Girly Stuff ATC's

The sponsor of Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge Blog this week is none other than the wonderful Vera Lane Studies. The theme is 'Girly Stuff'. I made two ATC's :

 The first ATC is using one of the great images from the Quirky and Whimsical baby girl set, this cute little girl with her teddy. She is colored with copics and I have paper pieced her clothing. I have coupled her with a couple of the images from the Photographer set, the photo frame and wording - Capture Life.

As soon as I saw these images I wanted to work with this combination, a reminder to take photos of your kids as they grow. It seems to happen so quickly that they have grown up ! My little girl here is teething, see those rosy cheeks, in the close up especially :

 This second ATC uses the Teddy from the Quirky and Whimsical Baby Girl set and I coupled it with stars and the word 'Believe' from the Whimsical Fairy set. 

The background is done with a stencil and inks. Here is the bear looking longingly into the stars to make a wish, bear trusts and believes ...

The bear is colored with copics, then I went all over with the blender pen to get that fabric/pile look :

Thank you for stopping by, maybe come join us at Wicked Wednesday, you would be in with a chance to win some images from Vera Lane Studios :)

Also : Janet from Vera Lane Studios has generously offered a 10% coupon code to our challenge players - enter code TRYVERA10 at checkout. If you spend $25 or more, you'll receive a 15% discount code.

Don't worry. Be happy ....

I made this cute tag using Whisker Monster with Sign by Stampotique : 

 The background is painted with acrylics and I also used Lindys Stamp Gang Moon Shadow Ink. The blue spots are embossed. The gorgeous little monster is stamped in Stazon ink, painted with acrylic paint and then using a stamp-a-ma-jig, he is stamped again to add the detail back in :) I used a white gel pen for his eyes and teeth. Close up of him : 

The "Don't worry, be happy" is his New Years resolution, and as such am entering this into the Stampotique Designers challenge #177, set by the super talented and lovely Claudine. I am VERY happy, and honoured to be chosen amongst the top 3 for this challenge - Yay.

If you notice my little monster is standing on a washi tape. I used washi tape for grounding things quite a lot, stops the illusion of them floating in space. So I am also entering this into the Tag Along Challenge #71.

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card Week 15

Week 15, this week was fun, out came my unusual, interesting and fun characters :)

The first APC uses one of the awesome gals from Doodles Dolls 1 Set :

Here is a close up of her and you can more clearly see the background :

The playing card was lightly gesso'd and I intentionally missed a few areas. Then I used crackle paste and a stencil, then dylusions inks in blue and spiced marmalade. The girl was stamped in mulberry momento ink and colored with copics, white and black gel pen. I used this cool new rotary stamp from Stampin' Up! for the words. I liked this APC, its groovy :)

For the second APC I used Tree Topper from Stampotique :

This background was fun, its gesso'd, then I used black gesso for the hearts. When that was dry I used pink dylusions, when it was dry I ghosted it with the heart stencil and a fine mist of water. Left it for a few seconds and removed the ink from the ghosted areas. Then I sprayed red. Let that dry and white over the top. Look how it all ran into each other - Loved that marbelled look.

I stamped and embossed the circles and swirl with pearl embossing powder and added the words, which are from a set by Waltzing Mouse Stamps (WMS), Frame It. WMS have awesome sentiment sets, I often find just what I am looking for there. Tree Topper is colored with copics and white gel pen. I added crystal effect to the heart.

And thats it, another week of APC's completed. Loving this weekly challenge, its so much fun. 

A final view of both of week 15's APC's :

ATC Color inspiration challenge

For this weeks Wicked Wednesday ATC #140, it is sponsored by All Dressed Up and inspired by this Color Palette : 

I have used the image Love my ipad : 

She is colored with copics and I used diamond glaze/crystal effects for her glasses and the ipad screen. The background paper is from a 12 x 12 paperpack by DCWV called The Generation Tech stack.

I wanted this atc to be a bit techy, with the computer signs and also use some texting lingo. I decided on XOXO (Hugs and kisses), but there were a few others I considered : ILY (I love you), BFF (Best friends forever), CUL8R (See you later). 

Awesome Dude

A Birthday soon, and I had the most wonderful things to use. This is a project for Not Just Cards Challenge blog and also for Southern Ridge Trading Blog post.

 I have used a digital image from Kenny K called Teen Idol and I colored him with copics. I also used a wonderful chipboard circular star frame from Southern Ridge Trading Co. Here is a close up : 

I actually only used part of the Teen Idol image because I wanted him to be in the middle of my circular star frame, here is a pic of the whole image : You have to admit he is a pretty awesome dude.

The background is made with dylusions sprays, then the stars are stenciled with nougat colored molding paste and a thin sprinkle of Shabby blue Stampendous embossing enamel added, and heated. For the frame I painted it with nougat chalk acrylic paint and added a little crackle glaze and the shabby blue embossing enamel which I heat set. I lightly sponged the edge with brown distress ink. The words 'Awesome Dude' are from a Waltzing Mouse stamps sentiment set.

I framed it in a black 5" x 7"  frame and added some painted and embossed star cut outs.

Hope the boy likes it and thanks for stopping by x

New Year Reveler

This weeks challenge, #8 over at the Lost Coasters Review is to create a tag and the Tag Along challenge #70 is Anything Goes. Here is a New Year reveler, still ringing in 2015 :

 For this tag I have used an image from Isle of Aud Creatures. Isn't he just wonderful, love this type of weird and wonderful image. I stamped him in black and embossed my reveler with clear embossing powder. I wanted it to act as a resist as I painted the non black bits of the image with pale pink and white acrylic paint to get some contrast from the background. I have also used a border stamp called Spiral Border. I added a little gold, silver and pink embossing powder to the ground.

The background is made by using various colors of acrylic paint (pink and green) to cover the tag, then when it's dry adding a layer of grey. When the paint was wet I splashed water onto it, which prevents the paint from drying in that section.  When the rest of the grey is dry, I used kitchen towel to remove the still wet paint to reveal the colors beneath.

I stamped the sentiment with an alpha stamp and added the ribbon.

I hope you will come and join us in our challenge, there is a chance to win $10 to spend  on Lost Coast Designs stamps.

Week 14 APC

Playing a little bit of catch up with the Altered Playing Card Challenge, and it does feel odd to be doing Christmas themed APC's in January .... LOL. 

Here are my week 14, deer themed APC's :

 For this APC I used a Tim Holtz Bigz die, which was too big for the playing card, so I had to stand him in deep snow. The background is done using a snowflake Spellbinders embossabilities. I embossed the white cardstock, then sponged through the metal design in pale blue and then added versamark and some iridescent ice embossing powder. I stamped believe then used my wink of stella pen to add some reflective snow to the ground, the deers nose and eye

For this APC I used the Stampin' Up! set 'Lovely as a Tree'. I stamped the trees, embossed them and cut them out. I wanted some contrast from the blue and green, so thats where the red came in, Rudolphs nose was the inspiration obviously ! LOL. The sentiment says O' Christmas tree. 

OK, so I better crack on, 2 more weeks to catch up on before Claudine releases the next set of guidelines.

Thanks for stopping by x

Shelter from the rain

A New Years project I made today and entering it for monthly Ryn's challenge.

All stamps used in this project are by Designs by Ryn.

The inspiration from this project came about when I was thinking about and reflecting on the past year, 2014. Sometimes things are great, other times no so much and there is sadness and sometimes regret. There is not necessarily anything we can do about this, or about tragic and upsetting world events. All we can do is live our lives, control what we can control and accept what we can't. By this I don't mean apathy, but I know that I can not carry the weight of the worlds problems on my shoulders, so its ok to take care of myself a little. I hope you are also able to do this in 2015.

Happy New Year x

Wicked Wednesday ATC - Anything Goes

My final creation of 2014 is for Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge blog. The title of the challenge this week is Anything Goes. Here is my creation using this awesome digital image from The Chubby Mermaid:

Now I am not particularly a cat person, but I love this image, only cool cats are patterned/doodled on like this and have wings etc. 

The cat is colored with prisma color pencils and white gel pen accents added. The ground was stamped with animal footprints in pale grey and then the 'meow' letters stamped individually. The edges of the paper was torn. The background is canvas, sprayed with various pink and purple dylusions sprays, a word stencil added and sprayed with white dylusions. Love how it absorbs the background colors.

There are many more Wicked Wednesday challenges to come in 2015, we have a totally awesome calendar of challenges and sponsors. Make sure you check it out, the blog and on Facebook :)

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Take care, be happy and healthy 

xxxxx

A little magic ...

I made this page in my art journal using a stamp from Carmen's Veranda, Elf with Star. He is spreading some joy as magic and the New Year approaches :

 For the background I have painted with acrylic paints and then stamped using the Tall Trees background stamp from Lost Coast Designs. The wording I made up, printed out on my computer.

 The magic emanating from his wand is made with various metallic colors of liquid pearls.

I hope you receive a little of his magic and have a wonderful and healthy 2015 x

Sea Otter Boy

I made this for a HUGE sea otter fan, and I came across this wonderful image from Rachel Huddleston / Miss Rach, she has some great digital whimsical animals. Here is the image Sea Otter Love made into a plaque for my sons bedroom door :

 A close up of this adorable little sea otter x

The otter is colored with copics and prisma colored pencils :) 

I actually gave a donation to the World Wildlife Foundation this year, for the protection of these animals and their environments. It was nice to give to a cause like this rather than buy more stuff !

Thanks for stopping by x

Wicked Wednesday does Silver and Gold

The title for this weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday atc challenge blog is either Happy Holidays or Silver and Gold. I think I have both pretty well covered here.

The sponsor is DRS Designs with this lovely wording digital image. It would make the perfect sentiment for inside a card too I think :)

I used gold glimmer paper for my ornaments and matting of the atc. I printed the words out, edged lightly in worn lipstick distress ink and added a little shimmer from a home made spray. I really liked the warmness of the pink with the gold and shimmer :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card - Week 13

This weeks challenge was all about the bees. Here are my APC's :

The first APC is using the wonderful and very realistic bee from the set by Lost Coast Designs, called More Bugz. Look how realistic it is :

The bee was stamped onto white cardstock in black ink, colored with mustard colored india ink and the wings are painted with my wink of stella pen. I then fussy cut the bee.

Here is the whole APC. The background was done with a thin layer of gesso and I used a honeycomb stencil. I colored the whole background in wild honey distress ink. The flowers were stamped in brown and green and embossed in clear embossing powder, top right corner too. Then when it was dry I removed the ink with a baby wipe. I sprinkled a little gold embossing powder behind the bee and heat set it, you can probably see that clearer in the pic above.  I then added the sponged hexagons and strip of patterned paper across the bottom. The whole thing was lightly edged in a burgundy ink.

The sentiment was really quite meaningful, "Long Live the Queen". I get so upset when I read about the chemicals used in farming that are killing the bees, its utter stupidity in my opinion and we should all be concerned about that ..... I hope we can protect these beautiful and very important little insects and colonies.

The second APC is indicative of my life with three young ones at home. I am always busy as a bee ....

 The background was painted with yellow acrylic paint, sponged some orange and then I added some gold - that signifies the honey :) I stamped in black ink some criss-cross and honey comb shapes. I used a Stampin' Up! embosing folder to make the honey comb, and the bees were stamped from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Nature Walk. The bodies were stamped onto white cardstock and colored in. The wings stamped onto vellum and heat embossed. I like to stamp using black versamark then use Wow white pearl embossing powder. I love the pearl look of it and you get a little black showing through.

Close up of the APC, showing the shine of the background and the bee's wings :

 Loving this altered APC challenge, I always look forward to the next weeks ideas from Claudine, although mine hardly seen to resemble hers in the end. I love that everyone doing this challenge interprets it differently.

Altered Playing Cards week 12

A week of self reflection for this week 12 challenge.

My week 12's - not properly written out yet but the 'what I like about myself' will be about sitting back and smelling the flowers and the 'I am thankful for' is about the days, sunrise sunset type of thing.

Happy Creepy Holidays

Wicked Wednesday atc Challenge blog are sponsored this week by Delicious Doodles and Smeared Ink, and what an awesome atc title : Happy Creepy Holidays. 

I have used the 'Drinking Buddy Elfette' image drawn by Victoria Searcey at Smeared Ink :

 Here is a close up of her, colored with copics, looks like she has had a pretty good night out ...

 I took another pic from a different angle so you can see a bit of the shimmer and background :

 The background was made with gelatos, then I stamped some snowflakes in white stazon which acted as a resist when I lightly sponged around the image and the edge of the atc in peeled paint distress ink. I did a little background stamping using the barbed wire stamp from Waltzing Mouse Stamps using Memento London Fog ink. I also lightly stamped her stockings with that too - if you can see all the little criss-cross lines. I was thinking fish net stockings at that point ... LOL. I did some white splashes with acrylic paint and added crystal effects to the bottle she is holding. 

The Ho Ho Oh ! is poor Mr Claus' response, welcoming his wife home after a big night out .... Happy to see her until he realizes the state she is in. I used silver stickers for these letters.

A fun atc to make, quite a detailed image to color with my copics, but I really enjoyed it and the humour x

Some special gift tags

Using the beautiful deer wooden XMAS-456 embellishment from Southern Ridge Trading Co, I made up some gift tags. These are actually atc sized (3.5" x 2.5"). 

The deer is so perfect, I didn't want to add anything to it, but the background is created by swiping victorian velvet distress paint over a manilla tag leaving some areas clear. Then I added picket fence distress stain and the paint acts as a resist.  I added a layer of  distress crackle paint in clear rock candy. Look how gorgeous it is when dry, it highlights the deer beautifully :

I stamped the ground / postmark in baked brown sugar Stampin' Up! ink on top of the crackle paint and added the seam binding which was colored with the victorian velvet distress paint. I mounted the tag onto baked brown sugar card stock and  lightly edged it with Stampendous shabby pink embossing enamel.

I entered them into the Tag Along challenge this week #68 - its all about reindeer :)
Yay, got picked in the top 3 :)

I also used these as ATC's to trade, as part of the OK ATC trade I facilitate :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Holidays atc

A Day for Daisies sponsored Wicked Wednesdays Happy Holidays challenge #136. This image is called Frosty :

The background was finger painted with Paper Artsy Fresco finish paints in candy floss and mermaid, then I lightly sponged some nougat over to soften it and give the feeling of clouds. We can have nice warm snow days too :) I sponged the edges of the atc with faded jean distress ink. The image was printed and colored with copics. I used a Marvy snow pen for the snowmans body. Its a pretty neat pen, you  color the snowman with the nib, let it dry and then heat it and it puffs up : 

Thanks for stopping by x Have a great day 

Christmas inspiration

Couple of projects we made at our last card club for 2014 :

This is a simple one layer Christmas card. I love all the detail and work you can add to a card, but often doing this for each Christmas card is just too much work - unless you start making them during springtime for example though - but who does that ? LOL

For this card I die cut a mask (circle and ornament shaped) and then stamped through the diecut. For the example above I used a retired Stampin' Up! wheel - perfect ornament for a Canadian Christmas card I thought, and a vintage stamp. When the ink was dry I applied my versamark through the stencil and then used iridescent ice embossing powder that was heat set. I love the shimmer and the definition it adds to the outline of the ornament : 

This card was inspired by Karen Day, a dt post for the Dynamic Duos blog in 2012. 

For the second project, we made a table decoration using the Bigz petal box die, and old olive cardstock. The tree was stamped in old olive using the ornamental pine stamp set, and punched some holes. The tree was assembled and the embellishments added, branches cut from the Stampin' Up! bird punch. Inside there is a fake candle and the light shines through the holes :) 

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 :)

You're a Star atc

I just love being on the Wicked Wednesday design team, we get to work with such great images and sponsors, such as this week Kenny K.  I have used this fantastic image called City Star.

She is colored with copics, the hat is paper pieced. The background is mixed media. I did quite a bit of recycling for this atc, I always keep a box of scraps,  things left over from other projects. I loooove to go through it and find little treasures, like some of the elements for this atc. It worked out really well I think :) She looks great. I loved the contrast of the color to the black and white.

Thanks for stopping by, if you are an atc fan, why not check out the Wicked Wednesday blog, reading the rules and guidelines first. The sponsors are so awesome and generous x

Thank you for stopping by, have a great day x

Use two or more images ...

I made this card using Mo Monster and one of the teacups from the Tea Set by Sarah O'Leary. 

Mo Monster was stamped onto Graphic 45 paper and fussy cut. I stamped the eyes onto white and cut them out and layered them. I added a layer of gel medium to get a non porous surface so I could add some green india ink and smudge it to add a little dimension.

The tea cup is just one image from the Tea Set, I colored it with copics and fussy cut it. 

As you can see, poor Mo Monster got his leg caught in the balloon string and is taking his cup of tea with him ..... LOL. The sentiment is from a Dylusions set. My other sentiment idea was "It had all been going too well at the tea party .... " LOL

Thanks for stopping by x