Another Michael Powell Image ...

Well, I managed to colour another of those Michael Powell images, and made it into a card.

The image was coloured with Promarkers, and I kept to three shade types - the violets, yellow-greens and some neutrals for the stonework. I coloured with Promarkers.

I intended to make a five by seven card, but loved those vining flowers in the image, so I wanted to reproduce something similar as a border. But, when I tried it out, the card was too crowded, so I switched to a huge eight by eight!

The background paper is from the Papermania Persimmon collection. The next layer is some lining paper spritzed with various mica sprays in violet and blue colours. The paper itself was kindly given to me by J at A Crafty Habit after I admired some work she'd done using the paper. It definitely copes better with a water-based technique than the papers I've tried before! Although it's already lightly embossed, I wanted something more definite, so I put it through my Big Shot Pro with a Sizzix embossing folder.

The vine tendrils are die cut using a Marianne die, and I used my Promarkers to ensure that the colour matched the stamped image. The individual flowers were punched, coloured with Promarker, and then finished with a single seed bead.

I must say that I do love these images, although they're going to make fairly big cards unless I leave the image pretty much unembellished.

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

Crafty Creations where they want us to use something new (new stamp),
Fresh Brewed where anything goes,
The Paper Shelter where they want lots of flowers,
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where anything goes,
Inky Chicks where anything goes,
Loves Rubber Stamps where they want die cuts or punches,
Dream Valley where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 82

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, we want you to create a fairytale scene.

Our sponsors are:

and

See the challenge blog for more details.

When I want a fairy scene, I immediately think a) get out the brayer and inks or b) head for the laptop and Photoshop Elements. Since my efforts with a) rarely meet my expectations, and getting out inks and the brayer was always going to be hard over the Christmas period, I went for the second option! (Yes, I'm quite cowardly too.)

I put the background scene together in Photoshop Elements using hand-drawn lasso shapes for the hills. The sunset sky uses a gradient, I added layers of hills in a variety of toning shades. The various trees are 'cookie cutter' shapes from the software, and the setting sun was added using the circle shape provided.

To bring life to the scene, I used a couple of Stitchy Bear fairies from her Rainbow Magic set. I do love these fairy images - they're so versatile, and in the set you've got a variety of poses so it's easy to combine a few to tell your pictorial story! 

I matted the printed image onto black card, and used a couple of papers from my scraps box in the background - a textured, pearlescent paper and a heavily embossed matte paper - both in lovely golden yellows.

The scene takes a lot of the five by seven card in itself, and I didn't want to cover anything up, so I finished with a couple of Sizzix swirls to help frame the image.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

ATCs and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,

Fat Pages and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,

Crafty Creations where anything goes,

Divas by Design where anything goes,

Fresh Brewed where anything goes,

Digi Galore where anything goes (with a digi stamp),

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 145

Well, it's a brand new year, and I hope it'll be a happy one for you and yours. At One Stitch at a Time this week, our theme is 'New'. It can be anything new - new baby, new home, new year, or even new crafting goodies being put to use!

Our sponsors are:

This week, I worked with an image from Kassal Crafts, and came up with this:

I thought that bunny just looked so pleased with himself in that waistcoat and bow tie! I added the sentiment in Photoshop Elements and coloured the image with my trusty Promarkers, then matted it onto some Papermania paper and card. The backing paper is also Papermania, and the flowers were cut using a Marianne die set with the centres from a Marianne poinsettia set.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

ATCs and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where anything goes,
Fat Pages and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Totally Papercraft where the theme is something new,
Crafty Creations where anything goes,
Divas by Design where anything goes,

Fresh Brewed where anything goes,

Digi Galore where anything goes (with a digi stamp),

Happy New Year!

Like most people, I do rather like to get a bargain, and when it's something I've had my eye on anyway, it's especially satisfying. So, when I saw some stamps with images from Michael Powell significantly reduced, I had to splurge!

This is the first one I've coloured. I used my trusty Promarkers, and after matting, added some Papermania paper. There's so much detail in the image that I don't think it needs any further embellishment.

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

ATCs and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Fat Pages and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Stampin' for the Weekend where anything goes,
Crafty Creations where anything goes,
Divas by Design where anything goes,
Fresh Brewed where anything goes,
Lia Stampz where they want us to use something new,
Loves Rubber Stamps where anything goes,