More Challenges!!

Hi everyone,

I got a little distracted over the past few days and instead of practicing my colouring and doing my class I decided to make a few cards and enter a few more challenges.

The first was a real challenge onelayerchristmas.blogspot.ie at , to make a Christmas card on one layer! I've never done that before so this is what I came up with. I really can't remember where this stamp came from, I've had it in my stash for years and never used it. The highlights of colour were done with gellyroll and a wink of stella pens. The sparkle doesn't really show in the photo.

This next image is from Sweetpea stamps as a digi. I was drawn by Connie Fong and I think it is just adorable. The challenge is on their facebook group. I love the colours used in this image and would not have been able to do it without the classes at Kit and Clowder.

The final card I've completed was the most fun! I used Starburst stains in 'Amarylis Burgandy' and 'Jack in the Pulpit Green' to create a shimmering background and stamped a greeting over it. This was for the challenge at christmascardchallenges.blogspot.ie - sentiment only!

Now, I really have to get back to practicing my colouring!!

Take care

Spring, Easter and Mother's Day

Hi Everyone,

Today I have some more entries to challenges, I haven't abandoned my colouring, I need a break, I'll show you some progress in my next post.

First up is a card for From the Heart Stamps monthly image challenge. The stamp is called Easter Trio, I love stamps like this as it feel like you are getting loads as the images can be used separately or together. I have coloured it with my promarkers and simply matted and layered it.

This one is probably going to end up being my Mother's Day card, so it is going straight in the post when this has been published! It is for a challenge at 2 Cute Ink using their butterfly doodle stamp. It is again, coloured with my promarkers and simply matted and layered with a few gems added for sparkle.

Finally this cracker is for an anything but a card challenge at christmasstampin.blogspot.ie The die is from Tonic and the digi stamp is from 2 Cute Ink. Coloured with my promarkers, having 4 images on one cracker is a great way to practice my colouring!

Thats it for now, there is more coming later.....

Challenges.

Hi

Earlier this week I suffer from every digi crafters worst nightmare....my printer ran out of ink! Between doing a bit of research on the best place to find new cartridges I decided to make a few cards and enter them into some blog challenges.

BEWARE...the follow photos deal with the 25th December....not everyone wants to know about it but as a crafter I need to be prepared. I'm not fond of making a load of Christmas cards in the first two weeks of December!

So, first up is a card for christmascardchallenges.blogspot.ie, the challenge was to use warm greys and reds as a colour scheme. This is an 8x8 card with a Hunkdory image and Klever Konstruction flowers.

The second is for christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.ie, using little critters.Again, this is a Hunkydory image and some papers from my stash!

Both these cards are also entered into craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2 for the March challenge.

And finally, the last card to be entered into a challenge is over at fromtheheartstamps.com. This was a sketch challenge!

That's all for now!

See ya' next time!

Hi all,

Since I've been doing a bit of colouring I have also been shopping for digi stamps. I have never really got on with rubber stamping and was aware of digi stamps as I use Craft Artist quite a bit but never paid much attention to them. OMG.... there is a HUGE range of them in loads of different styles! I have seen so many that I want. One thing that I did notice was if I saw a digi and thought 'that's not really for me' and then saw a coloured sample it really does make the digi look more useable, I've seen so many that I wouldn't go for only that I saw a coloured image. I've been mainly looking at animal images as that is the class I'm doing at kit and clowder, I knew of 2 Cute Ink but recently found from the heart stamps, they have some really nice images that I think I'll use a lot!

I have moved on with my classes, trying to avoid flicking, having a go, getting frustrated and going on to something else. I really must practice. I have also decided in time, I'm going to create a colouring journal to keep a record of the blends and colour combos that I like or find useful together.
My blending is coming along nicely, I've even decided to colour a few of my rubber stamps, to me, they look good enough to put  on cards!

 The top two are from 2 Cute Ink and the lower two are from Crafter's Companion.

My faith in my promarkers is waning slightly, they blend beautifully but I really don't like flicking with them. They'll do for animal flicking but I really think that before I start the clothing and skin and hair classes I'm going to have to upgrade my pens. The question is - do I get the flex markers and stay with letraset or do I save like mad and get Copics? The copics at least can be refilled but they are very available in Ireland. Anyhow in between time my 142 promarkers are up for sale! 

And with that.....Take Care!

First Ever Challenge entry!

Hi all,

In being inspired by all the lovely artwork being done in the Kit and Clowder facebook group I decided to enter my first challenge!
My work is absolutely nothing compared to these ladies but I decided what the heck, in for a penny, in for a pound. This is my entry to the Kit and Clowder monthly challenge at http://kitandclowder.ning.com/challenges

The image is Bebunni from Crafter's Companion and it is coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils. I have yet to start the pencil class at Kit and Clowder and this colouring does show that!!!
I do intend on entering other challenges if I can organize myself but I suspect that I won't have enough time given the time of the year. I'm a horticulturalist by trade and I really need to consider getting some veg in the ground this spring and there is a half built herb bed in the back garden!

'Till next time

Take Care

My first down and my first up!

Hi  all,

After much searching the internet for the right instructions for using my alcohol pens I've finally found my answer which is a lovely kind lass at  http://kitandclowder.ning.com/. Alyce Keegan has several technique and project classes over there and a very large following of loyal colour enthusiasts on facebook. Her classes are fully downloadable so I can learn offline and she offers one-to-one feedback on uploaded images.

It took me a while to decide which class to take first but I decided on the animal one first as I figured I use a lot of animal on my cards, easter is not too far away and there are plenty of animal images at christmas. This combined with I feel I'll need to do the hair and skin and clothing classes together to avoid images with dodgy hair do's

So I started the animal class with giddy excitement, printed off what I needed and downloaded all my bits and pieces....the class booklet is huge by the way! And there I hit my first stumbling block.......my images were all a bit blotchy...the blending that is. At first I thought is was me but figured how could I be getting this basic step so wrong, if I couldn't do this then what hope was there for me every being good enough to enter a blog challenge. I decided to change my paper and guess what.....it worked....it wasn't me it was the paper.
For future reference any newbies reading this paper is important, I didn't think it would have such an impact but it did.
I was using My Craft Studio's Super smooth paper which was sold as suitable for alcohol markers, for me and my Promarkers it wasn't. I am now using marker paper which is bleedproof, I have D&R at the moment but I know there are other brands out there. So now I can get to work practicing getting the shadowing right on the images.

As I have finally got my photos of the camera I can give you a few pics too. The first is of blending with the dodgy paper and the second is on the bleed proof paper.

These are not my first attempts, I'm not brave enough to put those on the internet, not even here!!! I have also attempted stippling and imprinting techniques but still can't get the flicking one right. I know it takes practice but I'm beginning to think that the bullet nib on my promarkers are going to make it so much more difficult to get right. I've tried with other pens that have a brush nib and it is sooooo much easier!

I've moved on with a few other classes but I'll still have to get the flicking to look a bit better, I can't avoid it altogether and I won't allow it to get the better of me!

So, back to the flick I must go.

'till next time

Take Care,

All aboard!!!....and so the journey begins.

Hello to everyone out there!, I'm fairly confident that I'm talking to no one at the moment but I'll ramble on anyway.
Let me tell you about myself and why I am starting this blog!

I'm thirty-something years old with a husband, two kids (6+4) and two dogs. At the moment I'm looking for a job as I have been for a while.
 All my life I have done crafting of some sort, such as quilling, candle making, cross stitch, scrapbooking and jewellery making. I have settled down to just card making and jewellery making but sometimes dabble in a bit of scrapbooking. In my ideal fantasy world I would love to be able to sell my cards and jewellery and be happy at this but I find the time that goes into the items cannot be reflected into a sale-able price point. So I continue to keep them as my hobbies.
Like many crafters I have a huge stash of supplies and always find more things to buy!! One such item is my almost full set of promarkers and my set of Spectrum Noir pencils. Having had them for a while and not really getting the full potential out of them I have decided that I need to learn how to use them.
Many an hour has been spent looking at you tube videos and never really finding what I was looking for but then I stumbled upon a blog and facebook group at roughly the same time - I'll tell you about it later or possibly in my next post!

The reason for this blog is primarily as a journal for my colouring. Learning to colour isn't going to come easy nor is it going to happen overnight or in a month or two. I know many give it up and decide that it isn't for them but I want this to be for people like that who feel it is nothing but an uphill struggle (I'm sure there will be moments when it is) but a journey like this is better done in the company of others than alone.
So be inspired, pickup your pens, pencils, paints, whatever takes your fancy and join me on a journey of ups and downs and learn a new skill!

'Till next time.....