Mojo comes back with a little help from Vera Lane Studios

Hello blogland, 

I know my posts have been a little sporadic of late. As creative as many of us are, sometimes it can be a struggle and rather than force it and not enjoy this wonderful hobby of ours, its good to take a little time off. I have had a few months of doing other stuff, with the occasional make. I missed crafting but knew my heart wasn't in it. But, thanks to Janet Klein with her awesome images at Vera Lane Studios ... I am back into the creative process - Yay. Its good to be back :)

Today I would like to share two projects with you, first is a card for a good friends Birthday. Her dress is inspired by the outfit my friend wore at our coffee date. This gorgeous gal is from a set called 'Thinking of you'.  She is coloured with copics and gel pen, and fussy cut. For the card base I used craft card stock and inked up my 4" round gelli plate with white and some residual green acrylic paint. I stamped it onto the card front. The words were stamped from a set by Waltzing Mouse Stamps (sadly closed now), and embossed in silver embossing powder. 

I also made an ATC to recognise all the scaremongering and a lack of acceptance that seems to be all around us right now ... I don't know about you, but it sure feels chaotic to me.

This gorgeous whimsical princess is from a set by Vera Lane Studios called 'Kiss the Frog'.  I coloured her with copics and gel pen and fussy cut her. The background was made with a painted pink acrylic base. I used molding paste and a stencil to add some random texture. Then I applied dark blue ink directly from the stamp pad to pick up the high points and some other random parts. I used Staetler neon markers to add some crazy scribbles. The blue strip behind the gal is a left over piece of a paint chip when I was die cutting icicles. The words are typed on my typewriter, a little colour added to them. 

See how serene and calm she looks - she's not phased at all by all the crap thats going on in the world right now ... Its so hard to know what to believe in the media and especially on social media ... so advice from the princess is to stay calm and keep your dignity.

Look out for more regular makes from now on. 

Thanks for stopping by x

Sofishticated

What a hilarious new set from Vera Lane Studios, Sakana. I made a card featuring her, although had to couple her with an image from another Vera Lane Studios set, Ocean 11 : 

Isn't Sakana awesome ! I coloured her with copics, gel pen and distress ink. Then fussy cut her and tied bakers twine bows in her hair. The fish is coloured the same way. But I also used a micron pen to add tiny little scales to his face. Looks so effective doesn't it.

The background is a Gelli® print, then I added some additional teal with a catalyst tool. And matted this onto a white card base.

I just love this colour combination. One thing I have learned in my experimentation and exploration of arts, crafts and mixed media is to not be afraid of colour. Yes I look at the colour wheel ... get a little guidance but then I go for it. Whats the worst that can happen, its just paper - right :)

Have a wonderful day x

Curly Girl

Vera Lane Studios released a new, awesome and quirky digi set this week, Curly Girl.

I made a card, featuring curly girl :  

Isn't she so happy and adorable skipping along. She looks like she doesn't have a card in the world. And she is passing on some very good advice to us :)

The background is made with magenta and yellow acrylic paint and a brayer. Then I added some purple with my fingers and used a stencil to add some green dots. I doodled around some green dots and added a highlight with my sharpie white acrylic paint pen. 

Curly girl is coloured with copics and gel pen, then fussy cut. The green dots were punches out and glued in. White accents added. I did her eyes the same way. The words were printed, cut to size and glued on. Final touches were to white doodle the edge of the card and add diamond glaze to her eyes.

 I also made an ATC featuring Riley, Curly Girls faithful companion :

Background is water soluble powders with crackle moulding paste through a stencil. I added white splatters and a few dots of pink liquid pearl. The planet was made by punching a circle out of another piece of the background paper. I edged the planet and the ATC with black soot ink. 

Riley was coloured with copics, gel pen and my most recent purchase, some Staedtler neon ink pens. The nib is so fine, I really like them. See Rileys nose ? I added white highlights with a gel pen. I fussy cut Riley, popped him up on the ATC and added diamond glaze to his eyes. The words were printed, cut to size and glued on. 

The actual sentiment is 'The world can be amazing when you're slightly strange' but I figured Riley looked full on, not just slightly strange in pink. LOL. 

Thanks for stopping by x

Bird Day Card

Vera Lane Studios new set of digital images is called Bird Day. I made a card :

Magazine Eyes ATC trade

The trade at Vera Lane Studios Facebook group this month is Magazine Eyes. Well mine is entitled 'Magazine Eye' LOL. I thought the double words 'eye eye' were perfect for my one eyed card :) Eye Eye is what British bobbies traditionally were said to say " eye eye, whats going on here then?". 

The background is dylusions sprays. I have used a few different images from different Vera Lane Studios for my ATC : The Flower is from Bird Day, a new release today actually. I cut the centre of the flower out and used a magazine image, which I enhanced with white acrylic paint and a layer of diamond glaze. I also used the frog from Kiss the Frog set. The cloud is from Helgas Hedgehog. And finally the puddle is from The Little Sailor. Everything is coloured with copics and fussy cut.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Vera Lane does London ...

Two awesome new sets of images from Vera Lane Studios, all about London. I had a ball creating.

Firstly I made an art journal page. I can tell you how I was giggling away making this : 

Secondly I made a card. This was inspired by the cheeky look on the corgi's face :)

And finally I made an ATC. I paper pieced his hat with the heart union jack in the set. I originate from the UK and maybe was feeling a tad homesick when I made this, hence the sentiment :

Thanks for stopping by x

Something in the Sky ATCs

This week Wicked Wednesday is sponsored by Vera Lane Studios and the challenge is 'Something in the Sky'.

My first ATC features this gorgeous gal from Beach Love. Do you notice her burnt spots - too much sun, she should cover up or wear more sun screen ;) 

Background is painted with acrylics. Images resized and printed on my printer, coloured with copics and fussy cut. For the sand and sandcastle I cut the shapes I wanted from card stock, covered them with glue and added Stampendous gold glass glitter and glued them down. Words are typed on my typewriter -which I find are a perfect size for ATC's. I doodled around the edge with a metallic gelli roll pen.  The sun is from The Little Sailor set. 

Second ATC is the night sky, and features another gorgeous gal from The Little Sailor set. The moon is from The Love Boat set : 

Images are coloured with copics. The words typed on my typewriter. The background is black textured cardstock and I first used a mandala stencil and metallic spray. Then I added some Lindys Stamp Gang spray (pink and turqouise) and finally a spritz of Dylusions white ink. The ground is washi tape and I matted the ATC front onto yellow card stock.  

I actually made 3 ATC's one is published in the previous post HERE.

I love to read your comments, if you stopped by please say Hi :)

Have a great day x

Just Fly ...

Every week Vera Lane Studios comes out with new sets of images. Its so fun, and there is a facebook group with an active trade group. If you like fun and whimsical you should check it out :) 

I made a card with a Dylusions ink background using images from the newest set from Vera Lane Studios, her name is Wink and the set if called Just Fly. Wink is coloured with copics : 

Look at the full sentiment and other image, how fab are they : 

I also made an ATC for Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge blog, featuring the adorable flying cat, whose name is Catfly :

The background is painted in blue and grey acrylic paint and then I used brown acrylic paint through part of a stencil. I also edged the atc with the paint. Doesn't it look awesome, and so easy to do. Catfly is coloured with copics and clear embossed. The words typed on my typewriter :)

Thanks for stopping by x

But tomorrow may rain ...

A quick recycled make, with a butterfly my friend Corrie sent to me on a tag :

I made this for the colour challenge at the Vera Lane Studios Facebook group.

The grasses are from a set called Snail's Pace. And the words are from a set called Sunny. For the background I created an embossed look with a doily die, then colourised it with Dylusions inks and distress ink. The grasses are coloured with copics and white sharpie. 

I really liked how all these different elements came together, and it felt good to recycle :)
Thanks for stopping by x

Sweet and undefinable

Such an adorable new set released today from Vera Lane Studios, its crazy and fun .. in a fruity sort of way !

The set is called Be a Pineapple and this crazy girls name is Audrey :)

The background is a acrylic paint. I added doilies that were colourised with inka gold. And I added some strips of green washi. Audrey is coloured with copics and white sharpie. I also used diamond glaze on her eyes for that glassy look and I fussy cut her and popped her up on the card front. The words accompany the set, and they are pretty great for any occasion :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Snails

Vera lane studios new snail set, called Snails Pace. Its so cool.

I made a birthday card and an atc :

Card is 4.25 x 4.25". Background is distress ink, the images are coloured with copics.

The ATC background is made with dylusions sprays, stencil and a napkin. I typed the words onto tissue paper and attached them with gel medium. I also doodled some white in the background. The exhausted and fed up snail is coloured with copics and clear embossed :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Some piggy advice :

Love this new piggy set, Bacon Bits from Vera Lane Studios :

I love the expression on this little piggy's face, he looks like a bit of a know it all. Here he is, dishing out advice : 

I used a couple of elements from different sets by Vera Lane Studios, Pig is one of the Bacon Bits, the cloud is from the March Birthday set and the ground is from The Organics. 

The base is a playing card, I gessoed and added blue acrylic paint. The rest is coloured with copics and fussy cut. The words are typed on my typewriter.

Thanks for stopping by x

Fun little ATC

This fun little ATC features the newest release from Vera Lane Studios, Helga's Hedgehog : 

Everything is coloured with copics, and fussy cut. I doodled a little design into her dress and edited the green vine a little.

The background is actually from the Helga's Hedgehog set. I resized it to fit my ATC, printed it and sponged it with distress ink, sponging the edges grey and matting onto grey card stock. Final touch was a little Wink of Stella pen on her wings and eyelids.

Thanks for stopping by x


I actually made another of these little ATC's and stamped flowers in the background, I really liked how it turned out :

He's a Bird Dog

I am taking part in the ATC trade at the Vera Lane Studios facebook group, Cat or dog person. 

I think this ATC makes its pretty obvious that I am a dog person : 

The Vera Lane Studios images I have used here are : 

Dog from Rescue Puppies, Cloud from Helga's Hedgehog and Wings from Wings for Things.

Who remembers the Everly Brothers song, Bird Dog ? Although not my era, I grew up listening to this type of music and very much appreciate it still now : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I65PxlOlHA4

The background of my ATC is actually a playing card, painted with blue and white acrylic paint. I matted it onto card stock that I had coloured with W3 copic.

The dog and wings are coloured with copics (mostly W1-5) and fussy cut. I actually cut the dogs back legs off the dog as it looked better with the wings. But of course had to re-add the tail :) And I thought he needed some additional embellishment, the glittery blue collar was perfect :)

The cloud was printed and covered with the Marvey snow marker. When it was dry I heat embossed it and it goes all puffy. I actually edited the cloud a little, removing the large cloud piece. I also added some cotton wool below the cloud to enhance the fluffy cloud-like feel.

I glued down the cloud, the dog on top and finally added some coloured dots and the words I typed on my typewriter. 

Final touch was adding some diamond glaze on the eyes, as I always do, but I did that after I took the pic. It gives a really awesome glassy eyed look.

Thanks for stopping by x

Sunny from Vera Lane Studios

One of the new releases from Vera Lane Studios, isnt she gorgeous. This is Sunny :

The background is created with a stencil and molding paste, then I used nuance water soluble powders. Sunny and the sun are coloured with copics and nuance powders. 

She looked like she is walking on a tight rope to me, with her arms outstretched :)

Puppy card

Seriously, how cute is this new digital image set from Vera Lane Studios, Rescue Puppies : 

 I made a card : 

A relative recently adopted a shar pei cross from a shelter, and it looks sooo much little this little guy here, I sent this off to her. Its such a perfect sentiment don't you think :)

The background is patterned paper, with gesso and doodling. The words are printed them matted onto the pink paper co-ordinating with the ground the dog is standing on and the card base. The dog is coloured with copics and clear embossed. 

Thanks for stopping by x

April Birthday Cards

I have a few close friends with April birthdays, I made a few cards.

First using the April birthday set, Hello April from Vera Lane Studios :

The second using a Bloobel image, Bekkah Bloom : 

Cat Themed Card

I made a card with the new digi set from Vera Lane Studios, Cats and Crocks ; 

The images were resized in word, printed on my inkjet printer and coloured with copics. I pounced the cat image with blending solution and foam to get the mottled, textured look. I also used white sharpie paint pen for the white detail. I fussy cut the images. Do you like his stripy socks ?

Whilst I was colouring the cat I used every colour on a piece of kraft card stock for the background, using different shapes and designs, I was free and just randomly scribbled. That was kind of the lesson in Wanderlust last week, although they did much more layers and used paint. I wanted the freedom of just creating a co-ordinated background that I did not over think.

The bowls were stacked, the cat and words added. Final touch was a white scribbly border and some white dots.

Thanks for stopping by xxx

Spring tags

I made a couple of spring themed tags using the new set, Hello Spring from Vera Lane Studios :

The background is distress inks. The image and flower and ground coloured with copics. 

A close up of the little cute bunny, who is clear embossed, with small clear glitter shaped added to the flower centre and to the background with glue dots. And yes, he has different coloured eyes .. mostly because that fascinates me when I see people with different coloured eyes.

The two tags together : The one on the right is for a spring themed trade at the Vera Lane Studios Facebook group :

Thanks so much for stopping by x

Snips and snails ...

Lovely new set from Vera lane studios ... My three sons 

I made 3 atcs, one featuring each of the images in the set, the first :

He's coloured with copics and the sun is from the Thinking of you set. I used a gelli® print background and typed the words on my typewriter. I did faux stitching to simulate the Suns rays :)  

The second atc features this curly haired little dude, isn't he cute : 

He is coloured with copics and gel pen. The background is acrylic paint with a roller and distress ink, with white embossing powder. The sentiment was typed on my typewriter. That poem has always baffled me, but thinking back to when it was written, to the days when little boys had more freedom to chase and catch frogs ad snails and just be boys, it makes sense :)

The final atc features the younger looking little boy :

I coloured him with copics and used the words that are included in the set, cutting them into individual letters. The background is a gelli® print and I punched stars out of the same print and glued them down. I matted the atc onto plain white card stock. 

Thanks for stopping by x