Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Better late than never.... I finally got time to make a card for the Coffee lovers blog hop.  It finishes today.

I used a beautiful digital image from Graciellie Design;

Used Prismacolor pencils to colour it in and then cut it out with my Scan'n'Cut to trim it out.  Also used the SNC to cut out the circle sentiment.  The background was embossed with a folder and lightly sponged with a teal ink.

Glad to have had the energy today to make a card.  I am still not 100%  but getting better.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Winter Blues....

Hi there.  Yes winter has arrived here in NZ.  There's been cold winds, snow skiffs down south and in general just cold and wet here in Auckland.   So what better theme for our new challenge at Southern Girls Challenge

Our lovely sponsor is

 

I've used  the delightful Warm Hand Warm Heart image

Isn't she so sweet... and a warm hot chocolate is just the thing for a cold winter's day

Thanks for visiting. 

Birthday wreath and butterfly.

Hi there.  I had some fun the other day with some freebies from Simply Cards & Papercraft issue 173.  There was an embossing folder, some dies and stamps.  

I made a very CAS card, embossing with the folder and using my pencils to colour in the flowers.  Added some Nuvo drops and 3D liquid drops around the wreath.  I die cut the butterfly in the soft blue and some vellum and layered together.  Added some blue 3D drops for the body.  Finished with the birthday sentiment that was with the freebies.  

Do come and visit me tomorrow as I have some exciting news to share. 

Beautiful Day roses and some colouring.

I finally managed to get some crafty time on Friday evening and today.    Yesterday I watched a video on FB by Sharon White.  She had used  Oxide inks on her background, added a few other stamps then added the Beautiful Day stamp from Altenew.   I don't have many Oxides - in fact only 4 colours, but decided to give it a go.  When I went to stamp the roses, I wanted a really vibrant ink so as to stand out from the multi coloured and stamped background... so my handy dandy Catherine Pooler inks came to the fore....

I used all four of my oxides on the background... smooshing them directly to the card and spritzing the life out of the card..  As it's not watercolour paper I was surprise how well it stood up to that.   Dried it then used the oxide to stamp a crackle stamp, a line of music and a harlequin background stamp all over.   Dried that and added the rose outline in Versafine and then added the 2nd and 3rd layers in the CP inks....same with the leaves. These inks are so vibrant and saturated in colour.    Added a sentiment from another Altenew set - double layered in white card.   My base card looks black but is in fact a very dark grey.    I was very happy with the results.   I also did some Altenew stamping inspired by Yana Smakula - did background stamping on a 15cm x 21cm piece of card and cut into two panels.... still have to finish off so will share once I decide how to complete them..

I'm adding this card to the Floral Frenzy over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge 

Today I was home alone as my Dad and hubby were off helping a friend put in some windows.  So what's a girl to do when she home alone and the weather isn't great..... colour of course.  I should have been doing some more of my Altenew homework and a couple of DT cards that need doing, but decided to take part in Kit and Clowder's Confidence challenge.... Alyce challenged us to make a start of a class... I saw a super cute La La Land Marcie Cupcake free class and went and purchased the digi image and made a start..... of course once I started I had to finish... so a couple of hours later I did!  And made it into a card

The class video showed Alyce colouring this in Copic markers.  I didn't have the colours in my Copics so used the Prismacolors conversion that was provided with the class and coloured away.  I'm so happy with the result I achieved.  I added the grounding which wasn't shown in the class and added a little sentiment from Altenew.    Now I must finish off February's flowers and make a start of March's seaside scene.   And of course do the card I NEED to do for my teams!

Hope you all have a great weekend and get your craft on too!

Pop it Up!

OMG - I almost forgot that I had a Design Team card due this morning!  So a very quick trip to the craft room and a card made it up on to the Southern Girls Challenge in time. Our theme is Pop it Up.....

The sponsors this time around are

and 

I used a cute image from Lacy Sunshine called Emily - Snow Princess.

I used a MFT oval die cut from sparkle foam and used some 3M mounting tape to add it to the card.  I added the tape to the main image as well.  I added some flowers I made with a Heartfelt Creations stamp and cut out with my Scan'N'Cut, then molded using the Heartfelt Creations Basic Flower Mold (available from Artfull Crafts) 

I'm looking forward to the weekend, as my Dad is arriving to stay with us for the next two months.... it will be great to have him here.  Maybe I'll be able to persuade him to come and live here... who knows!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are getting your craft on this week.

February CCC.... love is in the air.....

I heard that my CCC recipient has received my card so I'll share it here.   Our themes for February were: Dogs / Hearts / Friendship and we had a sketch to follow.

I decided to use all three of the themes and the sketch

I used a very cute image from Tiddly Inks.  I practiced my fur colouring on these sweeties.  I die cut a heart to frame them.  I used some heart PP to follow the sketch.  And my sentiment is for my friendship theme.  I added this to the Tiddly Inks Challenge.

And today I decided to enter another card into the Tiddly Inks Challenge. - Give Love. 

This is Wryn - Have Heart and I used my pencils to colour her up.  I added some PP with hearts on it.  I love how my colouring has improved over time with doing the classes at Kit and Clowder.  

I'm looking forward to my weekend as my stamping group is meeting - it's been a while as we all have been very busy.  And one of our member Sandie had a heart attack last Sept and is only just getting back on her feet.  

Thanks for visiting today. 

More colouring....

I can't stop practicing with my Prismacolor pencils.  I did some more colouring on Tues morning prior to driving home.  It was my first time driving hubby's Nissan Maxima home on my own.   It took me an hour and a half.  The first part is on windy country roads then onto open motorway.  I admit to being a city driver!

Any way I got this piece finished and made into a card on Tuesday night

The flower is a Concord and 9th stamp and the sentiment is from a Kaisercraft set. 

As I was home alone Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I did even more colouring....

 

These are from a MFT set.   I have now cut them out with my ScanNCut and will use them on cards soon.  

And I did some more fur colouring on a teddy.  Here's a sneak peek at the colouring.  The card will be revealed on the 8th for my Southern Girls Challenge post. 

 

Quite happy with the fur on this one.   It is such a tiny image it was quite a challenge to colour.  See room for improvement but practice, practice, practice.....

I'm now back up at Mangawhai, having driven up after work today.  I'll be happy that hubby will be driving home on Tuesday.  Yes another long weekend.  Get used to short work weeks.... which it could continue!    Two full weeks then another  4 day one. 

A little Tea Mouse

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

and I've used a cute little mouse in a tea cup for my card today

I'm taking some classes in using my Prismacolor pencils so I used them today on my little Mouse.  Still lots of practice required. 

Here is the WIP for my January class

I can highly recommend the Kit and Clowder classes - either the one off classes or the monthly classes (that's what I'm doing)

And be sure to join us at Die Cut Divas this month as well.

Magical Dragon - MFT Sketch challenge

I can finally enter the MFT sketch challenge as I now have two sets of MFT stamps.  I have a few of the older dies but finally got some stamps.  I stamped and coloured a few of the dragons from the Magical Dragon set and cut them with my ScanNCut.  This weeks sketch looked such fun I had to use one of them

 

 I started by embossing my panel with a folder and used a Tim Holtz diffuser so I kept the centre circle free of the embossing.  Next I sponged on some green ink (Catherine Pooler Grass Skirt)  I die cut some green PP with two circle dies (one Spellbinders and one Simon Says Stamp)  I added some splatters of Gold Spectrum Noir glitter pen  for some added texture.  My little dragon is sitting on the sentiment strip.   Finished with some green sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. 

 I'm off for a mini break over the next 5 days.... I'm off work till Wednesday 31st, then again from after work Friday next week till Wednesday 7th.  There is a public holiday on Monday  29th so I've taken a days leave each side and then there is another public holiday on Tues 6th so I've taken the Monday on leave.... I like these mini breaks.  And then on Friday 23rd Feb, it's another day off for a Mystery Weekend away.   We have to be at the airport at 2.00 and only then will be find out where we are going in NZ.  Two nights away - flights, accommodation and car hire inclusive.  It was a gift from a company my husband has had dealing with over the years, as a farewell when he finished working.   A really nice treat that I'm looking forward to.  

Hope you all have a great crafty weekend.  Hoping to get some more colouring done while I'm at the beach.    Thanks for stopping by

Pencil colouring.... first class done at Kit and Clowder

I decided I needed to learn how to use my Prismacolour pencils better so I purchased Kit and Clowder's monthly pencil classes.  I started the December class just a few days before the Jan one came out....

Here are some of WIP photos.  The class is split up into episodes that make it easy to follow.

 First section the stems of the flowers.

2nd section was the flowers... Need more practice here! and 3rd section the fur on the teddy

and here it is finished

and made into a card.... minus the sentiment at the moment. 

 

 

I used some light weight watercolour paper which in hindsight was not the perfect paper (Too much tooth) and I also printed it at A5 - should have done it at 5" x 7" which would have made it a bit bigger and easier to colour.   Overall I was pleased with the results, especially the teddy's head.    Plus this was one of the few times I've tried no line colouring with any success.  

Now to try the Jan class.... it is a bit daunting as it is a blond girl with a purple dress hugging a horse with some tiny flowers all over the place. 

Hidden Sentiment.

Hi there.  I've got a fun technique to share today.  It's a hidden sentiment.  Basically you die cut a sentiment from a patterned piece, even if it's a stamped piece, then added it back in with a little dimension

 
I stamped my Floral pattern with Altenew's Flower Arrangement. Lots of masking!  Despite completely messing up one of my flowers, the arrangement is quite forgiving.  I used a die from Catherine Pooler Designs to cut out the sentiment.  I cut the die several times from white card and layered for the dimension.

This was for my NZ Crafty group swap and it is now with Suna. 

I have entered this into the No Patterned Paper challenge at Allsorts 


And today I spend some time working on my pencil colouring by starting a class from Kit and Clowder.

I'm now working on the flowers.  I've used some watercolour card which has a bit too much tooth but my normal card stock is a bit smooth.  I'm enjoying the process but need LOTS of practice.

thanks for stopping by

CAS(E) this Sketch # 253 and Altenew Inspiration Jan 2018

I have finally set up my new ScanNCut machine... and am starting to play.

Today I saw a sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch that looked so nice and easy to do.

 

Just love the simplicity of the sketch.  Right up my alley for sure.   I decided I wanted to do a sort of wallpaper look to the top portion.   So out came some Altenew flowers (Amazing You set) and some masking tape.... 

I also stamped one flower and two leaves onto some card and coloured in with Prismacolor pencils.  My new machine got a try out, cutting them out.  Made the border a tad too large, but that was okay.  All in all - awesome! I popped the cut out flower and leaves on some mounting tape.   I really like how this turned out. 

The colours are taken from the Altenew Inspiration for Jan 2018

 

As this is an encouragement card I am also adding it to the challenge at CASology - cue word Encouragement 

 

And also the "Something New" Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  - using my new ScanNCut is my something new!

 Off to try some more stamping, colouring and cutting...

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty Haul and an Arty Card

Hi there.... I had the day off on Friday and went and spent 5 hours at SENZ - the big NZ Craft and Scrapbook Expo.... and also spend A LOT OF MONEY!   I had a great day, didn't do any classes, but a few make and takes... and just walked round and round looking and buying

Some necessities - Glue and stamp cleaner, a glitter pen, and Stick It... and then some new dies, stamps and stencil.  Plus some Oxide Inks and Altenew Inks.  I also got a couple of packs of foil.  I was sorely tempted with the Couture Creations Foiling Machine...  it was $50 off but still $129.  I couldn't justify it though.  But it's an interesting concept.  See all about it here

So onto a card.  I decided to try out the Oxide Inks first.  

 I smooshed the inks onto my craft mat and then onto the card.  I added some sponging as well and then spritzed to get the Oxidation going.  I looked at the background piece and decided that stamping my new Stampendous stamp over the red part.  I used Prismacolor Pencils to colour the birds and the hair.   I thought it needed a little something, something to balance it up so added some sponged blue oxide ink through a little circle stencil and added some more water.    A little Artsy.

I wish I had more time to spend crafting... but I need to work to pay for it!   I went through my card stash today and have around 40 to sell.... will take them to work to see if I can sell them there. 

Hope you all are having a great weekend... Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends and Happy 4th July weekend to my American Friends. 

Floral Bliss

On Monday I didn't get much stamping done but managed one before having to tidy up and head home.

I did another card with Floral Bliss from Simon Says Stamp. 

I masked off a panel in the middle of my card and did some stamping... selecting part of the stamp so as not to have the side leaves overstamping each other.  I used my Prismacolor pencils to colour.  I edged the mask area with a black sharpie and stamped the sentiment from a Lavinia Stamp set.

I had a really good weekend... a total of  10 cards made.   And this Saturday I'm meeting with my group of friends for a full day stamping.  

Sunday I am off to have High Tea at The Langham ( an Auckland hotel that does High Teas in their foyer area.  My friend is taking me and a few friends to celebrate my birthday which is next Wednesday.  It's my 60th and I'm freaking out a bit!   We have a lovely family dinner planned for the 17th - going to a posh restaurant in the city.  That I am looking forward to!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend

CAS Pink and Yellow

Over the past couple of days I have made a couple of cards for CAS challenges.

The first card was for Addicted to CAS - Pink.  

It is a Stampin' Up set called Beautiful You.  I used some Stampin' Up kraft card

And I did a Yellow version

This one has been entered into the CASology Challenge - Cue word WARM.   The lovely yellow colour spells Summer to me - warm weather and sunshine.
EDITED:  was lucky enough to be an Honorable Mention for this yellow card

My intention is to make a few more in different colours to make a set to give to a friend.  I love the Prismacolor pencils on kraft card... it really pops.

Thanks for stopping by.  

It's April!

Can you believe it's April already!  Where is the year going? 
So 1st of the month means some new challenges underway.  Two of the teams I am involved have their monthly challenges starting. 

Over at Die Cut Divas, we are have a Birthday Challenge.  The team got to work with some images from Fabrika Fantasy. 

I chose to use a pre-coloured image and then enhanced it will Prismacolour pencils

A great way to get a card made quickly. 

And over at Chalk'n'Stock we have our usual "Anything Goes".  As usual, chalk needs to be used on your project.   We are sponsored by Bugaboo and I used a sweet Easter image

My background was made with a stencil and versamark and then I used chalks to colour it up.  I made the sentiment on my computer. 

We finished Daylight Saving over night... which means winter on it's way!  However with a temperature of 25C degrees (77 F.)and very humid.    I spent some time indoors creating... but that's for another day!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Tag You're It! - and some colouring....

Had a fabulous weekend just playing with my stash... I did some colouring, embossing paste and Pixie powders, and made a tag for the Tag You're It challenge. 

The guest designer for Tag, You're It this time is Marion Vagg and here is her delightful sample

Here's the tag I was inspired to make

I took my inspiration from her embossing paste background, focal flower, and use of black labels for the sentiment. 

I took a manilla tag and used a Hero Arts stencil and some light modelling paste and covered some of it.  I then gathered together some already cut die cut elements... blue vellum leaves, some green sprigs and an Altenew flower coloured with iridescent paint and fussy cut, and added them to my card.  I used my computer to print the sentiment which I trimmed and added to my tag.  All in all very happy with the result. 

And here is the technique piece I did with some embossing paste and Pixie Powders (similar to ColorBursts) - following a video by Ingrid Blackburn I watched.

It really shimmers in real life as the Pixie Powders have a lot of mica in them.   I also pulled a pattern off the watercolour on the stencil.  It's much less as bright and graphic, more smooshed and abstract but will use it for something.  Not sure what I will do with this one yet but it is too nice to cover up!

And finally I did some pencil colouring using Gamsol (mineral spirits) after watching a Gina K video, 

I did this on some 200GSM watercolour paper but feel it would have been better on a smoother card.  However, the result looked quite amazing.   I splattered some black ink on the background and white embossed the sentiment onto black card.  All the stamps are from an Altenew set. 


I'm entering this into the challenge at City Crafter Challenge - Spring is around the corner.  From the inspiration photo I took the word flowers and thought about spring flowers and also another entry into The Flower Challenge.... Anything Goes.   They generously allow you to enter up to 5 times... this will be my 4th entry. 

Hope your weekend was as much fun as mine... with all this crafting as well as quite a bit of socialising with friends! 

Sending Hugs with Southern Girls

It's Team Trace's turn to share at Southern Girls Challenge.  Our theme this time is "Pop it up with foam"  -

We have a few sponsor this month - 

I got to use a pretty little image from ppinkydolls.  

After printing the image in a grey colour onto some watercolour paper.  I used my Prismacolour pencils.  I cut out the panel and matted it in blue before adding fun foam behind the panel.  Sending stamped in some blue ink (from Catherine Pooler Inks)

Come and join us at Southern Girls Challenge - so long as you use foam on your card/project you're welcome!

Dino Girl...

This month's challenge theme at Die Cut Divas is Sentiment Free, and our sponsor is Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps.

I'm here to share my card with you today.

I have used  Dino Girl for my card.  As I am in love with my Prisma pencils I have once again used them

I used Spellbinders Rectangle dies - plain and scalloped for the image.  Added some PP and a mat and then added to my card base.  Such a fun image.

Summer is slow to come to us this year... none of the usual hot sunny summery days... lots of wind and even a bit of rain.   Hoping that it will warm up soon.

Thanks for stopping by.  I really appreciate all your visits