A Trip to the Races with Make it Crafty

I decided to challenge myself and go for a different colour palette than my usual bright & bold with this card for the Make it Crafty Colouring Challenge. The theme is Anything Goes so it's a nice easy one. I chose Chantelle at the Races as it's been racing season here recently with coverage of all the big hats at Ascot etc (and the horse racing too I think, but the hats seem to get as much coverage as the actual racing!).

Here she is in all her finery! I added a shimmer of Wink of Stella to the highlights of her dress so it looks a little bit like taffeta. I kept her hair, flowers & feathers light in colour.

I teamed her with chippies - Hello from Friend Adapt-a-word Chipboard set and the 2" Friend Brush Script Chipboard. I coloured them with Copics and then added Wink of Stella.

I hope you like her.

Products used:

Chantelle at the Races digi stamp

Hello from Friend Adapt-a-word Chipboard set

Friend Brush Script Chipboard - 2"

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 cheeks

Hair - E51, E53 E55

Dress - BG05, BG07, BG09, B99

Flowers - RV00, RV02

Feathers - BG000, BG01

Don't forget to enter the Anything Goes Challenge. A nice easy theme and it's the last challenge for a while as Make it Crafty Challenges is taking a break - so don't miss your opportunity to enter.

Mad March Hare with Make it Crafty

Have you seen the Animals Challenge over on the Make it Crafty Challenge Blog? I hope you're going to give it a go - there are so many lovely animals & birds in the Make it Crafty Store. Zoe set each of us DT Gals an 'Inside Challenge' & mine was 'Fur' - so here's my creation using March Hare digi.

I coloured him using my Copics. If I'd had the right coloured pencils I'd have added some extra furry details to make him extra furry. With his fur I concentrated on making it follow the form of his body.

I teamed March Hare digi with the You, Me and a Cup of Tea Chipboard. It seemed the perfect pairing as we all know the Mad Hatter etc love their tea! I coloured the chipboard with sparkly gel pens and then finished it with a layer of glossy accents. I coloured the smaller words with white gel pen.

I sent this card to a friend who loves tea - but thankfully isn't nearly as mad as the Mad March Hare!

Products used:

March Hare digi

 You, Me and a Cup of Tea Chipboard

Copics used:

E30, E31, E33, E35

R20, R21, R22, R24

R24, R27, R29, R59

Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24

YR16, YR18, Y19, E18

E74, E77

C2, C3

W2, W3, W5

I hope this card has made you smile & you have a go at colouring an animal from Make it Crafty and join in the challenge.

Cherry Blossom with Make it Crafty & Tiddly Ink Stamps

Now you all know I'm a fan of both Make it Crafty and Tiddly Inks Stamps. I mean I'm on the Design Teams for both so that shows just how much I love them. Well recently Zoe of Make it Crafty and Christy of Tiddly Inks Stamps were having a 'friendly discussion' about who's Cherry Blossom did stamp was best. I love them both ... so decided to combine them both in one card!

Cheeky idea I know, but I love how the two designs work together and compliment each other! 

Cherry Blossom from Make it Crafty is the larger image in the foreground Cherry Blossoms from Tiddly Inks is the smaller image in the background. I coloured them with my copics concentrating the brighter colours & Wink of Stella on the branch in the foreground & keeping the branches in the background more muted. I'm hoping that adds to the perspective I was aiming for.

I finished the card by mounting on black card & adding chipboard words - 0.5" Hello Word Chipboard and 2.0" Friend Word Chipboard. 

I coloured the chippies using RV02 & 100 Copics, added Wink of Stella to the top layer, then a layer of Glossy Accents as a finishing touch.

I hope you like it and come and join in the challenges this month 

Make it Crafty - Flora - Flowers, Grass, Trees and more... 

Tiddly Inks Stamps Challenge #213 - Florals and Plants

Products used:

Digi - Cherry Blossom from Make it Crafty

Cherry Blossoms from Tiddly Inks

Chipboard -  0.5" Hello Word Chipboard

2.0" Friend Word Chipboard. 

Copics Used -

Rv00, RV02, RV09, RV69

G82, G29

E74, E77, E79, W9

Y02, Y15, Y17

I'll leave you with this picture of a beautiful tree covered in blossom that I saw this week. Not a cherry tree, but it was incredibly beautiful. Not what you expect to find in the swimming pool car park in Devon, UK. The blossom has been late this year, but the trees have suddenly burst into flower all at once.

Dew Drops on Poppies from Make it Crafty

Dew Drops!!!! Argh!!!! Yep I will admit that was my reaction when Zoe told us the theme for this month's Make it Crafty Challenge!  Well that and blind panic and a desire to hide in my blanket fort! I bet you think that us DT members swim through these challenges - but trust me we don't. We're often as scared as you are, but always give it a go and are usually surprised by what we manage to produce. It's amazing what we can do when pushed out of our comfort zone.

I followed a video on how to create dew drops and used the Poppies Digi Stamp from Make it Crafty. Here's a close up of the dew drops.

The bottom one turned out like a little flower dew drop monster which really wasn't the plan!

I finished the card with a simple green mat & the Hello Gorgeous chippie coloured with gel pens.

Digi - Poppies

Chippie - Hello Gorgeous

Copics used:

Poppies - R24, R27, R29, R59, W7, Blender

G14, G17, G29, W7

I really hope you like my attempt at Dew Drops & come over and join us in the Dew Drops Challenge. If I can do it you can too!

Sammi High Up in the Sky with Make it Crafty

Well here we go - a new challenge at Make it Crafty - and this one I love. Do you have your copy of Zoe's Fun Techniques for Colouring Skies Ebook? If not now's a perfect time to grab it as Zoe has it on offer at half price. Pop over the the Make it Crafty Challenge blog to get the discount code. It's amazing value at full price - at half price it's incredible!

Zoe released this Ebook two years ago and I must admit I was petrified at attempting skies, but her step by step tutorials made it seem achievable and following the steps really does give a great result. For this challenge I chose Sammi Swept Away and coloured her over a sky with fluffy cartoon clouds (Exercise 5 in the Ebook)

Here's her close up. So many folds & creases!

I had a lot of fun making the balloons slightly transparent. I hope you can see the clouds & sky well in these close ups too.

I finished the card off with some Chippies - the Birthday Single Layered word and words from the Birthday Adapt-a-word set. I coloured them with my Copics & finished with a layer of Glossy Accents.

This card was a big challenge for me & I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I can't wait to see your Sky creations. Do give it a go and join in.

Digi - Sammi Swept Away

Chipboard - Birthday Single Layered word and Birthday Adapt-a-word set

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - T7, T9

Dress - Y00, Y11, Y08, Y17, YR24, YR27

Balloons - Y00, Y11, Y08, Y11, G00, G02, G05, G07, RV00, RV23, RV25, RV29, Silver Gel Pen

Sky - B00, B02, B05

Clouds - BV20, BV23, 0

Come on over to the challenge blog to pick up the half price code & then enter your own sky creation xxx

Eeeek look! I made the header!!!

'Add Details with Black Pen' - Colouring Challenge with Make it Crafty

'Add Details with Black Pen' ..... ok so I'll freely admit that this challenge from Make it Crafty has me panicking. Adding details to digis seemed so alien (and so above my skill level!). It's something I've never done as many digi artists ask you not to do so - so make sure you check with the artist before doing it.

With a few gentle (and not so gentle) nudges from Zoe I put my big girl pants on it and went for it. 

This is the result - a rather funky plaid coat and spotty boots & scarf for Bethany Winter Jacket from Make it Crafty. It's amazing what you can do when you give something a go!

Here's the steps I went through.

First of all I printed Bethany Winter Jacket and got my tools ready - a pencil (no laughing at my Minion Pencil - it makes me smile!) and 0.1 & 0.5 Letraset Fineliners. These are fine black pens with ink that doesn't react to Copic ink.

I drew on the patterns I wanted with my pencil to check what it looked like.

Then inked it with my fineliners. I also checked the placement of my chippies for the sentiment.

Then on with the colouring (and the realisation that plaid is super tricky to colour at the best of times ..... why on earth did I choose that???!!!! - super extra crazy eh?). Here's a couple of close ups.

I coloured the chippies with Copic and then topped with Glossy Accents. I double embossed the top layer of 'Hugs' with Wow Rich Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder and added a layer of Glossy Accents over the top so it had the same sheen as the Adapt-a-words. 

I really hope you like the end result. Here she is in her entirety again.

Digi - Bethany Winter Jacket

Chipboard Used - 

Hugs Single Layered Word

Words from Sending Adapt-a-word set

Copics Used

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - E23, E25, E27, E29, E49

Coat - B26, B97, B99, G14, G17, G28, W7

            Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24, R24, R27, R29, R59, W7

Hat, Scarf & Boots - R24, R27, R29, R59, W7,

Boots - E57, E59

W2, W3, W5

I hope you'll come and join us in the current Make it Crafty challenge.

Jillian Creates with Make it Crafty

I needed to make a Thank you card & chose Jillian Creates from Make it Crafty and cropped her so she snuggles on the card.

Here's her close up. I do love her expression.

I typed the sentiment and added some Sakura Stardust gel pen on the uprights before adding several layers of clear Sakura Glaze pen to give it dimension.

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 cheeks

Hair - E23, E25, E27, E29, E49

Top - BG53, BG57, BG18, BG78

Trousers - B95, B97, B99

Hearts & Ribbons - R24, R27, R29, R59, W7

I hope you like her and really hope you'll come and join in the Make it Crafty Skin Colouring Challenge.

Make it Crafty Store
Make it Crafty Inspiration Blog
Make it Crafty Monthly Colouring Challenge

Make it Crafty January 'Skin' Challenge

Well here we go - the first Make it Crafty challenge of 2018. How on earth did we get here! It feels like no time at all since we were celebrating the beginning of 2017 ... or 2015 for that matter. But hey ho - on with the colouring!

The first challenge of the year is 'Skin' - a nice easy one eh - so many of us feature Make it Crafty people in our creations. If you need some extra inspiration or pointers why not pick up one of Zoe's Ebook Tutorials - there's the Basic Techniques when Colouring Faces Ebook and Basic Techniques when Shading Body Tones Ebook. 

I chose to use the new digi Insta Penelope. Isn't she great! Lots of skin (and lots of hair!). I paired her with a collection of Chippies to create a full sentiment.

I do love the effect of chippies. I used three different ones - Sending Single Layered Word Chipboard, Birthday Single Layered Word Chipboard and Love from Sending Adapt-a-word. I double embossed them with WOW Rich Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder. and coloured the base with Copics.

Here's Insta Penelope's close up. I do love the details in her clothes & hair & of course all that skin. I kept her fairly simple rather than adding lots of the details in the Ebooks, but I will do her again sometime with all the extra details. I had fun playing with a different colour combination for her clothes.

Products used:

Digi -  Insta Penelope

Chipboards - Sending Single Layered Word Chipboard

Birthday Single Layered Word Chipboard

Love from Sending Adapt-a-word.

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - YR12, YR15, YR18, E09, E19

Eyes - G82, G46, G29

Clothes - BG45, BG49, BG09, B97, B99

Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24

C2, C3, C5

Shadow - W2, W3, W5

Pilot SuperGel Gold Pen

Wink of Stella Clear

I hope you like her and hope you join in the Make it Crafty 'Skin' Challenge - it runs until the end of January.

Make it Crafty Store
Make it Crafty Inspiration Blog
Make it Crafty Monthly Colouring Challenge

Make it Crafty Challenges are Back!!!!

I'm over the moon that the Make it Crafty Colouring Challenges are back! 

I always loved taking part in the Colouring Challenges & found while they often pushed me out of my comfort zone (and sometimes scared me to bits!) they made my colouring develop leaps & bounds.

We've had a bit of a break, but now due to popular demand the challenges are back. Don't let us down - please do join in. I know the Make it Crafty DT projects are out of this world (how amazing are those creations honestly!), but give it a go. The Challenge is 'Glow' so it could be something as simple as a candle flame. Refer to the main Challenge Post for all the information.

I chose to use Elf Delivery from Make it Crafty for my card. These cheeky elves make me laugh whenever I see them and what better source of 'Glow' than that dangerous lit fuse!

How much mischief?!!!

Here's their close up. I tried to create the glow of the fuse and then where the glow would fall on the objects around it and cast a golden highlight. Some of the surfaces were obvious, but some I really had to work out the light source. I added some Gold gel pen & Sakura Stardust pen to the main fuse. I enjoyed creating the scene - it's a simple horizon & then a night sky, but it really makes the image pop.

To finish the card I used the Sending Layered word and Joy from the Christmas Adapt-a-Word set. I coloured the top layer white using fine embossing powder & the base layer & small word the colour of the sky.

Products Used:

Elf Delivery System Digi Stamp
Sending Word Chipboard
Christmas Adapt-a-Word chipboard set

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Clothes - G14, G17, G28, W7, R24, R27, R29, R89, W7

Rocket - R24, R27, R29, R89, W7, C1, C2, C3

Fuse & Glow - Y00, Y02, Y11, Gold Gel Pen, Sakura Stardust Gel Pen

Stake - E53, E55, E57

Rope - E23, E25, E27, E29

Sky - Bv23, BV25

Shadows & snow - C1, C2, C3, B000

I hope these cheeky chaps have made you smile. 

I really hope you come and join in the 'Glow' Challenge

Out of Focus Challenge with Make it Crafty

Well here's a post I really didn't want to write. The wonderful Make it Colourful Challenge is coming to an end and taking an extended break. This means it's the end of my time as a MIC Gal. 

Being part of the Make it Crafty DT has been like a dream come true. It's been an incredible challenge and has really really pushed my colouring & imagination skills. At times I've literally lost sleep wondering how I'll achieve the challenge brief, but each time I've gone for it and often been amazed by the results. I feel like my colouring has come on leaps and bounds through meeting the set challenges and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

One of the most amazing things has been the people. Zoe is an absolutely incredible person and my fellow MIC Gals are the nicest bunch of people ever. I truly feel honoured to have been part of the DT for the past 10 months. Thank you so much Zoe for having me.

So lets make the final challenge go out with a bang. It's a stonker of a theme it must be said - but doable. All you need to do is make part of your creation 'Out of Focus'.

I had great fun playing and getting messy making the backgrounds for these cards! I used a technique I've seen online dropping drops of Copic Refill Ink and Rubbing Alcohol onto pieces of card. It's very hit and miss. I had some that turned out nicely and some that weren't so successful but oh it was fun!

My first card features Cockatoo Digi stamp

I love how it turned out!

Here's a close up of Cockatoo. It's hard to see but I used W2 & W3 to add some shading to him. I kept it subtle as he's such a lovely bright white.

I used Dream from the Doodle Dream Word Chipboard Set and coloured it with green Copic and then added Glossy accents.

I mounted it so it's almost freestanding between the raised Cockatoo and the card base.

Copic Refills used for background 

YG11, YG21, YG07, YG25, G24, G82, Rubbing Alcohol

Copics for Cockatoo

W1, W2

Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24

N3, N5, N7, N9

C7, C9

My second card uses the same techniques with the Hibiscus Flower that comes with the Humming Bird Digi. I love the colour of the background of this one.

Here's a close up.

 I coloured the Congrats word from the Doodle Celebrate Word Set red with Copics and then added a layer of Glossy Accents to it. 

Copics Refills used for the background

B000. B00, B04, B2, B24, B26, BG05, BG45

Copics used for the Hibiscus

R20, R21, R22, R24, R27, R29, R59, W7

G14, G17, G29

E19, E18

I really hope you like my cards and I really hope you come over and join the Out of Focus Challenge at Make it Colourful to make the challenge go out on a high.

(Oooo Look my pic made the Challenge Header pic!)

Water with Make it Crafty

It's challenge time over at Make it Colourful Challenges and this month it's a nice easy theme - Water! There are so many ways you could get water into a picture - the sea, a lake, a puddle, some water in a glass to drink - so many options so come along and join in - we'd love to see you.

I decided to play with one of the lovely mermaids. I just love Make it Craft Mermaids! I've got a bit of an addiction! This beauty is Mermaid Viviane and she's chatting to one of the Koi Fish. I used the techniques in the Fun Techniques for Colouring Skies Ebook to create the sea - who knew similar techniques could create a sky or the sea!

Here's  Mermaid Viviane's close up. I've added some Wink of Stella to her scales & tail - because every self respecting mermaid is shimmery aren't they!

The border was a freebie from here.

Here's my Koi Fish. I coloured him with my Copics and then added Cosmic Shimmer to add some shimmery colour.

I really hope you like my creation. I'd love to see you come across and join in the Water Challenge at Make it Colourful Challenges 

Products Used:

Digi - Mermaid Viviane

Digi - Koi Fish

Fun Techniques for Colouring Skies Ebook

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - Y15, Y17, YR24, YR27, YR04, E08

Mermaid's Tail & Fish - YG11, YG45, YG49, Blender, Wink of Stella

Sea - B21, B23, B24, BG45

Cosmic Shimmer Iridescent Watercolours - Persion Sea, Bright Holly