Sun, sand, sea and Wee Goldie the mermaid!

There are lots of inspiring summer challenges at the moment so I decided to use my Goldie digi stamp by Sylvia Zet at Wee stamps for a summer themed card. Unfortunately this shop seems to be down at the moment but an alternative is to get the rubber stamp or buy the topper at Hobby House. I created a background for the image using Craft Artist 2 with sea in the circle and sand outside it in the square.

GoldieWeeStampMermaidCard

I coloured the image using Promarkers. I pushed myself to try some different colours and I like how it turned out.

Hair: Honeycomb, ginger, spice and terracotta

Skin: Ivory, blush, dusky pink, tea rose

Tail: Amber, pumpkin, orange, burnt orange

Flowers: Artic blue, sky blue

Hearts: Antique pink, ruby

Snail: Blush, dusky pink, putty, tan

Bubbles: Aquamarine, soft aqua, turquoise

I added some highlights to the hair using Letraset metallic red gold and to the bubbles with Letraset metallic green and Sakura Stardust green star. Finally I covered each bubble using Sakura Stardust clear star.

GoldieWeeStampsMermaidCard2

I created the background paper and sentiment using Craft Artist 2. I used digital starfish embellishments to match my theme. I edged the papers using Promarkers and matted them onto plain yellow card. The sentiment looks like a sign on weathered wood with chalk writing. I curled the sentiment to make it ‘pop’ and added pearl embellishments.

I would like to enter the following challenges

Pinspirational challenge– I used the colours from the photo to colour my digital papers and designed my sentiment to look like one of the signs on wood.

Crafty sentiments challenge– sketch

City crafter challenge blog– mood board inspired my sand paper and starfisk embellies

The house that stamps built- Sun sand and surf

Passion for Promarkers- Fun in the sun

Crafty boots challenge- Life’s a beach

Eureka stamps challenge- Hot, hot, hot

Incy wincy designs- Sea, sun and sand

Thanks for popping by.

 

 

 

 

 

Wee dreamy dragon recuperates

Wee dreamy dragon recuperates

This is a get well card for a friend recuperating from an operation. I was inspired by this photo and colour scheme from the Fun with Shapes and More challenges.

The colours were perfect for the little wee dragon and I loved the photo so much I wanted to use the elements to make some papers in Craft Artist.

I used the colour matching on the software to get the right colours for the papers. I added a starfish motif to the background paper and coloured it orange. I then used a waves and chevron paper recoloured to match the challenge pallette. I layered onto shimmery mango card from my stash and coloured all the edges and sponged the edges of the card with Spiced Marmalade Distress ink.

I added sweetheart bloom flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and flower gems from stash.
The Dreamy Dragon image is from Wee Stamps and I coloured it with Promarkers. I added a touch of glitter to the middle of the flowers using my Sakura Glitter Pen. I painted the sky using alcohol blending solution to get a sky effect and then painted colouds using my new Molotow white acrylic pen.

I also made the inside. Using Craft Artist meant I could save ink and money by digitally layering the inside.

I would like to enter the following challenges
Digi sketch challenge– Get Well Soon with layout sketch

Fun with shapes and more– colour challenge (inspiration photos and colours at top of post!)
Papertake weekly– Oh how cute
Live and Love Crafts inspiration– things with wings
Natalie and Amy’s Challenge– things with wings

Using a scrapbook layout to make a picture.

Using a scrapbook layout to make a picture.

Something a bit different from me today. My brother recently married and I wanted to make a scrapbook photoframe with a couple of the photos for our house. I’ve blurred several items for privacy reasons.
Since I don’t do much scrapbooking I thought I’d find a challenge layout to help. This one from Stick It Down was perfect as it had a couple of photos on it and the DT layouts sparked off lots of ideas.

This is what I came up with. The title and subtitle are the names of the married couple and the wedding date. Additional embellishments include a couple of our mementos of the day- the heart from the table setting and the wine glass charms we had with our names on them.
The initial photos are taken without the frame- I edged the backing board and edge of the paper with white Acrylic Paint using my fingers. The backing board looks a bit dodgy but there was no point adding another coat as you can’t see it with the frame on.

The 4 main images and papers were made using Craft Artist 2. The backing paper is a scan of the decopage paper my SIL had used for wedding decor.

The papers I used  for the rest of the layout are Hobbycraft Love Collection. I used Barn Door Distress ink on the edges of all my layers. I used red and white Molotow acrylic paint marker pens for my fake stitching + and to write the title and subtitle. I have just bought these and I LOVE them. I am sick and tired of buying pens to use for white writing that are so useless I can’t use them and they end up in the bin. A complete waste of money! The only ones I have that are ok are my Sakura ones but they don’t give me a solid enough effect for many projects. These Molotow ones are amazing- write really well, beautiful for drawing and work on pretty much anything so great for my mixed media work. Sorry I’m gushing but it has been tough doing chalkboard effects without a decent white pen for it!

The large jewel accents were from Hobbycraft but I can’t find a link. I used foam pads on lots of the elements to give some variations in height. One of the papers had this perfect element to use. I used my Sakura Metallic and Stardust pens to go over several elements on the papers to make them pop more….like the frame for this element.

I took a 12 by 12 deep box wood frame and painted it with white acrylic paint (I know….should have just bought a white one!!). I then sponged various shades of teal (using Desert Turquoise and Bahama Blue) on it (some with texture paste added). I then sanded back to give a distressed look.

Not bad considering I don’t tend to scrap much!

I was inspired by the following challenges which I would like to enter
Stick It Down- scrapbook layout challenge.
Divas by Design- anything but a card
Through The Craft Door- anything goes

A bright pattern watercolour card

A bright pattern watercolour card

Hi!
Another attempt at a watercolour card today. I felt like trying something a bit different so I decided to use a Faber-Castell Pitt permanent Pen to build up a pattern based on circles and flowers. I then used my ZIG waterolours to paint it.

I wanted to make all the papers so I echoed my main design and used my Sakura Stardust Gelpen to make them. I coloured the edge of my scalloped card with an Aubergine ProMarker.

I cut a purple and yellow ribbon for the central band. I didn’t have any buttons in my stash that were a good match for the card and since I wanted it to be as handmade as I could I decided to make the buttons. I had previously made a mould of an old button using Siligum. I used Martha Stewart paper clay (red, yellow and white to get orange)  and pressed it into the mould. When it was dry I rubbed some Gold Gilding Wax over the top to bring out the details.

This is a very different style of card for me and I’m not really sure about it!

I would like to enter the following chllenges:-
I followed this sketch from Sketch and Stash Challenge

The colours I used were from the Love to Create colour challenge

A Random Fan challenge- bright colours
Stamp and Create challenge- circles and dots
Crafting for the Craic- something with circles
A Creative Need challenge- textures and/or patterns.

CAS- I will crack these eventually :-)

CAS- I will crack these eventually :-)

Time to push myself out of my comfort zone and do some CAS cards for a change. I thought I’d use this great sketch to help me from Fetch a Sketch.

I saw the gorgeous inspiration photo at JUGS and I thought I might as well really push myself with an unusual colour combo too.

I’m not sure I’m that keen on the result but here it is!!

I designed it using CAP and kept it to one layer but designed it so it looks like a couple (saves money đŸ˜‰ ) I loved the JUGs photo so much that I decided to use the idea of hanging wooden frames. I colour matched everything to the colours in the JUGs photo. I used an emboss and sewn effects on the text.
I added four photos I’ve taken of water lilies. I adjusted them to look sketched in black and white. I then used lime and silver star Sakura pens to outline and colour the images so they’d match my colour scheme and to give the card some pop.

A slightly different style so honest comments appreciated!
I would like to enter the following challenges
Just Us Girls challenge blog– colour challenge (photo above!)
Fetch a sketch– challenge 42 see sketch above
Scrappy FrogsTry Something New
Drunken stampers– all that glitters

Holly birthday!

Holly birthday!

I wanted to make a Winter birthday card for a change. I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday and the Sylvia Zett digi Holly. This picture gives you an idea of the sparkle and shine when it catches the light!

The papers are from Nitwits  and I used a red glaze pen and Lime star pen to give them some extra zing by colouring the berries and leaves around the outside. I used Peeled paint distress ink around the edges of the card.

 I designed the sentiment on Craft Artist and then highlighted the words with lime star pen. I used a ribbon from stash and coloured gems with flexmarker. I’ve taken a close up without flash. I coloured with Promarkers and flexmarkers. I also used my Sakuras over the top of the Promarkers but the effects of these show up better in the other photos with flash! I used a red glitter pen for the hair band, blue stardust for the wings, red glaze for the berries, white souffle and silver star for the snow and metallic red for the bells.

I made a single layer inside using maching elements.

I’d like to enter the following challenges

Stamp and Create Winter Wonderland 
Crafty Sentiments – Anything goes
Card Mania – Happy Birthday
Simply Create – Anything goes for digital papercrafting
Sketch Saturday – Sketch
Pink, pink, pink and orange!

Pink, pink, pink and orange!

Hi!
As you can see I’m getting back into my blogging every day! Another birthday card for Think Pink using Sweet Sketch (a really fun sketch to work with) hopefully I can raise some cash for cancer research with them. I’m finding the murky lighting difficult for photos at the minute- might have to build a mini studio when I have time!

I used the photo of the Stampin’ royalty colours to colour match my digital papers I made on Craft Artist. I used a pink frame with circles. as the basis of my patterns. I then used a pink Sakura glaze pen and orange Sakura souffle pen to add some detailing and to make it pop. I tore some pink fibrous paper and stamped orange circles on it using a wine cork.

I made circle embellishments by printing from Craft Artist and then adding pearls I had coloured orange. I mounted them and my image using foam pads. I then attached my sentiment using pearl brads I had coloured orange and fixed it with a curve on it to add dimension.

I also used a pink sakura glaze pen to highlight the middle of the sentiment.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and flexmarkers.

I designed a matching inside but put all the elements on 1 layer to print.

A good few hours of fun! I would like to enter the following challenges

Sassy Studio Designs –  Think pink
Stampin’ Royalty – colors. Thanks picking me as a ‘top pick’ for this challenge.

Sweet Sketch – Sketch