Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a great Easter weekend. As usual I went to church, then ate too much, but in addition this year, I bought some things from Simon Says Stamp and Seven Hills Crafts amongst a couple of other lovely shops, now that my Lenten buying ban is over. I have to tell you, it's been hard, and I have had a little splurge, but amazingly nowhere near what I may have bought originally!
I've been catching up with the Online Card Classes for Copic Markers and in Day 10, it was all about finishing touches. It reminded me of Kathy's Pop Up Colouring Challenge from August, which was all about lines, and I decided I'd add some details to a lovely little stamp set that Lucie sent me some months ago.
It's just a little scene, with no sentiment, as I wanted the card to speak for itself and to be flexible in use.
I stamped the little girl, the flower pot and the bird from Sunflower Sweetheart (I think it's retired as I can't find details anywhere online) onto some Neenah card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black and proceeded to then add details to the dress and the flower pot with my Copic Multiliner (it's a 0.3). I then coloured in with Copics in the limited yellows and light greens I have.
I felt it looked a bit plain, so I added a blue halo with B000 and B00, but then I thought it looked a bit odd, so I started colouring in the whole of the sky, adding in the outline of some clouds. Then I decided she needed to stand on something, so I added in some green for grass.
I die cut out the panel with my WPlus9 Sunshine Layers die and added it with fun foam to an A2 card base which had some Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid paper on it.
Below is a list of what I used to make this card and where I purchased them. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :)
I love how it looks - just a little scene, and perfect for a spring time card to say Hello to someone.
Thank you so much for reading and for all your lovely comments. I am on the mend with my cold thanks to lots of hot toddies (whisky, lemon juice, honey, and extra whisky!).
Hello again! So it's time for another Copic class and this week it's been all about backgrounds. There were a lot of videos to get through, so as I was a bit short on time, I skipped a couple because I wanted to focus on the two techniques that Sandy Allnock showed us - the night background and creating clouds.
I got quite carried away and made two cards. First up, creating clouds.
I remembered I had a little bird already coloured on some Neenah, so I simply made a quick mask and added the branch underneath, then got to work on creating the clouds above him using my B00 and B000 markers. Sandy uses a B0000 marker, and I think it would look a little better and lighter, but at the moment I'm on a Lenten buying ban on inks, stamps and colouring media, so until the end of March, I'll make do!
I simply sketched the outline of some clouds in B00 and then added additional colour by flicking my B000 upwards. I also used my colourless blender when the colour got a bit too strong. I think I need a bit more practice on this technique, but the results could look really good. I stamped the sentiment in VersaFine Onyx Black and added an outline of my silver Copic glitter pen.
I then added a strip of patterned paper to the side of the card base, before adhering the panel on top with foam tape. I'll be trying this again, seeing as I have the perfect bird set for it.
My next card was made with a Copic background.
It's not dissimilar to the technique I shared last week of the background mat - see Day 8 - but this time I had to get out my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) of Altenew's To The Moon. I bought this as part of my birthday blitz back in November - you see why I'm on a ban? I need to use this stuff before getting more!
In order to get the moon to line up, as it's a layered stamp, I tried using my WRMK Letterpress as a stamp positioner, a la Julia Altermann and am really pleased with the results. I started with the bottom layer in Memento London Fog, and as I find this ink doesn't cover very well, I managed to stamp three times to get good coverage, and it was in exactly the same place each time. I then used Altenew's Ocean Waves and for the final layer I used some VersaMark and heat embossed it on. Looks great!
I then got to work on creating a night background with B24, B28 and B29. I blended, and I blended and I blended some more, I got out the colourless blender and added that into the mix until I was happy with the result - I like the glow around the moon.
I then added in some colourless blender dots, white gel pen and sparkle dots for stars. I attached it to a white background, then to a navy card base. The sentiment was heat embossed onto some scrap navy card, attached with foam tape and then some enamel dots added just because. I love this card!
[Supplies: Clearly Besotted Some Birdie Loves You; Altenew To The Moon; Neenah Classic Crest 110lb card stock; Blue and White Card stock 250gsm; We R Memory Keepers Letterpress Kit; Memento Tuxedo Black; Full Adhesive Post-It Notes; Copic Markers; Lawn Fawn Let's Polka 6x6 Paper Pad; Memento London Fog; Altenew Cool Summer Night; VersaMark Watermark Ink; VersaFine Onyx Black; Wow! Bright White Embossing Powder; Echo Park Hello Winter Enamel Dots; Silver Copic glitter pen; White Sakura gelly roll pen; Scotch Permanent Foam Mounting Tape; Double Sided Tape]
Thank you so much for reading - it turned out to be rather a long post!
Addendum: Must apologise to Aileen for not reminding you all to go over and see what she has done - her card for Day 8 is gorgeous and her night sky is fabulous!
One final thing though, I just realised that last Saturday my blog turned One - an important age for anyone - and I'm extremely grateful to all of you who continue to read and leave me comments, here and on IG and Facebook. It means a great deal and keeps me going!
Thank you all!!
Mid-week Hello! I suddenly realised what day it was, and that I had told Aileen I would post again for our ongoing Online Card Class yesterday.....Hmmm.... So I sat last night and caught up and made a quick and simple card using an image from a Simon Says Stamp set, which is a favourite of mine, and one of the techniques in the videos by Jennifer McGuire.
Day 8 was interesting. It was billed as a card making session using the images we'd already coloured, but had some great extra videos, including one from Debby Hughes which showed a really interesting technique using the colourless blender pen, which I tried and was a bit of a disaster, but I will try again. I stuck with the technique below for creating a background mat in Copic colours to match your image, because it is unbelievably simple and yet very effective.
I'd previously stamped and coloured this image as part of Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge, so it made it even simpler to make. It's stamped onto some Neenah 110lb card stock in Memento Tuxedo Black and then coloured in shades of green (I will start writing them down in future!). I then cut out two squares of Neenah from scraps I had, one 2.5x2.5 inches, the other 3x3 inches.
I adhered the tree onto the smaller square with some double sided tape, and then started to colour the larger panel. I started with my lightest, just colouring in about 2cm around the edge, then highlighted the corners with my darkest shade, before going in with my medium shade. I repeated with the different colours until the blending and shading was to my liking.
I then adhered the tree panel on top of the coloured panel, and then the whole thing onto a white A2 card base. I added the sentiment to the front in VersaFine Onyx Black so it would be really sharp.
[Supplies: Simon Says Stamp One With Nature; Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments; Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Solar White card; White card 250gsm; Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Versafine Onyx Black]
Really simple, but I think it looks effective and I've really worked on my blending and shading!
It was super
sunny today, if a little cold, so I took my camera and tripod outside
and took pictures of the cards outside - better? I love the brightness.
I thought I'd link it up to Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge, because I used up some scraps of Neenah I had lying around. I'm very new to this challenge, but I read about it alot on other blogs, and think I'll enter more often. It's a great idea to make me use up some scraps lying around! It's also going up onto Kathy's blog for the Coloring Challenge.
Please do also take the time to go and check out my partner in Copic Crime, Aileen - she does some fabulous cards and amazing colouring.
Thank you so much for reading, as always, and your lovely comments. They brighten up my day!
Hi again. Weather here has been awful lately - rain, rain and more rain, with a bit of wind. Have to say the girls are loving it - scooting in and out of puddles and poking them with sticks. Whatever the weather, they love life, which makes up for the dark days.
So, I managed to get round to doing some of the Copic class again. It's been a struggle as my mind has been firmly on Christmas cards, but practice is important!
This week it's all about colouring in those tricky colours - red, white and black. I do enjoy working with the grey colours as we covered it a few weeks ago in Day 3. I only had one warm grey (W), but a trip to the local craft shop with some birthday money sorted that out and I now have three. I think I may end up getting all the C and W greys in at least Ciao. They do work well for blending and shading.
The reds on the other hand I really struggle with and will invest in a couple of darker reds as well as a green. Wonder why? Then you have to check out Julia Altermann's video. It really is amazing what the dark green does to the red. That's why I've left a couple of these flowers white - to try out when the next consignment of Copics arrive.
I had a go, however, on the flowers below and don't think they look too bad. I tried this one with some grey shading with a C3:
What is good is that you can really see the difference between the C and W greys:
Apologies for the shadow in this picture - even in daytime, the lighting is quite poor.
Onto the robot vampire (?!?!?! - gotta love some of the images people come up with - inventive!):
I really enjoyed this one, blending the black (100) with the Ws. I struggle still with blending the folds, but I'm hoping that will come with time.
I love the green waistcoat in the last one I did - it's my favourite combination, created because at one point they were the only greens I had!
I decided to be bold and try creating a background. That is a lot of fun! I added dots of lighter blue and colourless blender as well as my white gelly rol pen and Wink of Stella pen (not the brush).
You can tell I'm not really happy with the blending in the folds, can't you!
Anyway, thanks for joining me. I go back to frantically making Christmas cards again - so many, so little time! - and trying where I can to avoid all the releases that are coming in December...... and failing ;)
Don't forget please go and say Hello to Aileen who has been hugely creative in her Christmas cards of late, and colouring up a storm with her Copic classes.
Thanks for all your wonderful and kind comments. I love hearing from you all :)
Hello again Crafty Friends! I've had a chance now to catch up on my Copic marker class. This week it's all been about colouring in 'critters' or cute little animals as well as using the colourless blender to add texture. As Aileen reminded me that the next couple of classes are about using images in cards we've decided to not make any this week and save them for the next class.
I had a lot of fun with this class using as many different colours as I could to see what I liked for fur. It was also really interesting using the blender pen. I found you have to be quite patient with it and leave it to dry before you see if you need to use any more to reach the desired effect. Something that isn't easy, as it's clear!
I enjoyed adding in fur:
And also being creative with patterns:
I loved the use of the blender pen to mark stars on a night background:
I found that some of the images bled quite a bit as I was using odd colour combinations and trying to blend them together - it's all about practice.
The best bit about this course is that my sister, who is staying with us for a few days in the craft room/spare bedroom, watched Sandy Allnock's video with me and was really fascinated by the pens and techniques. I coloured the first two images and then we all headed to bed as it was late. When I came into the craft room yesterday morning I was so confused as I was convinced I had only coloured two not three images when it dawned on me that Rachel had done one after I'd left!!! She did a fabulous job, I think you'll agree, after only one lesson:
Had me laughing all day!
Please take the time to visit Aileen and see how she's been using the colourless blender and what funky colours she chose for her doggies and foxes.
In other news, I've been adding labels to my Copic Ciaos. I've been getting a bit annoyed by not being able to see clearly what the colours are. Some have already unfortunately come off, and added to that, one of the lids on my most used colours is sticking really badly, and despite having given it a bit of a clean, I fear it may break the pen as I'm having to force it. It's making me wonder whether in the long term the more expensive Sketch may be an idea (the lids slip off beautifully on the two I have) - although it will restrict me to fewer pens..... We shall see!
Thank you so much for reading and for the time you take to read and leave comments. Each one of them is truly appreciated. Thank you to those of you who are new to my blog - please leave me a comment if you are, especially if you're over from Aileen. I love to visit other blogs and comment on as many of you as I can. Just make sure you're not a 'no reply blogger' - you probably don't know if you are or not until someone tries to contact you and can't. You can Fix It! really easily.
I have loads of child care this coming week as my parents have taken a cottage nearby, so some time to craft and make the much needed Christmas cards is coming soon!
Welcome back to Day 5 of the Copic class. This week it's all been about skin and hair - something I definitely need to practice at. Here are my practice sheets - the green skinned and red haired alien woman was Anne's idea as she joined me in a bit of colouring practice, although with her sitting on my knee it proved less helpful to me!
I realised I'd started cutting them out before I took the pictures. Apologies for the shadow in the bottom one, still working on my photo set up.....
So I really liked doing the hair, but I need a few more blonde and greys. The skin I'm OK for Caucasian, and I think my light Asian skin colour was so so. I could do with some different E's I think to improve on my African and darker Asian skin tones too. Oh no - more spending ;)
I did manage a couple of cards with the ballerinas - not something I think I'd ever make a card with, but it was interesting thinking of something. I kept it quite plain:
So simple, just a card blank covered in coloured paper, a piece of white card cut using my LF stitched square stackables and with sentiments from Mama Elephant and Clearly Besotted. I actually enjoyed fussy cutting her out - makes me take time, which means I'm not fiddling about on the internet!
[Supplies: Online Card Classes Practice Images; Clearly Besotted Happy Birthday; Mama Elephant Heartfelt Wishes; Copic Markers; Ranger Dye Inks - Lily Pad and Blue Ribbon; Versafine Onyx Black; Precut Card Blank; Hobbycraft Premium White Cardstock 300gsm; Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Square Stackables; Double Sided Tape; Ranger Multi Medium Matte; Papermania Capsule 6x6 paper pad]
I'm having a great time with this class and would love to do another one as I probably have said before. There is one running now called Holiday Style. Can I do a massive shout out to Michelle from The Card Grotto? You know I think she is an amazing crafter, and that she is a lovely and very supportive person too, well she has a guest spot on the new course - yes, that is right!! How fantastic is that??? She hasn't been so well of late, so if you are in mind to share some kindness, you could pop over to her blog and leave her a happy comment.
That's all for class this week - back next week with what look like some fun critters. Again, please go and leave some happy comments on the fabulous Aileen's blog - no doubt she will have done some fabulous colouring and possibly some amazing cards!
Before I go, I also decided to splurge on a stamp with my name and blog details on it. I was running out of the stickers I put on the back of my cards, and felt it was time to get a little bit more professional seeing as I'm an internet sensation (that was a joke, btw, as I am far from that!). I got it from The English Stamp Company. Easy online ordering and excellent customer service - about 2.5 days from ordering to delivery!
Thanks again for reading, see you all again soon!
