At Anchor

A lovely lady called Teresa does some gorgeous artwork, and she's got some digi-stamps available at I Did It Creations. I fancied doing something a little different, and started out with her 'boat' image, and this is the result.




I coloured it with Promarkers, and the backing is in two parts. The darker section is Coredinations which I've embossed with a Fiskars plate in my Wizard and then sanded. I've then added a couple of bits of card I had left over from a previous project - card painted with a mixture of Cosmic Shimmer mist and Radiant Rain. I've cut and embossed both with a Spellbinders Lattice Borderability. The final addition is also a Spellbinder die - one of the snowflake set that I've always thought looks more like a ship's wheel, so I used some wood-grained card and added it.

It fulfils the requirements for three challenges: Passion for Promarkers Anniversary Week which is an 'anything goes week' except, of course, for the use of Promarkers.
Dare U 2 Digistamp which requires 'Something for the Boys' and
Crafty Catz which is also looking for a male-themed card.

Adding Some Sparkle

I said in one of my recent posts that I must try some of my Ching Chou Kuik stamps with my Twinkling H2Os. I've hardly used them since I got my Promarkers - I do find watercolouring so much harder than the markers. Well, I decided to put that neglect to an end last night!



The image is, I think, one of my favourites. She's coloured mainly with my Twinkling H2Os, although I did do the skin areas with Promarkers. The blue background was a mixture of Midnight Cosmic Shimmer spray and Sky Blue Radiant Rain. I used the 'cling film' technique, and when it was dry, I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder in my Wizard. I've also used a piece of the same (unembossed) card as one of the image layers.

I added some more card - this time coloured with two of the shades from the main image - Guatemalan Green and Mystic Blue, and embossed it with one of the Cuttlebug borders.

I finished the card with some flowers cut using punches, embossed with Swiss Dots and painted again with colours from the image - this time Chiffon Pink and Bashful Blue.

The card fulfils the requirements for two challenges: Sketch and Stash and Saturday Challenge which required no patterned paper.

Fantasy and Flowers

This is one of my new stamps from Crafts and Me! It's another of Ching Chou Kuik's gorgeous images and like all the others I've got, it's wonderful to colour. Naturally, I used my Promarkers. One day soon, I'll have to have a go with my Twinkling H2Os for these stamps too, but then again, the Promarkers are just so much fun! I've highlighted her jewellery and some other detail with Sakura Stardust pen.

The sentiment is also from Sweet Pea Stamps. The flowers and leaves were made using various punches, and in the case of the largest flower layer, one of my Spellbinders blossom nesties (slightly altered to separate and round the petals a little). All the layers were cut from white card and coloured with Promarkers, except the smallest layers on the larger flowers which use Sakura Stardust pen, and they were shaped with various embossing tools, and finished them all with a sticky gem.

The backing paper's another one of my current favourites - from My Mind's Eye and those colours I just love!

This card fulfills the requirements for two challenges - Passion for Promarkers which calls for fantasy/mythology and I Love Promarkers which calls for make-your-own flowers.

Sunshine

Don't know what the weather's like where you are, but it's very hot and sunny here. Got to say, I'm not a fan of summer weather, but knowing it would be hot today, I was up fairly early so I could cycle into Hobbycraft. I got some new stamps from Crafts and Me yesterday and I needed some Kling-On for them. And despite the early hour, I was still too hot when I got back. Still, it's good for me, and it saves the train fare.

So, not a rubber stamp on this card, but a digi-one - from Lilly Boo. I really like the window collection!



I've coloured it with Promarkers and then added papers from Personal Impressions, some card embossed in a Cuttlebug folder in my Wizard then inked, and a hand-written sentiment.

One of the challenges I'm entering it for requires that the inside is somewhat decorated too, so this is what I did:



I used some Versacolor ink and a small butterfly silhouette stamp from Lavinia stamps, then added some handwritten words.

The card fulfils the requirements for three challenges: Sketch Saturday, Colour Create and Crafty Cardmakers.

Birthday!

Allsorts Challenge is celebrating its birthday, and the challenge there is to produce something birthday related.



I used an image from La Boite a Surprise. It's coloured with Promakers and I've added a little bit of glitz to the stamens with Sakura Stardust pens. I've layered the image, and then finished the card with papers from My Mind's Eye Pretty Please papers and some flowers, The flowers were also coloured with Promaker - the orange were assembled from punched layers and finished with a coloured pearl, and the red uses tissue paper cut in my Wizard. The sentiment is a label that also came from the My Mind's Eye pad.

The card fulfils the requirements of this time's challenge at Crafty Catz which requires the use of petals and pearls.

You are My Sunshine!

The recent challenge on Crafty Cardmakers is to make a card using a distressing technique. Distressing isn't something I do much of - I always feel that when I try some techniques it just ends up like I've done it 'wrong'! So, this is a challenge, although I'll admit I've taken an easy way out. And unfortunately, I finished the card too late for the challenge!




The gorgeous image is from Epiphany Art Gallery. It's coloured with my usual Promarkers with additions to the raindrops and puddle of clear Sakura Stardust pen, and some glaze. The background paper is from Personal Impressions and the card is Coordinations which I embossed in my Wizard with a Fiskars plate and then sanded. I've added a hand-written sentiment and an embellishment from my collection.

I Blame Vixykins!

So, on Monday evening, I had a good play. I had ink on my fingers and everything!

It all started when I took out my Moonglow inks. First I painted a sheet of A4 card with the ink, and then I added some of my sparklies - some is Radiant Rain, some Cosmic Shimmer and some from Crafty Notions. I ended up with three different sheets of marbly shimmer, and then had to decide what to do with them.

I decided to stamp and emboss some butterflies on the card, trying to pick up the various tonings available. Then I had to come up with a background that would contrast with the marbled card and butterflies.

I took some cream card and some Hero Arts flourish stamps, and stamped with Versamark. Then I took out yet another sparkly in my collection - Perfect Pearls - and used a selection of colours to mirror the colours in the marbled card.

Then I either punched some flowers from the card or used something from my 'stash'.




This one used the Midnight Cosmic Shimmer and Irish Mist Radiant Rain on a base of Silhouette Silver. I'd also like to enter it for this month's Sir Stampalot Challenge




This one had a base coat of Vivacious Violet and then had Midnight Cosmic Shimmer and Persimmon Radiant Rain.




And finally, this one used a Burnt Umber ink base with Persimmon Radiant Rain and gold Crafty Notions spray.


I've matted the various layers with gold card and added some sticky gems and in the case of the third card, a stamped label.

So, there you are, Vix. I've given my Moonglow inks a good outing. I like the effect, although I don't see as much difference between the different colours as I'd hoped, but I've probably swamped a subtle effect with my additions.
Seriously, though. Thanks, Vix. It's lovely to try new things - even if my bank account isn't quite as convinced about it!

Swap Cards

I've just heard that the last of my current swaps has arrived, so I can show them here!



This one was for a 'Spring Colours' swap, although I suppose it's actually a little more summery than Spring-like. The image is a Lily-Boo freebie and she's coloured with Promakers. The background paper is one I put together using a basic flower-shape and gradients of the colours in the image. I finished it off with some ribbon and a flower made with hand-made paper cut with one of my nesties in my Wizard.



This next one was for the Digital Challenge. The requirement was to use the image of the tower which was drawn by fellow group-member Teresa. Isn't it gorgeous? I added an image from Dover books and coloured the result with Promakers. I was very lucky and found some paper in my stash that worked perfectly with the result, and cut an additional flower from the paper which I glazed and added.



This one was for the 'different shape' swap, and I must admit, I took the easy way out of this one. I used my Spellbinders label nesties to cut the card and image, which is one of Lily-Boo's windows set. It's coloured with Promarkers (no surprise there!) and uses some paper I got from a magazine ages ago. It's finished with a bow.

Brown, Khaki, Aqua and Cream

It's not a colourscheme I'd choose if left to my own devices. I love various turquoise shades with brown, but I'd normally be loath to add the khaki to the mix. But that's where colour challenges come in, isn't it? They get you to try things you otherwise wouldn't, and that's what this time's Colour Create challenge is asking for, with an optional extra of circles.



Now, the problem with challenges like this is that while pretty much everyone thinks of the same sort of colour when the basics like 'red' or 'yellow' are mentioned, some other colours are less clear - at least to me. And providing a sample on the site isn't foolproof either because in this case, the image looked like brown, pale turquoise and two shades of grey. Now I know that's a feature of my screen, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with that problem. And then there's the definition of the colour. Khaki. To me, that's olive green, but a quick check of online sources suggests that there are many different khakis and they range from sea green through olive green to brown. So, I used my own 'definition'.

The image is a Sugar Nellie stamp and it's coloured with Promarkers. I used my trusty Wizard and nesties to cut various circles and a circular frame as well as the computer-generated sentiment. Then, I used the same nesties to cut layers of tissue paper which I then coloured with my Promakers to make the flowers. To finish it off, I added an element from the Spellbinders lattice pendant die, and then added a couple of leaf fronds cut with a punch. All of those were coloured with walnut Promarker. The background paper is my own design, using my Promaker colour chart to match the colours in the image, and Photoshop Elements to put it together using some shapes and gradients.

Wishing

Another of my new Ching-Chou Kuik stamps - a mermaid this time!




I chose the colours this time to match those in the Pretty Please pad from My Mind's Eye that came from a recent magazine. I love that cool green/pink combination so much. She's coloured with the usual Promarkers, and I've added a little Sakura Stardust pen to her tail to accentuate the scales, although the photo doesn't show that well. The flower is made from a combination of punches and die cuts, including my hardly-used Peony die from Spellbinders, and the layers coloured to match those used in the image. Again, I used Promarkers, but the top layer uses Stardust pen. I finished the card with some sticky gems.

I followed the sketch on Sketch and Stash.

It also fulfills the requirement of the current Crafts and Me challenge which requires the use of sparkle. There's not a lot of sparkle, but it's there!

Ching-Chou Kuik Stamps

I got a few of these this last week, and I've been busy with them.

The stamps are all gorgeous, and I agonised over which to get. This one's 'Fluttering Butterflies' and it's been coloured with Promarkers chosen to work with the dark background paper. That came from a Papermania pad called 'Spring Life' that I picked up at the recent Olympia show. The colours are very definite and I suspect they might be quite hard to use, but I love the combination. The spotty paper is from the Pretty Please pad by My Mind's Eye that was a free gift from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a while ago. I've finished it off with some blue paper roses that came from the local 99p shop. They only had one pack of them - if there'd been more, I might've cleaned them out! I considered adding more, but the paper is so gorgeous, I didn't want to hide any more of it!

The card fulfils the requirements for the current Crafty Catz challenge.

I made another card, but this one isn't suitable for any current challenges.

This image is 'Fairy of the Night' and I coloured without considering backing paper. (Sometimes a mistake!) But, I found this one in the same Papermania pad. Again, I used Promarkers to colour the image, but this time, I added highlights in Sakura Stardust pen. I finished the card with flowers using made using some of my punches, and card coloured with Promarkers and Sakura Stardust pens.