Bloomin' Beautiful!

This was my first inking of this flower pot from the Stampin up set "Bloomin Beautiful" available in the U.S from their occasions mini collection 2008.

It is perfect for letting me play with my copics and for experimenting with my new air compressor using my Copic airbrushing system. My ABS1 system is ok to use with Copic air cans BUT the hose and connector did not fit my new compressor.

I discovered my hubby does have his uses!!! and being a plumber he was able to get me the right fitting connectors and tubing and now I'm in action!!

Rox on Splitcoaststampers had a sketch challenge this week, SC182 and this design fits nicely. I coloured the main image with copics and after masking off the pot, I stamped an oval shadow using A muse oval clear stamps. I then experimented by airbrushing mimosa yellow copic and pink copic and I'm happy with how it turned out for my first time. I'll try and photograph steps next time for anyone interested in learning more about airbrushing.

Both ribbons are by Mayarts.
Pale pink liquid pearls for flower centres.
Designer paper by Hot off the press.
Nestabilities by Spellbinders.
Ranger inksentials white pen.

Close up!

Happy Graduation!

My niece will be graduating soon from the University of Ulster and for once I'm a step ahead and have the card ready!!! (this is a first - I might have to lie down!!)

I used the congrats embossing folder by Cuttlebug on red card from Lasting Impressions that has a white core making it ideal for sanding to really make the words pop. It's not very clear from this photo but the main "congrats" is v. glittery with crystal stickles and there is a sparkly red diamante (A muse) on the grad cap.

The cap is an A muse stamp from one of their clear steps which I punched out with a circle punch and mounted on a slightly larger circle.
The black and white gingham is by Creative Impressions and the red stitched grosgrain is A muse.

This is a nice simple card to put together and I then stamped the mortarboard several times on the envelope to add a little something extra.

TIP: Just change the image in the circle tag and paper for different occasions, e.g. little baby shoes for baby congrats, or wedding rings for wedding congrats.

Teacher gifts!

It's that time of year again - wracking our brains to give teachers a gift, hopefully original and something they'll appreciate. My kids have fantastic teachers and they will truly miss them as they move to their next class.
My 3 children are at primary school (ages 6, 9 and 11). My eldest daughter is leaving primary school this year and will go to "Big" school in September. She gave her teacher a nameframe last year so we've opted for book tokens this year BUT my other 2 children's teachers don't have nameframes so that's what we did!

Ben loves his P2 teacher Miss Tannahill and this nameframe is especially for her.




This nameframe is for Annie's teacher Miss Graham who she'll miss very much.

Both nameframes use A muse stitched alphabet letters. Sentiment "for a special teacher" is Amuse also. The designer papers on both frames is from Stampin' up.

Stamps: "Kids at play" from Stampin up. This set is long retired and I bought it second hand on ebay but it is one of my favs and brilliant for school themed nameframes. All coloured with copics. SU scallop circle punch, small oval and large oval punches. Prima flowers and liquid pearls.

This is the thank you card to accompany this frame.

Leaf backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms and alphabet by Hero arts. Little girl is from the same Kids at play SU set. Ric rac by Mayarts.

This is Ben's thank you card for Miss Tannahill. I didn't have a heart balloon stamp to hold this sentiment from My Favorite Things so I used a Copic pen fineliner to draw the balloon by hand around the sentiment.

Cuttlebug embossing folder for card. Designer paper from SU. Little boy from Kids at play by SU. Ric rac by Mayarts. Thread from Lasting Impressions.

A Frog Chorus!

Today, I'm going to attempt to take you step by step on my Copic colouring of "Frog Chorus" from Tom Allen's Friendly Kritters range at Cornish Heritage Farms. This one is fun to colour and I've not used too many colours to keep it fairly simple.


I started by colouring all the frogs wiht YG00, Mimosa yellow and I decided at a fairly early stage to use A muse stitched grosgrain so that was a good colour guide for me to keep at hand.

I added shadows with YG23 new leaf which I then blended with the mimosa yellow again to avoid any stripey lines.

The frog's lovely round tummies were coloured with Y38 honey but I kept the colour neat and strong around the outline of the bellies and faded towards the centre by just lifting a little colour from the Honey tip with my Colorless blender. Alternatively you could use the colorless blender to remove some of the colour from the centre of the bellies after colouring in full with Honey. If you look closely you can see that I added little dabs of honey to the bodies as well.



Next up, I used R29, Lipstick red with colorless blender to colour their tongues, keeping a darker red towards the back of the tongue. I'm ashamed at how grubby my R29 looks but I was able to use some of this old ink along with Honey to colour the ground under the frogs. There is a little ladybird to the right (out of shot) which is R29 too.

One of my most used pens is BG10, Cool shadow which I used here around the edges of the frogs and around their bibs. I also used the T3, Toner Gray, no. 3 at the very foreground and to cast darker shadows on their limbs.


Taadaahh!!!!


The sentiment is a new one from Cornish Heritage Farms which I cut up and placed half inside the card. Look at that ink BLOB!! Yak!

Backgrounders - Step by Step

I apologise now for the extra long post today but I took the pics as I completed the process and I thought they might be of some help to someone somewhere!!!

I know from talking to others that not everyone can see what to do exactly with a backgrounder except perhaps the obvious such as a "canvas" bg to add texture to cardstock so I thought I'd show how I use some of them in their own right as the focus of the card. Follow the post for more pics and step-by-step colouring.
Sunflowers backgrounder and sentiment by Cornish Heritage Farms. Leaf from a Kim Hughes set by CHF too. Green dotty cardstock by A muse.


I used the Sunflowers background by Cornish Heritage Farms and inked it with Versamark before using black embossing powder and a heat gun. This creates the right surface for applying inks.

I chose Adirondack inks to sponge colour in the following sequence.



I filled the white gaps with a little more sunshine yellow to brighten the card generally and finished by using a Souffle pen for white highlights. I intensified the flower centres with cardinal copic R59.
This is another card I made for my Dad using a similar method with Trees backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. The orange dotty paper is by A muse and I dulled it down a little by brushing it with yellow acrylic paint. The chipboard is by Stampin UP and painted with orange and yellow acrylic paints.
Alphabet stamps, retired from PSX. Dotty stamp is by Hot off the press.
Black stitched grosgrain from Creative Impressions and orange ribbon by Amuse. I think this one is my favourite!!

This is just another little sample using a paisley backgrounder by CHF but sponged with more vivid ink pads! Put on your sunglasses!!

(TIP - if you don't have a white pen handy, use a tippex pen or white out with a fine paintbrush for the same effect). I haven't made this into a card yet......




SORRY for the epic post!!!

Some for the Daddies!

I love this set "Let's hear it for the boys" from My Favorite Things and it is perfect for Father's Day or male Birthdays. My daughter Abbie (11yrs) and I had fun together colouring and you can see her designs further down. She has a great knack with Copics and a good eye for picking out designer papers and co-ordinating cardstock. I really love turquoise and orange as it is so bright and cheery.

Sentiment is from A muse as is the dotty orange paper. Wide ribbon from Mayarts.
Coloured with Copics. Swiss dots cuttlebug folder. Corner rounder punch.

The dotty designer paper here is by Scrappy Cats.


Now here are a few by Abbie - didn't she do well?? I think the one with the little beer bottle in the corner is a tribute to her Daddy as he loves to recline and have a beer watching Liverpool play.

She was inspired by my first design and tweaked it to suit her fav. dotty paper.


There's still time to get those Father's Day cards done and I hope we've given you a few ideas!!

Friends FURever!!!

First off, I want to apologise for not posting for so long. My eldest sister is v. ill and underwent an operation on the 28th and we've been spending quite a bit of time visiting her in hospital hence my disappearance from blogland.
She's still in hospital and probably will be for at least another week so bear with me as I get back in to creating and blogging.




As you already know, My Favorite Things is one of my fav stamp companies and this is one of their latest mini sets, "Friends Furever" which is lots of fun to colour. (Mini sets are £6.99 at my shop).

Can you spot my other latest purchases??
Gorgeous dotty zesty paper by A muse. I also have it in green and pink.
The orange stitched grosgrain which is perfect for the paper is by A muse and now also in stock with about 8 other colours!!
The wide 1" ribbon is fabulous and also available in lime with blue stitching but with more colourways arriving soon.

Accessories - Turquoise stickles, rectangle nestability, white souffle pen and of course my COPICS.


If you're looking for more inspiration on how you could use this set, check out these fantastic samples over on Splitcoaststampers.

Stampowl
Cindy-Haffner
cwilliams
flaxychick

There are lots more samples, just search "friends furever" in the gallery home page.