Phindy's Place freebie and a new paper choice

Just a quick post to share a card I made with Phindy's newest freebie. The card is very simple, just two ribbons overlapped and a series of brads holding it in place. What I found most interesting about making this card is I used a new paper to print out the image. Usually I use Cornish Farms "Simply Smooth" but I decided to try an Epson paper called "Premium Prsentation Paper Matte". It gave a very different result - the paper absorbed the ink quite quickly which meant much more vivid colours. The blending seemed to go all right but I was quite surprised at how much darker the colours ended up.

Anyway, I'm entering this card into a few challenges as follows:

• Phindy's Place - use ribbon (I've used two ribbons - a solid yellow ribbon with a daisy ribbon overlaid)
• Pile it on - make it sweet (she truly is a very sweet looking bear)
• Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - girlie

Recipe:

• Phindy's Place - digital image
• Basic Grey "Bittersweet" collection - patterned paper
• Brads, ribbons - stash
• Copic markers

Take time to smell the flowers

This little pony from Wink*Wink*Ink is one of my favourite images - she is so sweet and yet the emphasis on her backside just adds a touch of sassiness that I quite enjoy. I decided to use her, along with a couple of brand-new border punches, for a "just because" card.

The patterned paper is from Basic Grey ("euphoria" collection). The inside border uses Martha Stewart's "Pansy" punch. I made the picket fence strips using another Martha punch with Core-dinations "Whitewash" paper. I have to admit that I could easily get obsessed with collecting all of the Martha punches so if you have any gathering dust, just send them over to me! LOL.

Recipe:

• Basic Grey, patterned paper
• Core-dinations whitewash paper
• Flowers & gems (stash)
• Image - Wink*wink*ink
• Copic markers

Challenges:

• Wink*Wink*Ink - use border punch
• Crazy4Challenges - sketch
• Polka Doodle - animal magic
• Paper Sundaes - no people
• Cooking it up with Katie - use purple and use something 3 times (there are 3 flowers and 3 gems)
• 365 Cards - joyfold card

Spring card

Today's card is perfect for a Spring day that is very unlike the one I'm experiencing today (rainy, cold and dreary). I first thought of having the girl sit on a plain ribbon but when I saw this scrap of leaf ribbon I had to give it a try - I must say I'm quite pleased with how well it looks, especially against the transparent background.

I used a Magnolia stamp image that I coloured with Copics, then fussy-cut and popped up - you can't see in the photo but she is actually very 3-D (top layer: legs, middle layer: dress & hair, bottom layer: face & arms). In honour of Earth Day, I cut the acrylic insert from some packaging that was headed to the garbage!

Recipe:

• Magnolia Stamps - image
• Spellbinder nestabilities
• DCWV Citrus set - patterned paper
• rub-on sentiment (stash)
• ribbon (stash)

 Challenges I'm entering:

• Just Magnolia - sketch
• Cute Card Thursday - touchy feely (the paper is glittered & embossed; all elements on the page are popped up)
• Totally Papercrafts - Spring
• Create4Fun - use only circles (ovals count, right?)
• Pile it on - Spring
• Stamp Something - something layered (the girl is layered)
• ABC Challenge - "S" is for sparkle (the paper is quite glittered)
• Hand full of stamps - for someone special

The importance of colour

As a stamper and avid Copic colourer, I am always trying new techniques for blending and mixing of my colours. But I don't often think about why I choose the colours I do. It's pretty much instinctual rather than rational. I have a pretty good eye for colours so it has worked all right for me, but after reading this article - Elizabeth Dulemba - Illuminating Color - I am inspired to explore colours more. Elizabeth Dulemba is a children's book writer and illustrator In particular I want to experiment and study more on light & shadow. I usually ignore shadow in my images or I add very simple, non-subtle shadows. I am determined to try some of the techniques she mentions as well as to explore some of the links provided to try and add more subtlety and depth to my images. Read Ms Dulemba's article (and explore her site as she is an incredible artist who shares wonderful images and great ideas all the time) and let me know what you think.

Crop for Kids Layout

This year's Crop for Kids is coming up fast (Oct 1 - 3, 2010) so I figured it was time to scrap my memories from last year's event.

I tried to stretch myself stylistically - not too sure how successful I was. I normally fall back on grid layouts so this was quite challenging.

The layout is based on a sketch from Practical Scrappers. I rotated the sketch and then created a second page that kind of mirrors the first. I didn't want the two pages to be exactly the same so I replaced the sunbeams on the second page with distressed brown and then used the striped paper as a backdrop for the photos. I wanted to include some pictures of the class projects so I used lines of small pictures as sunbeams. Finally, I distressed all the edges (the paper already had a distressed look to it too), added glossy accents to the titles and hand-wrote journalling along the sunbeam lines.

Recipe:

• 
  
  Practical Scrappers - sketch
• 
  
  Basic Grey "Bittersweet" collection - patterned papers
• 
  
  Glossy accents

Challenges:

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  Practical Scrappers - sketch challenge
• 
  
  Totally Papercrafts - distressing
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  Sophisticat - so distressing

Who's a princess?

This image from Karen's Doodles is just too perfect for anyone who has ever owned (been owned by) a cat. I particularly like the little swirl of hair on her forehead - I can imagine this little princess taking hours getting it just right. I'm torn on just the right occasion for this card so I left the sentiment blank but I'll be able to fill it in as needed.

I'm disappointed that the photo doesn't do justice to the "bling" on the card - I used glossy accents on the details of the settee and on her colour and crown. There is also waterfall blue Stickles added to the crown "jewels" and the colour. The flower centres are clear gems.

I'm thinking about maybe replacing the flowers - at first I thought the yellow was a nice match with the heart collar but on second (third, fourth) glance I'm thinking the contrast with the pink might be too great. What do you think? Should I go with a pink or off-white or brown flowers?

Well, that's it for now. I'm hoping to post a scrapbook layout later today but it will depend on how early the kids go to bed.

Recipe:

• Karen's Doodles - digi-stamp image
• Copic markers
• Glossy accents (added to crown, collar, heart, settee details)
• SEI - chipboard embellishments
• Stickles glitter glue (added to crown and collar)
• Basic Grey, Bittersweet collection - patterned papers, chipboard sticker border
• Stash - Rhinestone brads & flowers

Challenges:

• Fab N Funky - use pink, chocolate, vanilla
• Karen's Doodles - UK - 3 embellishments (chipboard, flowers, brads), 2 papers, 1 image
• Copic Creations - flowers (I took a different take on this by colouring my flower embellishments instead of using a flower image)
• The Pink Elephant - 1 image, 2 dies (nestabilities flower, rectange), 3 embellishments (chipboard, flowers, brads)
• Cooking it up with Katie - new (image), old (flowers & brads), sweet (paper collection is named bittersweet)
• Handfull of Stamps - digital (digi stamp)
• Practical Scrappers - use glitter & bling (stickles, rhinestones, glossy accents)

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog is coming soon

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog will be starting in just ONE WEEK and followers of the blog site are getting an added bonus! For every 50 followers, Phindy will be giving away a free image (via a random draw of all followers). There are already over 70 followers so chances are good that there will be at least a couple of images being given away. And if you haven't seen her images before, you won't want to miss out as they are quite adorable! Visit her site and sign up as a follower!

Happy Easter Dragon

I absolutely hate how many cute Easter images are out there. I've made all my Easter cards for this year and have a very good start on next year's too! And even so, I had to make another one with this fabulous image from Dustin Pike's Doodle Dragon Studio.

I tried something new by colouring the image using Photoshop instead of using my Copics or pencil crayons. I'm not sure how I feel about the result - it is much smoother/more consistent, but doesn't have the same home-made feel to it. I did love how easy it was to match colours though! After scanning in the patterned paper, I was able to easily pick up the colours and move them onto my project.

Challenges:

• Doodle Dragon Studio Challenge - Easter
• Totally Papercrafts - let's go digital (the image is a digi-stamp and is coloured digitally)
• Scrap, Stamp & Doodle - wings (lots of wings between the dragon and chick)
• Unscripted Sketches - sketch
• Cute Card Thursday - use ovals or egg shapes

Recipe:

• Digital stamp, Dustin Pike Doodle Dragon Studio
• Easter egg die cut, Quickutz
• Hatching Easter egg die cut, Quickutz
• Patterned papers, Basic Grey "Sugar Rush"
• Ribbon , stash
• Sentiment, Microsoft Word wordArt

Happy Spring

Spring has definitely arrived - the rain is pouring down, the camelia flowers are being blown off by the wind, and there is fresh snow on the mountains. Yikes!

Well, when the weather isn't cooperating at least I can make cards that are Spring-y. I finished this one off last night and I'm pretty pleased with it. I used a lot more pattern than I usually would so I'm a little concerned it might be overly busy but still...

Anyway, the images are a couple of freebies from a brand-new digi-stamp company "Tiddly Inks Digital".  You absolutely have to check out her work as it is great! I had hoped to submit this for the DT challenge but wasn't able to finish it in time as Luke came down with a screaming ear infection. I will still enter the card into a few challenges though, as follows:

• One Stop Craft Challenge - feeling fruity (the tree is growing "heart" fruit)
• Corrosive Challenges - Easter or Spring
• Everybody Art Challenge - Spring
• Fab N Funky - Spring is in the air
• Little Red Wagon - rolling into Spring
• Simon Says Stamps - distressing (used brown distress ink on the edges of the mattes)
• Cute Card Thursday - oval or egg shape (the image & matte are oval shaped)
• Totally Gorjuss - hearts

I also used the sketch from MAWTT but I haven't entered it into the challenge as I didn't fulfill the other conditions (which were to use brown/pink & ribbon).

Recipe:

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  Tiddly Inks Digital - digi stamp images
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  Basic Grey - patterned papers, "Green at Heart" collection
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  Spellbinders Nestabilities - oval
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  Copic markers
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  Elzybell stamps - sentiment
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  Glossy Accents