Baby Card

Since I bought myself a set of Spectrum Noir pencils, I've spent a lot of time practising with them without necessarily intending to use the results. And then my daughter returned from university for the summer to tell me she's been invited to a 'baby shower' for the older sister of a friend, and could she have a card. Now, neither she nor I get the idea of 'baby shower'. It's obviously an import, and it flies in the face of tradition in the UK where it's seen as unlucky to get very much for a baby before he/she is born. I still remember the horror on my mum's face when we told her our eldest's pram would be arriving before his due date!

However, she was going to choose an image for me to work with, and then she got busy and last night realised that she needed it first thing this morning. So, I found one of my practise pieces, and went with that.

Fortunately, the mother-to-be knows she's expecting a girl and has a horror of 'baby pink', so my peach and blue colour scheme didn't seem too unreasonable.

This was a trial of flat colouring with Promarkers and then shading with the pencils, and I do think that's the best option for me. It allows definite but fairly subtle shading without excessive bleeding or mottling of the card. The paper is one I've had for many years - really pretty papers that for some reason I find very difficult to use. I suspect it's because they've got limited colour ranges - peach/white or pink/white or cream/white, and I do like to combine colours!

I cut the image using a Spellbinders die and embellished with a wooden teddy I've had pretty much forever, some ribbon, and some flowers I made using dies from Sizzix and Cheery Lynn. The image is from BB Cakes and it's called Flora Fae. It's available from the Stitchy Bear Outlet (link in my sidebar).

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Little Miss Muffet where anything goes,
A Creative Need where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,
Creative Card Crew where they're having a 'fairy day',
FanTastic Tuesday where anything goes,
Lacy Sunshine where anything goes,
Incy Wincy where they want 'things with wings'.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 118

This time the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More is set by Suze, and she has chosen the theme, Wooden it be Lovely! So, something wood related is required. That should be more than just paper, but it can be an image of a tree, wood-effect paper or wooden embellishments - or anything else wood-related that you can think of.

Our sponsor is

And you can win three images of your choice!

I worked with one of the sponsor's images called Little Friends.

I tried a slightly new (to me) technique for colouring the image. First, I flat-coloured with Promarkers. I used pale shades for everything and didn't add any shading at all. Then, with my Spectrum Noir pencils, I added areas of shadow and blended using Zest It. Finally, I added a little extra texture in her hair and the grass without blending. For the sky, I shaded with Pan Pastels in cyan and white. The paper is from Papermania. To fulfill the 'wooden' requirement, I used some wooden embellishments. All were plain when I started, so I drew some marking on the butterfly, and then coloured it and the flowers with Promarkers. Then I added some liquid pearls and glitter glue. The image and mat were cut using Spellbinders dies in my Big Shot Pro.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Hambo Hoedown where the theme is 'Here Comes Summer',
Die Cutting Divas where the theme is 'things with wings',
Shopping our Stash where they want to see our 'oldest dies or punches' (my Nestibility circles were among the group I bought immediately after I got my Wizard),
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,
A Creative Need where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 218

This week at One Stitch at a Time, it's the easiest of all challenges: anything goes! So, show us what you've been up to!

I got to work with an image and paper pack from Coosty Creations chosen by my team mate Sue. It's called Princess Nataliya.

I used two papers from the pack. They're really gorgeous, and I suspect they'll be used a lot - imagine them on a wedding card, for example ...

The image was coloured with a mix of Promarkers and Spectrum Noir pencils and Pan Pastel (sky only). I'm still getting used to the pencils, but having spent a lot of time practising with the pencils recently, I struggled with my Promarkers, although I think that's because of the card. I've been using Joanna Sheen's card for Promarkers, but find it too smooth for the pencils. So, I got some of the Crafter's Companion Neenah card and, while it's got a bit more tooth for the pencils, I find it causes the Promarkers to 'leak' over the lines more than I'm used to. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I find these transitions difficult. Still, I think the result's ok.

As well as the papers from the pack, I've used some silver mirror board and a strip of cloth I bought several years ago. There were various gold- and silver-themed patterns and they're lovely, but it's only now I've got my guillotine that I've found a (fairly) reliable way of cutting it straight! My rotary trimmer always just bent it and if you see me trying to cut straight with scissors, you're liable to hear a lot of huffing as things go wrong. And don't start me on craft knives. I do use them, but I'm always convinced I'm going to do some serious damage with them!

Anway, I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Digi Chooseday where the theme is 'In the Pink',
Love to Create where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,

Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,

Sister Act where anything goes,

A Creative Need where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 217

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to 'button it!' So, what does that say to you?

We're sponsored by

See the challenge blog for details.

This week, I worked with an image from Reece's Scrap Pieces called Just a Swinging.

I added the sentiment in Photoshop Elements, and coloured the image with my new Spectrum Noir pencils. I'm getting mixed results with them - I  was fairly happy with this image, but others have been less successful. But, I got their new technique DVD today, so watch this space ...

I shaded around the image and background paper with Pan Pastels. The paper is from Papermania, and I finished with some brightly coloured wooden buttons I got from The Works while I was on holiday last week.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

2 Cute Ink where the theme is 'birthday',
Crafting from the Heart where anything goes,
Whoopsi Daisy where anything goes,
FanTastic Tuesdays where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Southern Girls where they want punches and die cuts (just die cuts here, hope that's ok.)
Crafting  by Designs where the theme is 'Happy Birthday',
Penny's Challenge where anything goes,
A Creative Romance where anything goes with a 'Happy Birthday' option.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 216

This week at One Stitch at a Time the challenge is to use a digi. And, if that digi came from the Stitchy Bear Outlet, then you'll be in with a chance of the top prize.

This week, I chose from the range of images at Scrappers Delights called Lady Jane.

I printed the image several times and coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. I layered the skirt for added depth. The background paper is from Paper Pizazz, and the flowers were punched and again, coloured with Promarkers.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Crazy Challenge where they're playing 'bingo'! (I've used the centre vertical line - punch, digi, flower.)

Papertake Weekly where anything goes,

Card Mania where they want flowers,

Crafting from the Heart where anything goes,

Digi Makeover where anything goes,

Love to Create where the theme is 'happy birthday',

Paper Nest Dolls where anything goes,

Crafty Girls where anything goes,

A Creative Romance where the theme is 'Happy Birthday!',

Sister Act where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 215

This week at One Stitch at a Time, the challenge is 'boy-ish', and we're sponsored by:

This week, I got to choose from the fabulous selection of Delicious Doodles images and decided on one called 'Sunset at Sea'.

Isn't that a gorgeous image? And it gave me ample chance to use lots of glorious colours which is always a bonus as far as I'm concerned. It's not specifically 'boyish' but it's not 'girlish' either, and I'm going to send it to my son for his birthday.

The image is coloured with a mix of Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The background is one of those supplied with my version of Photoshop Elements, and I've finished off with some shaped seashells which came from a CD I've had for ages called the Crafty Image Emporium which is full of images which are no longer copyright protected. I used my flower-shaping tools to add to their texture, scoring on the right side with a narrow tool and then on the opposite side with a much wider one.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Catz where anything goes,
Jellypark where they want 'bold and bright',
Sister Act where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Addicted to Stamps and More where they want us to 'make your mark',
Inky Impressions where anything goes,
Simon Says Stamp where anything goes,
Fan-Tastic Tuesday where anything goes,
Party Time Tuesday where anything goes,
Pink Elephant where anything goes.