...in one card! Well not quite, but as it's St Patrick's Day and I am half Irish and I have this funky leprechaun in my stash, I decided I had to colour him up in as many of my G and BG Copics as I could. Turns out I don't have as many as I thought I did!
Paddy here is from Paper Smooches and was a gift from an Irish friend who I've known for a ridiculously long time (ever since Uni days!) and who, despite living miles apart, we still manage to meet up and talk like we only saw each other yesterday!
So he's in all the greens and blue-greens I own, stopping short at his face and hands and teeth - if anyone knows any good combos for teeth I'll take it, as he looks like he's smoked one too many. I added some green Spica pen to his shoes and beard because I wanted to. You can't really see it without tilting it, it's so subtle.
I found a green card base in my stash and some glitter paper which I cut out with a Memory Box postage stamp die so he wouldn't get lost on the green background.
However you're getting on amid all this chaos and weirdness with Covid-19, have a great St Patrick's Day and know you can and you will be OK :)
Happy Crafting Everyone!
... is it me you're looking for? Well I hope so! Here's another of these long lost panels that I rediscovered while going through my box of unused coloured stuff, or BUCS (in tribute to Darnell's NBUS!).
This one has only taken a year to get onto a card, so not quite as bad as last week's.... I wanted it to pop against the background, but also be sympathetic to the colours of the greys. They are ALL the Copic grey tones - N, T, W and C - so you can see the difference in them all.
I used some coloured paper I've had stashed away for 5 years and cut the panels to layer it up.
I'm linking this up to my old challenge The Flower Challenge, which Aileen set up and I see going from strength to strength. The theme this month is Anything Goes, which is just perfect for me.
The lovely Viv did a very nice post about some of my wipes, which I custom made in some gorgeous Tilda floral hummingbird fabric. Thank you for your kind words Viv!
Hope you're having a good week so far. The sun has been shining and it's been nice to get out and about without getting damp.
Thanks for popping by and Happy Crafting Everyone!
Ruth xx
I'm fine, how are you? I actually completely forgot I coloured this in. Two years ago. Yes, two years ago! I met up with some lovely crafty friends one weekend in Birmingham and had a lovely time stamping and colouring. We mostly did talking, but I stamped a few images and coloured them in and never made them into cards. Well now is the time!
With my business all about reducing waste, it was high time I went through my scrap box and pulled out this panel which I'd coloured with Copics all that time ago. I wanted to practice highlights and shading. I'm not too sure how successful I've been, but I enjoyed using some of the grey-blues in my collection. The stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.
I'm really enjoying revisiting my card making and getting a bit of a stash going again. Always useful when you're reminded it's someone's birthday or you just need to send a Hello.
Thank you for visiting as always. Keep crafting!
Ruth xx
You may not know it, but I actually have been doing some card making behind the scenes. Just not blogging about it. Well, a chat with my business coach Lynsey from the Handmade Business Hub (best money spent every month I can assure you!) got me thinking about blogs again. Naturally it related to my Etsy business - take a look at my new look and name change! - but I thought to myself, since I already have an established blog, why not spent some time revisiting and blogging on it before I move to business blogging. Besides I realised I missed not doing it even with cards.
I've also started a small craft club in a local supermarket once a month where a few of us get together to eat cake, craft and sit and chat. It's the one place I can get some peace and quiet to craft and this is what I made at our last session.
I've been going through my card making supplies for a bit of a destash and found this Stamping Bella set which was one of the first I ever bought, and it is still a favourite. Obviously I was inspired by the recent weather from Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis here in the UK. If only I'd looked that good when escaping the hail stones at the school gate...
She's simply stamped and coloured with Copics. I haven't done a course for a while, so I'm hoping Faye runs some more. I could do with a refresher on skin and folds - well basically anything at all, because it's been so long!
I then just mounted her onto a nice purple star background onto a C5 card - I've stopped making my own cards as I just don't have the time to cut and fold.
I hope to be back with more cards over the coming weeks, so would love it if you would check in. Hope life is treating you all well.
Happy Crafting Everyone!
Running a small business has left me with little time for card making of late - you can see my last blog post was way back in June - but at the end of September I took the time to go to another of Faye's colouring classes as it gives me the opportunity to a) get out of the house on my own; b) colour in peace and quiet and c) learn from an expert. I'll share my colouring when I've finished them off and made a card from the images!
I took some of my hard earned cash from my Etsy shop and made the most of Dies to Die For being there by having a good rummage. I decided upon two stamp sets for Christmas cards. I've been feeling a need to colour some Christmas cards and get a bit ahead of myself. Plus Lisa told me she's already made 20 so I know I need to catch up!! Lol!
I love Stamping Bella images and this polar bear is just adorable. I decided to try a technique I did a couple of years ago after watching Elaine Hughes' video on how to colour the Northern Lights. You can tell I need a lot of practice, but I really enjoyed myself with my markers. I'm getting to that stage where I need refills now though!
I started with the bear and stamped him out onto some Make It Colour! card and coloured him in with E41, 42 and 43 with R81, 83, 85 and a bit of RV34 for his scar. I love that I can use the colouring on the stamp packet for inspiration. Oh and the picture has bleached out the colouring I did for a shadow to ground him. He isn't just floating I promise you!
I then decided to cut him out for some reason. Don't you love how cards evolve? I didn't really need to!
But anyway, I took another piece of Make It Colour! card and got colouring. It took me a fair amount of time to get anywhere near a decent blend and it still looks fairly messy to me, but I cut it to the size of a C6 card and stuck it on. I then trimmed the bear piece to fit on the bottom and popped him up on foam pads - well actually, it was the left over bits around a pack of foam circles. Always reusing and not wasting!
I feel pretty good I was inspired to try this again. It had been a long day on a school trip with 60 eight year olds (they were all excellent) and my brain needed something creative to do just not sewing....
Happy World Card Making Day! Hoping to get inspired to do some more very soon so I'm not rushing in November like always. Happy Crafting Everyone!
Hello! I was so excited to reach 100 sales in my Etsy shop that I've decided to have a giveaway! You and a friend could win £15 EACH - because I believe in sharing good fortune.
All you have to do is enter on my Bagageddon Instagram and follow the instructions on the post :)
If you don't win, don't worry, look out for a site wide sale to carry on the celebrations next week!
Hello crafty friends! What's this, I hear you in amazement, it's a card!
I popped along to my local craft club on Wednesday night with some stamps, some Copic paper and some Copics and this was the result. A Stamping Bella fairy in funky colours - well I did take an odd range of colours with me! - on a very plain background. Just some stencilling with a Uniko butterfly stencil and squeezed lemonade Distress Oxide put on with an ink duster so it wasn't too heavily coloured. She's been fussy cut and popped up on foam pads.
It felt good to colour again and actually blogging too!
Things in life are a bit more back on track again after illnesses with the children and a bout of depression for me.
The Etsy shop has had me busy, and I just hit 100 sales the other day, which is a goal I've been dreaming of for a very long time. Initially it was my aim to get there by December, but I managed it 6 months before that. What's surprised me is that my biggest seller has been my sets of reusable wipes and small coin purses to put them in. I've been learning as much as I can about making reusable products and more of these will be added to the shop over the coming year. I've also had a request for wholesaling some of my items, and I will share details soon :)
Thank you so much for all your support and for reading as usual. Happy Crafting Everyone!
However you're getting on amid all this chaos and weirdness with Covid-19, have a great St Patrick's Day and know you can and you will be OK :)
