#AltenewColoring.... It's a day to celebrate

 On a recent order from Altenew, they added a colouring in card... and today I finally got around to colouring it in.

Included in my order was The Pocketful of Sunshine artist markers, so I pulled two of them out to colour up the card.  I used a couple of Copic markers for the leaves. I trimmed the panel and added it to some yellow card and stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Birthday Bliss set,  Added a few iridescent confetti drops to finish.  Really happy how it turned out as yellow is not in my usual wheelhouse.  

Red Florals for Christmas and a Birthday

 I saw the December challenge the Flower Challenge and knew what I wanted to do...

 

I have a few Christmas digital images from Gracielle Design and one is a hanging Poinsettia. A Christmas Hello set...

I printed the flower and the sentiment from the same set onto white card.  I used two of the dies from Pink Fresh Studio's essentials mini slimline card.  I used Copics to colour up the flower and and then added it to the red die cut frame and then onto the white mini slimline base.  I added some white pearls to the background florals.  A very CAS card for Christmas.  

This morning we had to pop into our Local Mitre 10 (hardware store) to get some hooks and screws to repair my wardrobe that collapsed yesterday... and while I was there I picked up some Valspar paint chips and chose reds and greens so I could do a red flower. 

I used Altenew Fantasy Floral 3D die to layer up the three colours of the paint chips.  The leaves are only one layer.  I used a Gina K Designs sentiment which was white embossed.  I added some white pearls to finish.  I used Gina K Master Layouts 2 to cut the black and white layers.  I added to a red top fold US A2 card base. 

Just one more week at work before I take my Christmas break.  I had planned to have been in Perth Australia this Christmas and took 4 weeks leave, but COVID put paid to that plan.  But I decided to still take the 4 weeks off and just relax.  We might go North for awhile to visit our friends.  The hard border around Auckland is being lifted on Wednesday night, and as we are both double vaxxed we can travel..  

Take care everyone.  

WWC 313: Tristan's Challenge - All Things Masculine

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Tristan is our hostess this week with All Things Masculine challenge.

My card today is a Birthday card.  

This is a mini slim line - just a little bit smaller.  Mini's are usually 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" - but I accidently cut this one to 3 1/2" x 6" -  Just perfect to showcase this cute Tim Holtz Blueprint stamp.  It was part of Simon Says Stamp Stamptember - way back in 2015 and believe it or not... this is the first time this one has been inked up!  I stamped it directly on the case base and used Copic markers to colour it.  The sentiment is from another Tim Holtz set.   A truly CAS card. 

June CCC Reveal.

Hi there.... Over at The Card Chain Challenge it's reveal day.

I have taken part in a large number of the swaps.... For June my card went to Linda in Michigan, USA

I used the beautiful stamp that I was gifted by Altenew. It is called "A Gift for You" and also has an personalised greatting.   I stamped the flowers and used some teal and green Copics to colour before fussy cutting the image.    I used the sentiments from Hello Gorgeous set also from Altenew.  I used the Copic marker to colour up the little piece I added at the side with some gold washi tape.  A fairly CAS card.  

No Blending Copic colouring

I recently watched Yana Smakula doing a video for Simon Says Stamp on a technique she called No Blending Copic colouring.  I have a few Copics... but many need replacing or refilling so I struggled with finding some colours that went together to try this out.  I did lots of practising to find some colours that worked

You can see different combos - but in the corner you can see the colours I chose.

I used a digi stamp from Rachel Vass Designs.  My blogger friend Cindy Chiu is s designer for Rachel and got me onto her designs.   This one is called Springtime Background   I added some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the centres and around the side and bottom of the sentiment.  It was part of the digi set so I added it before printing.  Added some dark grey pen around the sides.  I used black pen to colour the spaces on the image.  

I just love this image and have also got more Rachel Vass's designs.  Look out for some more in August for Die Cut Divas where Rachel is our sponsor!  I'm sure by then I will have a few more images.  Her flowers are stunning.  

Looking forward to spending some time crafting this weekend.  The forecast is for wintery rain and wind, so best place to be will be in the craft space!  This week I moved my old TV into the space so I could work there on the days I'm working from home..  More time in the office now.  This week Mon- Wed in the office and Thurs - Fri at home... which worked well as we had two meeting with the kitchen designers.  We are down to two now... both different designs.  One a bit cheaper and the other one a bit more high end and a bit more expensive.  Not too sure which we will go for, but did love the second one where the over bench pantry doors are a wood veneer.  It looks stunning and I think will be worth the extra cost.    Hopefully by end of next week we will make our decision.    Exciting if somewhat scary on how much the whole thing is going to cost!

Christmas Teddy

Hi there.  It's a new month so time for new challenge at Die Cut Divas.    Our challenge theme this month is WINTER OR CHRISTMAS 2019.  We have two sponsors

 

I used Xmas Teddy with Gift for my card today

 I printed the image onto white card and also onto the same paper as my background.  I then paper pieced the dress.  I used a mixture of Copics and Altenew Alcohol markers to colour the image.  I die cut the image with a Nellie's Die.  and added it with dimensional tape to the patterned paper.   The sentiment is some washi tape added to some white card.  

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas and show us your Christmas cards or Winter cards. 

Spots and Dots at Southern Girls Challenge.

It's my team's turn to showcase our designs at Southern Girls Challengee today.  Our theme is Spots and Dots and we have two lovely sponsors this time

I used a gorgeous image from The Paper Shelter called Hammock Days.  It comes with a background you can print as well as a fully coloured image and JPEG and PNG files.  I took the precoloured background and using Word in Microsoft Office suite, added it to my base card.  I then used the PNG uncoloured image on top .

I used Copic markers to colour up the hammock image.  I added white gel pen dots to the leaves, flowers, the headband and top of the girl, and added white dots to the blanket as well as black dots to the white flowers.  I had little bits of Copic colouring to the leaves and flowers to give some more dimension.

Do come join us at Southern Girls Challenge for our latest challenge... Spots and Dots. 

One Layer Wonder and a little Toucan

Hi there.   I can't believe it's the weekend again!  Where has the week gone????  I don't seemed to have done much -  it's been cold and wet so have been hunkered down in front of the heater each evening so not much crafting done.  So today I race around and got the house work done, some veggie soup on, pull apart bread made (with the help of the bread maker) cookies baked and slow cooker casserole started... so time to have a bit of a play.   My first card is is a little Toucan I started last evening and finished off this afternoon

I used my Prismacolor pencils to colour this wee cute up.  The sentiment was masked so I could get it on two lines to fit in the Penny Black Chat Bubble die.   As it is a CAS card but I wanted some extra texture, I used a tropical flower die from Darice to emboss the background.  A few 3D liquid drops finished it off.

Plus I did Day 1's home work from Altenew Academy class " One Layer Wonders" which Kelly Latevola is teaching.  Day 1 was about giving the perception of a raised layer across the card.

Well this was definitely PRACTICE!  So many errors.  First off I didn't stamp the sentiment in the centre, but happy with the masking of the little sentiment.  Next I must have moved as I got some double stamping...then I realised I'd not used Copic friendly ink so some of it smudged when I went to colour.   My dark lines went a bit wobbly when I went to add the shading to give the perception of a raised layer... and both my dark and light grey Copics went dry on me.  Oh well that's hand made card making for you.   I did manage to save the sentiment panel by adding the extra flowers which made it look much better.    I do like the technique and will practice some more.  I used the flower stamps from Starry Flowers set with the sentiment from Flower Arrangement set.

Day three's class is there now so I've just turned on the heater here in the craft cave and am going to watch Kelly's magic happen.

Enjoy your weekend... hopefully get some crafting done.   

Coffee and Love Go Together

It's my day to share over at Die Cut Divas ..   Our lovely sponsor is

I got to work with Coffee & Love digital set

I printed the image with the sentiment and used some Copics to colour up.  I then used a Catherine Pooler die to cut it out.  Next I layered it onto the an embossed panel and then onto the card base.   I loved all the sentiments in the set and it was hard to chose what one to us.

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas with our May Flowers challenge.

Something New at Die Cut Divas

Our January challenge at Die Cut Divas is all about NEW.

I have a really sweet image from Sasyaki Glitter and added it to a background I made with a NEW stamp from Concord & 9th

 The plaid background was I stamp I got with a voucher I won.  I stamped in a red ink from Catherine Pooler Designs and then I used black ink to stamp the lines.     I cut the image with an oval stitched die and added a little punched oval with the Sentiment. 

With the change in our financial circumstances.... there won't be too many NEW supplies for me.  I'll be using all the stamps, dies and papers I have on hand.  

Thanks for stopping by

Christmas Ornaments and other Christmas cards

Still making Christmas cards....

Using some ornaments from Catherine Pooler Designs.  I embossed the background with a Holly folder.  The ornaments were stamped with Catherine Pooler inks and die cut with the matching dies.    Finished with a Hero Arts sentiment and some Nuvo drops.

Next up is a very simple card made with stickers

 

I white embossed a sentiment from my Rosie's Studio set onto dark blue card.  I then added the stickers all over the card

and then I did some colouring with my Copics

The candle on this one is a freebie with a magazine.  The sentiment is a Catherine Pooler stamp which I've inked in two colours of red inks.  MISTI is awesome for doing this.  

I now just have to address and send off my cards.   Did some last night and will do some tomorrow... tonight we are watching two episodes of Outlander.  Still a few episodes behind.  

Thanks for visiting

There's no place like Gnome..

Had to start with the pun.... as I purchased Papercraft Essentials #150 yesterday with some Gnome stamps and matching dies..... And of course had to play straight away! 

I CASE'd a card from the magazine ....

After I Facebook shared, one of my colleagues asked to purchase it.... so I had to make myself another one tonight....just changed up the colours a bit...and did  another card "from our gnome to yours"

For the second one I did some masking but I could have die cut the gnome as the free set has the matching die.  I can see a few more examples being made with this set.... it is adorable ..... and yes it does have the sentiment...."there's no place like gnome "

Two for one on the edge stamping

I recently saw Jennifer McGuire doing an on the edge stamping trick and getting two cards for one lot of stamping.  (you can see it HERE)    I decided to try it out today using a Concord & 9th stamp.  It was really easy to do with the assistance of MISTI.  I decided to colour it in two different colour scheme. 

For the first one, I used bright Copic colours.  The sentiment is from the same Concord & 9th stamp set as the flowers.   I added some Liquid Pearls to the splatters.    

On my second card I used more muted colours - choosing my lightest Copics.  I added a few more splatters with a Gold Wink of Stella.   The die cut and sentiment are from a Catherine Pooler set.

I enjoyed doing the same design in different colour schemes. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Make it Masculine

It's the first of September... 1st day of Spring here in NZ... and what a beautiful day it was.  I took time off work to go into the city to meet up with my crafty friend Kim.  Kim and her hubby live in Mandurah near Perth and today were on a 10 hour layover in Auckland on their way to the USA.  They caught the bus in from the airport and we meet up and went for a walk down to the waterfront for a coffee...

So onto my card for the day.   Over at Die Cut Divas our theme for the month is Masculine/Men/ Boys.  Our sponsor is Dies R Us.... they have LOTS of dies and embossing folders and other stuff 

I used a Bugaboo image to make my card and used a Spellbinders die to cut it out

The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn set.   So come and join us. 

The Colour Purple.... my favourite

Yes, once again I'm making a card with my favourite Purples..... and what would suit that better than the lovely Enchanted Iris from Altenew.

I did some google searching to get some idea of the way to colour these.  I used Copic markers
V012, V015 and V017 with a little bit of yellow from a Spectrum Noir pen C3.  I used a couple of greens to do the leaves and a very pale blue to provide a shadow.  I did somehow manage to get marks on the page - hence the well place sequins!   The sentiment is from Beautiful Day set from Altenew.

I also made a very simple card using some  purchased die cuts.  I got 5 packs of die cuts, twines, enamel dots usually $3.99 each for a $1 each.   I don't usually use these sorts of die cuts, but when I need a card quickly they can work well

 

I went to the local stationery store to pick up the white card stock I use and found a pad of this beautiful pearlescent blue card - $4.99 for 40 sheets of A5 card.  Good value. This makes for a nice base and I'm sure I'll be using it a bit. 

Anything Goes for August at Die Cut Divas

New challenge time at Die Cut Divas and it's an Anything Goes 

Our sponsor Elizabeth Craft Designs has kindly given the Design Team so stamps and Dies to work with this month.... and I got Flower Power

And here is my card.

I stamped and Copic coloured my flower and then used the die to cut it out.   I used some yellow embroidery floss to add French Knots to the centre and then did some hand stitching around the purple panel. My sentiment is from a Catherine Pooler Designs stamp set.

Be sure to visit Die Cut Divas and join us for Anything Goes August.

Hello Lovely Copic colouring

Using some of my new products I made a card that I am extremely proud of.   I purchased a Concord & 9th stamp set I've been coveting for awhile.... It's called Hello Lovely and is an amazing large bouquet.   And I had bought three new Copic markers - in shades of Violet/Purple..   So the combination of the two -

I am still learning about shading and colouring and today it all came together on my purple flower.    I was thrilled how it turned out.  I stamped the sentiment over the top of the bouquet.   

I'll be using this set again and again I'm sure as it's so interesting and versatile as I found when I did some Pinterest searching.  Lots of ideas rushing around my head.   

I'm feeling a bit off colour tonight, so not a lot has been done.   Just some blog viewing. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Southern Girls Challenge.. - Retro with Punches.

Hi time for another challenge at Southern Girls Challenge and our theme is go retro - use a punch.

I have a number of punches so had no problem deciding what to do.  Our sponsors this fortnight -

 

I got to work with  Victorian Lizabeth from Lacy Sunshine Stamps

My flowers and the twigs are made with my punches, my frame was die cut.

So pull out your punches and come join us at Southern Girls Challenge (HERE)

My favourite colour....

My favourite colour is PURPLE.... and today it's our latest challenge at Southern Girls Challenge and it's all about "Your Favorite Colour Combo" Our Sponsors this time round are

 

I was lucky enough to get a gorgeous  set of stamps from  Meetu at Krafters Cart to work with.

I made a mask to sponge the purple oval on my die cut background.  I used a couple of Purple inks from Altenew.  I then stamped the little happy squirrel onto some white card and coloured with Copics.  I used some colourless blender on a rag to mottle the fur.  I then fussy cut it out.  The sentiment is from the set together with the Happy Birthday from a Catherine Pooler set.   I used some purple patterned paper for my background. 

We would love to see your favourite  colour combo so come and join us. 

Tag You're It #68

The delightful Gayatri (who I have personally meet!) is the Featured Artist over at Tag You're It and she has given us an awesome tag to inspire us..

I was inspired by the brickwork, the little hearts and the side-ways sentiment and of course the cute little puppy.
Here's my take on it

 

I started by stamping the little Tiddly Inks stamp onto my die cut tag (Pretty Pink Posh die).  I then made a mask so I could sponge the brick background stencil.  I used Altenew Silver Stone ink  for the bricks.  The image was coloured with Copic Markers.  My sentiment came from a set of 25 that came with a magazine I got this week.  I added a few little hearts that are from a Hero Arts set.   I used a fineline pen to outline the hearts.  

My Face Book feed reminded me today that March 2009 was when I first started blogging.  The last 8 years have simply flown by and I am enjoying this hobby even more.  

Thanks for stopping by today.