Coloursoft

Hiya, I hope you've all had a great weekend!  This morning, I tried out some Coloursoft pencils for the first time, which I bought a couple of months ago, so this is a bit of a trial run really to see how they turned out.

 

and with some corners which I added to the image a bit later

The image is a digi from Funky Kits, which I thought was a good one to try the pencils out on, as there is some shading already on the image, although I did use darker colours for the shaded parts as well.  I blended the colours with some Sansador.  I'm fairly happy with her hair and the teddy bears, however not too happy with the bottom part which is coloured brown - I struggled to blend completely.  If you've used these pencils before, then all tips and techniques very welcome!!!  I've used pink shimmer chalk around the edge, and the die-cut roses are Marianne English Rose, which I bought from Craft-Room - I've dropped a pearl into the centre of each.  The card base is made from Kraft cardstock, and the paper I've had for a while.

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:

Birthday Sundaes - Challenge #23 - Pink, Green & White

Corrosive Challenges - #130 Girlie

Cardmakin' Mamas Challenge Blog - #27 Use Pink

The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes

Paper-Crafting Journey - #17 Anything Goes

I hope you like it, and have a good week!

Maria x 

Another LIM Card

Hi!  Having entered the Less Is More Challenge (one layer card using ink) for the first time yesterday (and I don't recall having made a one layer card before either!), I thought I'd have another go - particularly as my OH is drilling walls downstairs! 

I stamped it in black archival ink and it is coloured with distress inks and waterbrush - I did struggle with the skin colour.  I tried antique linen first but that looked a bit too yellow so used pumice stone.  The eyes are faded jeans and weathered wood, cheeks have a bit of tattered rose, and the lips are fired brick.  A sparkly blue gem just above the lip to finish it off, inspired by my daughter just having had her lip pierced.

Maria x

"Less Is More" Card

Hello everyone.  I've not uploaded much over the last couple of weeks as I've had to relocate my little craft room.  I'm finally set up at the bottom of the bedroom and everything more or less has a home, so I've finally got to make something!

I decided that I was going to make something specifically for the "Less is More" challenge, and enter for the first time, as it seems to be really popular.  I had a look at the new challenge and thought "that should be ok - one layer card using ink".  How wrong I was!  Firstly, I generally don't make one layer cards and secondly, I struggled to get the effect I wanted using the distress inks with the acrylic block, lol.  Not one to give up, and after what seemed like a couple of thousand attempts, I decided to try some walnut inks I bought a while ago but haven't yet used, and finally got a result I was fairly happy with.

That's what a challenge is all about, right?  I used the willow and lilac walnut inks, although the lilac looks more brown after mixing with the green (I love the depth of colour of these).  The stamps are by Lavinia and I have used Jet Black archival ink to stamp with.

I'm also going to enter Inspire Me Fridays - Always Anything Goes (#19)

Now I can put my roasties in, lol.

Hope you like it.

Maria x

White on White

Craft-Room Challenge # 6 -  DT Card

Hello everyone, it's that time again already (two weeks goes ever so fast)!!!  Challenge No 6 over at Craft-Room, 'White on White', is now open, and the theme has been chosen by lovely Nikki.  For one random lucky winner, there will be a £10 voucher to spend on goodies in the Craft-Room Online Shop - to be in with a chance, just put the shop logo in your side bar with a link back to the shop, and then link up your entry as usual.  You could also be chosen as one of the top 3, so pop over to the challenge and have a look at what the rest of design team have made!

I have to admit, this challenge threw me a little at first, but I am going to a wedding this Friday so I decided to go for a wedding card:

Using white pearlescent card throughout, I decided that embossing was the way for me to go.  I used a swiss dots embossing folder on the top and bottom tiers of the cake and some ribbon around the centre and bottom.  As the bride is having a pearl spray on her cake, I tried to tie this in, so I threaded some beads onto flowersoft wire and used them as a topper.  I also embossed the sides of the card with a cuttlebug border embossing folder, and added a white strip of flower trim on each side.  To finish it off, I did the sentiment (LOTV) in white embossing powder, and attached a circular easel with a wedding ring embellishment.

I hope you like it (and I hope the bride & groom do too, lol!)

I'm going to enter this card into:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts- (15) Easel Card
The Crazy Challenge - (79) Embossing
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Maria x

Fairy Wish & the blog candy I won!

Fairy Wish

Hiya!  It's a lovely sunny day here in Manchester - let's hope it stays that way!  AND it's the weekend, at last!  I made this card using one of the Lavinia stamps that I bought at the Port Sunlight craft show:

The did the background with DI (Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet & Frayed Burlap) and the images are stamped in Versafine Black & Smokey Gray.  The leaves are a Paper Artsy Stamp (which is outline, so I had to fill them in with the Versafine!).  It's mounted onto a black card with some paper from Desert Sands pad.  Some ribbon, a few gems, Jones Tones Glitter (which gets everywhere!) and a word tile to finish it.

My First Blog Candy Winnings - Ever!

I won Mervi's blog candy!!!  I'm so excited, and it arrived all the way from South Finland on Thursday:


A stunning and beautifully made notebook - the image on the front lifts up to reveal the text - and a lovely stamp for me to colour up, and a beautiful lacy die cut with a message on the back!  Please check out her blog - she has some beautiful creations.


It's so nice to receive something that somebody else had made with such love and care, as it's usually me that does the making, lol! So, thank you so much Mervi!  I will treasure it :-)

Anyway, that's it for now - I'm home all weekend for a change so am working on some DT pieces, but will hopefully get something else done for my blog.

I'm going to enter my "Fairy Wishes" card into The Artistic Stamper - Hot, Hot, Hot Colours (I might just about qualify?), and Make It Monday - Anything Goes, Inspire Me Fridays - Always Anything Goes,

See you soon.

Maria x

Craft Room Challenge DT Project - Summer Holidays (wall hanging)

Hello again!  Wow, what fantastic entries we had in the Craft-Room's Butterflies Challenge!  They were stunning - there are so very many talented people out there.  The winner of the random draw, and Top 3, will be announced next Tuesday, 2nd July 2011 - good luck to all who entered.  

CHALLENGE #5 - SUMMER HOLIDAYS

The weeks are flying by - I can't believe we're on our 5th challenge already!  This one is hosted by Hazel - there's so much inspiration at this time of year that I think it's going to be a very popular one. It's really easy to enter - just link up your post and pop the Craft-Room logo, with a link back to the shop, into your sidebar. 

This is my project - a little wall hanging (6 x 6) - inspired by the first holiday I took my daughter on, as a little girl.  We stayed in a caravan overlooking the sea, in Newquay, West Wales, of which I have really fond memories.

I thought I'd try a bit of masking.  I used a digi from Funky Kits and printed it twice.  I cut out one of the prints (I usually avoid this task whenever possible!) and stuck it over the other, then set to work on the background - the sand and sea are done with distress inks, and the sky and sun are done with a triple Brilliance inkpad (Aurora).  I did start off with the brayer but gave up and used some make-up wedges instead :-)  I matted the finished piece on some creamy lemon card, and then mounted it onto some dark orange covered Tando chipboard (which I got from Craft-Room), then went around the edges of the chipboard with Wild Honey distress ink, added some shells and a metal embellishment.  Then I gave it to a friend on her birthday.  She liked it, so I hope you like do too :-)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the entries for this challenge - I love visiting your blogs, so good luck everyone!!!

There are a few challenges that this piece fits into, so I'm entering:

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - Anything Goes Using a Digi
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Paper Playtime - Digi Monday - Summer
Paper Sundaes - Beach / Summer
Craft Your Days Away - Summertime
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Summer
Mami Doodles - At The Beach
The Artistic Stamper - Hot, Hot, Hot Colours

Maria x