SCACD Digital Stamps RELEASE !!!

Welcome to my blog, the last stop showing the gorgeous new images from SCACD. You will have come from Penny's blog. 

SCACD is celebrating 10 newly released exclusive digital stamps. There are some new cute animal stacks think kitten, puppies and birds as well as some Steampunk additions and more!!! So check out the collection as these are really cute, fun and unique. SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are happy to be showcasing them to you now :D

Now available for purchase in the USA HERE     

All Our EU International Friends can purchase them HERE    

If you are a none EU country you can purchase direct from SCACD HERE 

Today I am showcasing this delightful folk art cow image, a fun new digi from SCACD. The actual image is a whole cow, I just cut off the back part so she fitted into my frame. Nobody actually mentioned if it was a he or she, but I am thinking definitely a she, with her beautiful body markings :

  Below is a closer look at the folk art cow, colored with alcohol markers. To get the textured look to the cows coat, I colored it then put a few drops of blending solution onto a blending tool and pounced it all over the brown. It gives a more realistic looking animal skin I think :) 

I thought the sentiment was just perfect. And its actually my Birthday today, so thanks very much, things are cow'ing just fine. LOL : 

If you want to make sure you saw all the Designers showcasing the stamps then head back to the SCACD Store Blog HERE for the list. Hope you had fun and found some inspiration :)

Please note SCACD is having a SALE so check it out HERE:

Altered Playing Cards week 24

The Altered Playing Card (APC) challenge has actually ended, but I still have a few weeks to catch up on. I think I just dont want it to end ! LOL. Here are my week 24 makes :

For this APC I have used the new zombie cat from Vera Lane Studios. He is feeling very frustrated with the birds on the wires tweeting away. LOL He is in a set of 3 digital images, with a sentiment. What a cute kitty he is :)

For the second APC I have used the steampunk wing die from SCACD. I love this shape of the negative cut :

This is my pair of Altered Playing Cards :

Bee Ware ATC's

I have been creating Artist Trading Cards again, they are small, 2.5" x 3.5". I have used the gorgeous chipboard honey comb, MIS-274. I have used this before, but its just something I keep coming back to and working on this smaller scale was really fun. Its so easy to cut the chipboard, so one size fits all :)

My three ATC's, all slightly different :

 There are a number of elements on my ATC's, including honey in the comb, this is made with gold acrylic paint and crystal effects. The gorgeous bee image is from SCACD, a steam punk bee called Bee Ware - isn't it great.

A close up of my favourite ATC of the three, you can clearly see the embossing, the cogs, honey, chipboard and flowers - also for sale by SRTC at events. The bee and sky are colored with copics. You will see the embossing around but not on the bee - I did this by making a diffuser and then running it through my big shot. Love creating the metallic feel, then adding some flowers to soften it up.

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you found some inspiration here :)

SCACD Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 Rubber Stamp Release

SCACD celebrates today the two recently released NEW exclusive rubber stamp sets. They are the Brave Hearts ( a group of 4 empowered gals) as well as Eclectic Collection 2 (a combo of six steampunk and ethereal stamps). With the Eclectic 2 collection if you buy the entire set you get 4 FREE date stamp words. SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now :D

Now available for purchase in the USA HERE for the Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 sets.

Our International Friends can purchase SCACD rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie HERE

SCACD Digital images for USA and International can always be found HERE 

I love taking part in these SCACD events and my creation for this release uses the super new bee ware image. This gorgeous little steam punk guy is available as a digital stamp and rubber stamp - which is awesome. I made an Artist Trading Card, with lots of embellishments :

You should be going next to Crystal if you are lost then head back to the SCACD Store Blog HERE 

SCACD Holiday Inspiration Day

Welcome :) I am joining in the SCACD fun today for some holiday inspiration, Christmas and Hanukkah :) We are getting in the holiday mood here in Canada, as is 'Note to Selfie' :

Had to have a little bit of fun with this digital image, and he does look rather dapper in his Nordic sweater - all ready for a Canadian winter. I have made a few changes to the original image, added clothing and removed wings ! This sentiment also is one I made up and printed, the actual wording with the image is 'Note to Selfie'. Here is a close up of him :

Its fun to be involved in this showcase, I hope everyone is enjoying the inspiration and the wonderful and diverse SCACD images :) For the full list of participant in this showcase, click here.

There were a few steps involved in the creation of this card. The background is sprayed and a stencil used with white ink and I outlined some of the squares in white gel pen. The image is colored with copics, then I added a little alcohol blending solution to a blending foam and pounced lightly to give a bit of an uneven, wooly look :

The jumper is paper pieced. I did this by running a piece of copy paper through my printer and then using temporary tape to adhere the patterned paper where I wanted it, and ran it through my printer again and fussy cut the sweater image :

Note to Selfie and his sweater are fussy cut. Yes, its true ... I love to fussy cut ....

His hat was just sketched on carstock and cut out, colored with india ink and white gel pen.

 I sprayed a piece of card stock and when it was dry I punched out some stars.

That was a fun project, I hope you found some inspiration here and will check out the other wonderful SCACD digi images :)

Altered Playing Card Week 9

A fun week 9 of the altered playing card (apc) challenge.This week is sponsored by Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD) so I pulled out my wonderful SCACD stamps ...

For the first apc I used this funky and cool steampunk fish called Incandescent Light . I colored him with copics and fussy cut him. Unusual fish call for unusual background oceans, and so the pink and turquoise dylusions background came about, and I added glitter paper circles. Initially I was planning to just use a circle behind the lantern, but I loved the look against the background, so they circles multiplied. The apc is edged in Stampendous aged copper embossing enamel. The sentiment is included with incandescent light image :) These fish always remind me of Finding Nemo, but this one is waaaay cooler :)

 The second apc uses a very different image from SCACD, this is one of the images from the archeological dig set. I painted the background with Paper Artsy chalk acrylic paint in stone, and while the paint was wet I sprinkled a little flocking in brown and pale blue - you can just see the tiny speckles around the image. When the paint was dry I stamped the dinosaur skeleton image in brown archival ink. Then I used a brick effect stencil and green distess ink on the background, added some washi tape, some jute and finally a thin layer of Kroma crackle in some spots around the edges. Doesn't he look great :) 

 Here are my two apc's together for week 9. 

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me some love xxx

Phoenix Rising

I would like to share with you an art journal page I created in my 5" x 16" Moleskin journal, using the beautiful digital phoenix image from Susanas Custom Art and Card Design. 

There was so much detail and power in this phoenix, I loved how regal he is, so it seemed only appropriate to paint him in silver and gold lumiere paint. I didn`t capture the real life shine in the pic above because I wanted you to see all of the detail, but the phoenix was so smooth and shiny, he positively glows :

Once I had painted him, I filled in the non-phoenix areas with a regal blue india ink pen, then fussy cut the image.  The blue added to the feeling of warmth, the heat coming off the bird in flight.

The background was done with black gesso and perfect pearls. I didn`t want the background to be too detailed to detract from the phoenix, but I wanted it to feel magical and glow. Perfect pearls certainly helped me achieve that affect. I made a sheet of paper with the same ingredients as for the phoenix so that I could die cut the word `Rebirth. I love the whole idea of being reborn, or reinventing oneself, it is relevant in so many peoples lives at one time or another. The symbol of this 'rebirth' for me is the phoenix. A mythical bird, a thing of beauty :

The poetry on the right side of the journal page is beautiful and very inspirational :

`A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving
nightmareto the jeweled vision of life started anew`. 

Aberjhani, Journey through the power of the Rainbow.

I am actually very fussy about what goes into my art journal. I do not do pages on a whim, it always comes from a deep place, with a lot of significance for me. To me this page is about returning from another place, a dark place and rediscovering life and all its beauty.

Thank you for visiting x

SCACD showcase ... Cyber Chic

Today the sweet Friends of SCACD  group and the SCACD DT are showcasing Fall images even some with a twist.

If you want to see all the peeps presenting their inspirations today not to mention a shot at some yummy blog candy and Susana's offering a sweet FREE digi image thru 10-5 head to the SCACD Store Blog for details.

I am very happy to be participating in this showcase and created a mixed media project using the digital image, Cyber Chic available from SCACD.  She is totally and utterly fabulous .. love her x 

She is colored with copics, silver pencil, silver marker and white gel pen. I made the background by first using gel medium to glue down the diecut cogs, then I added a layer of gesso and then used Dylusions sprays. Such a lovely, juicy blue / purple mess .... Dont worry, the ink will come off my fingers ....eventually ! LOL I added a coat of white spray as well as I wanted to lighten up the centre to add the image to.

 Cyber Chic was a labor of love to color in. I wanted her to look vaguely human, not alien like in greens etc. She was a really fabulous image to color, I felt she came to life .... here she is mid-coloring. I then fussy cut her ... yes, all those little details are fussy cut. I did remove the outer images, the planets and so on. As great as they are, sometimes its nice to customise an image to fit your purpose ...

 The wording was handwritten in silver marker.  "Just believe and be" relates to believing in yourself and things will 'be' - kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy. The definition of a cyborg is someone whose abilities are greater than the abilities of normal humans. So if you believe in yourself, that you have some power and abilities you will be stronger. I think we all doubt ourselves at some time or other, and maybe feel unworthy. Self belief can make such a difference, so if you believe, then you can be ..... With this image, I imagined someone dressed up as for a Halloween Party, feeling strong and confident in her pseudonym of Cyber Chic.

 The final step was to add some inka gold in old silver to the cogs. Everything was sealed with a layer of fixative.

Thank you for visiting, if you feel so inclined, please leave me a comment

Nikki x