner up there you'll see I kinda quite like colouring in monotone and hope to teach you how to do this and *think* in monotone :O)


Firstly I would HIGHLY recommend using an image you're familiar with.  Doesn't necessarily have to be the easiest one just one you personally enjoy and are familiar with.  If you've previously coloured one in photograph it then use your photo editting software and turn it into GREYSCALE.  A lot of the free programs also do this.

This will be your guide whilst you train your brain to think in monotone.  So firstly grab your coloured image, I've used Miss Mirabelle by Hannah Lynn (Crafts & Me)

 Next use a photo edting program and turn your image greyscale (I think photobucket does it).  Print it out or save it on screen.  This will give you a great guide how dark or light colours are in greys and help with shadows and highlights



OK feeling confident?  Grab a full set of greys - I use COOL GREY 1-5 plus the BLENDER.  If you think in terms of skin tones then the blender will be equivalent of ivory, cool grey 1 will be your blush and cool grey 2 your vanilla or colour you use for shadow. 

For the skin tone I started with the darkest colour first in the shadow areas on the skin so use COOL GREY 2 and add some shading.


Next use your COOL GREY 1 which will be the equivalent of your blush and working from the dark into the light blend the colours in



Then to finish the skin off use your blender which is the same as ivory and it should be looking nice and luminous like below :)

Next look at your greyscale image and you'll see the bra bit is darker than the top so I used the darkest greys here COOL GREY 4 & 5 and a lighter mix for the top COOL GREY 3 & 4.  If anything appears to dark just run your blender over it lightly and let it dry.


Then onto the hair, I used COOL GREY 5 for the darkest parts at the roots etc then blend that in with a mid tone COOL GREY 3 then the lightest bits are COOL GREY 1.  You can also leave a bit of white showing or again use the blender to lighten the highlight points.



And here she is completed!  I only did one layer on this one but you can add a bit more depth to it doing a 2nd layer or using coloursoft/prisma pencil too 


Here's the 2 completed side by side.  Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and do have a go at this lovely technique, you'll be hooked!