To err is human

And as you can see from this card I am most definitely VERY human.
You see, the challenge at Make It Colourful is Black With A Splash Of Red and it doesn NOT have to be monochromatic but for some reason I understood that I needed to make a monochromatic card.

Oh well. Here it is.

The image is brand new Tank Girl from Tiddly Inks who is also sponsoring this weeks challenge.

Background cool house is an immensely early preview from Make It Crafty which doesn't even have a name yet!

I used the whole range of warm greys and a touch of 100 (black).
Reds are R39/37/24/01/000
Most of highlight areas in blck/grey are given a tiny touch of R000 or R01 to echo the red sky.

For a red sky I scribbled someR01 and R24 on acrylic block, wetted sky area by area with W1, picked up some red from the block with my W1 and carried it into the sky near the horizon in light sweeping motions. Basically used reds as paint and W1 as a brush.

The papers (lush ones which I mainly covered up, duh) are from Echo Park For The Record 6x6 pad. The super cool cogs are laser cut chipboard, covered with glue stick and then hot embossed - doesn't it look fab!!

And I couldn't resist wrapping some Divine Twine I got from Quixotic around the card too. Twine makes me happy. 'Nuf said.

Challenges
 Sugar Creek Hollow  - 3E, SIO - Embossing 
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - 3E - R#16: Anything goes
Fairy Fun Fridays - 2W, SIO – 2nd wk - #51: April showers bring May flowers (showers or flowers)
Just Add Ink - JAI 66: Just add a flower
Simply Create - 2W - 2nd wk - Challenge #42: Time to rock the metal
4 Crafty Chicks - Challenge #35: Distressing
Simply Scrapping Copic Challenge - 1E, must use Copics - Colour something white.
Stamp Insanity - SIO - 2nd wk - Challenge #SISC56: Use metal
Crafts and Me - #32 vintage/distress
Scrapbook Sisters - #33 distress


Thank you so much for visiting and happy crafting!
Hugs

Something with wings...

This week at Stamp Something  we want to see Something With Wings on your projects.

This weeks sponsor is Simon Says Stamp.

There are two things I love on my card...the rest I'm not so keen on. First I absolutely adore that image, its from Emerald Faeries, I won it at their blog hop and couldn't wait to colour it up! The sentiment is a quote I typed up in Gimp using one of Nestie-friendly frame digis from Whimsy Stamps.

 The second thing I adore are these absolutely stunning papers from Basic Grey. That pad is called Hello Luscious and oh when I saw these colours my knees went weak.

Yes. It happens. For papers. Ribbon. Lace. Occasionally for hubby too. Which is probably why he puts up with my overflowing crafts room. lol

 I wanted very soft gradiates here and mild colours so used a lot of tip-to-tip colouring.

Copic colours:
Skin: E0000/000/01/00/21
Hair: E44/43/41/87
purples: V05/91, RV66/63
Greens: YG0000/00/21/03/25
Blues: BG000/75/32, G00
Wings:R0000/17, Y18, YR30
Sky:00, BG07, Y18, R17, R000, Y0000, B0000

Thank you so much for visiting!
Hugs

I'm just visiting...

Two weeks ago I won a challenge at Die Cut Dreams and the prize was a guest designer spot for one week. Their theme for this week is Wedding which must be one of my Top 3 Feared Cards To Make.

I have combined 3 digital stamps from 2 different companies, how's that for you, lol.
Aim em Up Cupid and Run Away Cupid from Make It Crafty
and Cupid's Rectangle from Whimsy Stamps.

Oh, and those ornate metallic corners and delish filigree circle? SO not metal, just lasercut chipboard from Make it Crafty. If you live in UK/Europe - it's now available at Quixotic Paperie as well.

I propped the image on bed of feather which I nicked from my kids craft box again.

The pearls are loose pearls from Quixotic again - totally in love with that stuff atm. Next time I'm putting in an order I'm gonna try out THOSE, just look at the colour!

Oh, and I coloured on Make It Colour blending card...sheesh, it sounds like Zoe has totally purchased my immortal soul - but I just love her stuff!!! lol

Challenges:

Cheerful Stamp Pad - 2W #16 There is a man in my life

Creative Inspirations - 2W - use a Digi.

Paper Sundaes - 3E, C10 -  Use at least 2 from: Sparkle, Pearls, Die Cuts and the Colour Yellow!

Sparkles Forum - 2W - Anything goes. 

Crafty Emma - Spring Colours/Images

Marks Finest Papers -  Anniversary Card

Simply Create - 2W - Challenge #42: Time to rock the metal.

Totally Papercrafts - Challenge #63: Weddings

Aud Sentiments Challenge - 2W -  2nd Wk - Anything goes

Fab 'n' Funky - 1E, C10 - #69 Here comes the Bride

Flutterby Wednesdays - 1E, must include butterfly, fairy or angel - #151 open challenge 

Thank you so much for visiting!
HUgs

She's new, she's sweet and very-very sparkly

The challenge at Make It Colourful is colouring BLACK HAIR this week - using whatever medium and image you want.

We might be a wee bit puzzled if you start scribbling black wigs onto mushrooms and houses and whatnot but we solemnly  promise to be totally non-judgemental!

Anyways, I went with Copics this week - I know, I'm boring. BUT, to cheer you up, here's Cordelia, a sign of Things To Come at Make It Crafty.
I applied acrylic paint, microbeads and glitter in 3 different colours to EVERYTHING, including the image...

And those beautiful filigree circles and flower centers and corners - all cool laser cut chipboard which I just lightly sponged with metallic acrylic paint. It warms my heart to see that stuff now more readily available in UK and Europe as well, hurry before Elaine runs out of stock! Soon you won't see a card of mine without them ....sooo effective and versatile.
And I'm easily obsessed, lol

There's a certain sense of satisfaction in cheerfully mucking around with paints and glitters.

Oh, and see all the pearls? I have recently become terribly clever (cough) and cost-effective and don't get self-adhesive pearls and gems any more.Instead I get loose flat back ones and just stick them on either with Tombow or glue gel. Quixotic has a good colour selection in 2 different sizes here.

Copic colours:
Skin: E11/01/00/95/000
Hair: C9/8/7/5/4, B99/39/14
The rest: B14/02/00/0000, BG97/93, G24

The sentiment I threw together myself in Gimp, it's a rush-job and not artsy or anything and Gimp is doing my head in cause I'm used to Photoshop but if you like it, help yourself (just click to enlarge before you save):

Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge - 2W -  2nd Wk - Anything goes
Southern Girls - 2W, 1E - Green & blue
My Mum's Craft shop - 3E - #2 glitter
Truly Scrumptious - 2W - #55 vintage
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Pearls
Cupcake Craft - Lots of Layers
Stamp Fairy - For the Girls with a Sentiment
For Your Inspiration - 2W, 3E - Challenge #4: Inspirational Photo
 

OK, I'll stop rambling now before you throw something heavy at me and thus destroy your monitor.
Mwah!

Does that look like my card at all??

The challenge this week at Stamp Something is a recipe: Flowers, buttons and sparkle.

Our sponsor this week is Sugar Nellie with a lovely prize you should definitely check out!

I've liked the stamps from Leanne Ellis for a long time but haven't really had a chance to play with any. Well, I had a go this time and tried to go with the artsy feel of them - I'm not sure of what to think of the result. Not exactly BAD but probably too different from my style, takes some getting used to.

I coloured the image with watercolours (yup, a cheap-as-chips set and I think I have to invest in better one - the pigment doesn't dissolve properly and I get kinda powdery bits in my washes). Also added some detail with white opaque calligraphy ink - tastes revolting, btw, managed to stick the brush into my mouth while I was contemplating. Note to self - need a 1mm (extra-extra fine) brush. Anybody know where to get one?

The papers I'm using are from Prima Melody 6x6 pad. I got some different ones from Quixotic and I have to say I adore them - not only are the patterns and colours lovely (I was sorely missing some purples and lavenders in my stash) but they are also really big (48 sheets) which in my book makes them an excellent value.

Little pearly dots are made with Viva Pearl Pen in Dark Brown. Who in their right mind makes dark brown pearls, you ask. Well...me, lol

I made the flowers with various punches and embossing tool (you know, the one with a ball end) and that intricate tag die is from Whimsy Stamps. If you're in UK or Europe, you can get it from Quixotic HERE. It is a total staple die that I can see myself using again and again and again ... and you'll all will become sick of it and stop coming here and...

OK, now I'm getting all depressed! lol

Challenges
C.R.A.F.T. - Challenge #99: Flowers.
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - SIO -  Challenge #55: Glitter & glitz
ABC Challenge - C5 - S is for Sparkle
Scrapbook Sisters - #32 buttons
Truly Scrumptious - 2W - #55 vintage
Cards & Things - 1E, JFF - Colour
 Oldie But Goodie Challenge - 2W, must use stamp at least 6mts old - Fit for A Queen/Princess
Sweet Stamps - 1E, SIO - Some Sort Of Frame On Your Card
Top Tip Tuesday - 3E - Open Challenge
Stamp Fairy - For the Girls with a Sentiment
Woodware USA - 2E - Die Cuts/Punches

Thank you so much for visiting and happy crafting!
Hugs

The carnival is IN DA TOWN!

Wooo-hoo, the big day is here and Mo's and ZO's Big MARVELOUS BLOG HOP is in the full swing!

If you didn't come here from Maria's Blog, you might want to hop to the beginning to Jak's Blog not to miss all the AMAZINGNESS on the offer!

Zoe from Make it Crafty and Mo from Mo’s Digital Pencil, came together to share the delight and fun of The Carnival. To celebrate - the two fabulously talented teams have come together for a massive blog hop to offer you plenty of inspiration when playing with these images.

Along the way you will find balloons with a letter in them. Write down the letters as you go because at the very end we want you to guess what the saying is!

There will be THREE grand prizes randomly drawn from the correct answers PLUS there will be hidden prizes along the way so make sure you leave some love as you hop along!

Now we know this is a super big hop, but we wanted to make sure you would get LOTS of inspiration! The hop will be open until the 28thApril so you will have plenty of time to come back each day with a cuppa to soak it all up! (Just don’t lose the letters you have been collecting!)

We would like to thank our fabulous sponsors, Mo’s Digital Pencil, Make it Crafty, Stamping Bella and Quixotic Paperie for providing the fabulous prizes for this grand carnival hop!

And here's my humble contribution featuring Aunt Flo and Candy Cart!

The story goes like that - aunt Flo arrives with a transatlantic flight to visit her young relatives only to find them gone gallivanting on the carnival. Disgruntled, aunt Flo gets the cab to drop her on spot to find and disinherit the ungrateful lot.

See, the dog is nervous NOT because she is afraid of her mistress, just traumatized from the long flight.

Colouring is Copics with a generous application of Sakura stardust pens. The swirls are from Make It Crafty. Flowers made myself of fabric and lace.

The papers are from Cosmo Cricket Togetherness pad.

I LIKE that card. Well, I like Aunt Flo with her daring fashion choices and grumpy attitude. One day I hope to be just like her.

And here is my balloon!

In case you're having trouble seeing the image, the letter is "L".

Make sure you leave a comment for a ‘possible’ chance at winning some hidden treasure!

Mo also has an image on offer for ONE DOLLAR for the duration of the blog hop so hurry and snag it!

And now shoo-shoo, hop on to Leah's blog - you do not want to miss her creation!

Challenges:

ABC Challenge -  S is for Sparkle

Freshly Brewed -  #43 sparkle and shine

Little Red Wagon - #77 clouds

Papercraft Star - #42 recycle

My Mum's Craft shop - #2 glitter

A Spoonful Of Sugar -  Lets Celebrate

Anything Goes Challenge  - pearls

Everybody-Art-Challenge - Pearls

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Digital Image

Try It On Tuesday  - Something Recycled in Your Project (fabric) 

Copic Creations -  Favourite paper to use with Copics(Make It Colour paper from Make It Crafty)

A Gem of a Challenge - Pearls and/or swirls

Crafty Ann's -  Raise a smile.

Fabulous Friday - Homemade/handmade embellishment

Thank you so much for hopping with us!
Hugs

Whimsy April Blog Hop prize winner

And the time has come to announce the winner of all that goodness from Whimsy Stamps:

Yup. Delicious.

Well...drumroll and...

And that's Marilyn from One Stamping Fool (who, by the way, is jaw-droppingly talented!)

I will contact you very shortly!

Hugs to all!