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

Personalized coffee sleeve

I took part in a personalized coffee cup sleeve trade as part of an awesome trading group I am in.

My partner, Chris received the sleeve this week, so I can blog it now :

Here are pics of the front and back, celebrating the name Chris :)

                                    

And this is the gorgeous personalized sleeve and card I received from Julia. I love green, is invariably creeps into my projects so I just love the greens she has used and the images. Including the real coffee beans - how clever :) 

Spring Sunshine

Its getting warmer here where I live ... spring is definitely upon us, so what a great challenge 'Spring Sunshine'. This weeks sponsor is Star Stampz. Meet their cute image Spring Sunshine :

She was so adorable, I decided to just spend an hour or so relaxing and colouring her with copics, gel pen and white sharpie paint pen dots and highlights. 

I sponged around her with yellow distress ink and matted the ATC onto matching red card stock :)

Have yourself a lovely day x

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

Eat My Dust

How exciting, my very first post as part of the Viva Las VegaStamps! Design Team. Check out the post on their blog HERE.

I have made a 4"x6" postcard featuring one of the newest additions to my VLVS addiction, erm ... I mean collection ! LOL. 

I enjoyed coloring Lady on Scooter, with copics and metallic pencil, isn't she great. I sure hope I am still scootering at her age!

The wording 'Eat my Dust' is to demonstrate just how fast she is actually going ...  

Can you see the determination on her face :

For the background I wanted to do something in stark contrast to her somewhat conservative demeanor so I went for a northern lights mystical sort of background, with lots of space dust :)

I used mixed media card stock and painted it with black gesso, then sponged on white actylic paint. When that was dry I sponged over the white with alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. Adding color on top of white always makes it appear more obvious and vibrant. I splatted water down white acrylic for my stars :

 Now to really highlight this gorgeous gal. I used my 4" round gelli® plate with green acrylic and a stencil, then I stamped this onto my background and rolled off some of the excess paint on the roller to make the ground and added a little green into the sky :

This green whimsical moon-like sphere was perfect to highlight the focal image. I adhered my image to the postcard with miracle tape. Finally I added the wording 'East my dust' with letter stickers.

Thanks for stopping by, Nikki x

Lets get this party started !

There is a new Challenge at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity : Lets Party !

I have made this card, featuring Party Girl from Lost Coast Designs : 

Party Girl was stamped in elderberry memento ink, coloured with copics and white gel pen highlights added,  and I fussy cut her.

For the green in the background I used a gelli print background, then inked up the Sunflower Background from Lost Coast Designs in green ink. Without putting the stamp onto a block I rolled sections of it here and there on the background. I also stamped the sunflower onto another piece of white card stock, then punched this into shapes : the circles and scalloped strip you can see. I sponged a little of the elderberry ink onto them and glued them down. Finally adding some lines with an old credit card and ink.

The words were stamped on my typewriter and the card front matted and glued together.

I really like the contrast here of the elderberry and green, and she is such a great image to work with.

And there's plenty more where she came from .... Check out the other inspiration at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity or the wonderful, varied and unique images at Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.

Thanks for stopping by x

We're not in Kansas anymore

A fun event hosted at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, We're not in Kansas anymore.
Lovers of The Wizard of Oz, you will enjoy seeing the makes by the DT I'm sure :)

Here is my make and at the end of this post is a link to all the other DT makes.

Who is my fave character in the Wizard of Oz ? Dorothy ? Tin man ? The Wizard ? I dont know ... so many to choose from. But there is one group of critters who don't get much airtime, so I decided to honour them .... The Flying Monkeys. Here is my ATC : 

This is one of the monkeys from Three Monkeys by Lost Coast Designs. This one is the speak-no-evil. Its open to interpretation obviously, but I personally think he's laughing about all this freaking people out business ... LOL.  He is stamped in Memento black ink and coloured with copics and gel pen. I fussy cut him.

The tremendously large and imposing wings (arent they gorgeous) are from Carmen's Veranda. I stamped them onto velum with stazon and clear embossed them. I coloured them white using a faber castell artist pitt pen, then turned them over, to get this more subtle look. I fussy cut them. And glued them to the monkey.

The background was painted with acrylic paint, then I added white lines and dots, and edged it in white. I glued on the flying money and cut off the section of wing that overhung the ATC. Finally I typed the words on my typewriter.

Hope you will pop over to the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity to see the other makes, and visit Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda online stores :)

But before you rush over to the store .. check out the rest of the inspiration from the Design Team : 

An InLinkz Link-up

Green and Gold ATC Challenge

Its a colour challenge over at Wicked Wednesday today, green and gold.

It is actually our 200th challenge, a cause for celebration :)

We are sponsored by Sami Stamps, and I have used this image Leprechaun Cutie 2 : 

He's so tall and slim, it was harder to fit him onto the ATC, if you can imagine this little card is only 3.5" tall. But I wanted to use the whole image, so here he is. The image is coloured with distress ink and copics, then fussy cut.

The background is green acrylic paint then I used a circle and dot stencil with moulding paste. I added some splashes of white paint, some think lines of colour with prisma pensils to give a rainbow sort of effect in the background. Then I used gold lumiere paint to add gold to the dots making up the ground. Hey, it could be gold coins, who know ? 

Finally I cut the green background down so I could mount it onto the gold card stock and add the word LUCKY.

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope to see you over at Wicked Wednesday blog or our facebook group sometime :)

Viva Las Vegas Stamps - Whoot whoot

I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the awesomely talented Design Team over at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. This will be a very exciting and fun venture ....

Check out the announcement Here on the VLVS blog 

If you aren't familiar with their stamps, you should go and check it out, there are thousands of images, suitable for absolutely any tastes. And if you ever visit Las Vegas you should pop into the bricks and mortar store. I just love them and am looking forward to the months of creating ahead...

I love how DeeDee (DT lead) described me, totally summed me up where I have been trying to define myself for years : Her style is fun and whimsical with a touch of hilarity. 

I have played many times at the VLVS blog challenges. It is my fave type of challenge actually, a monthly inspiration board, HERE is the link to March's, and there are also trades in the facebook group, Viva Las VegaStamps Groupies. As well as lots of awesome inspiration at both :)

Let the fun begin and hope to see you there 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

Fish Fingers and Custard anyone ?

I bought one of the fab Dr Who plate from Viva Las Vegas stamps a while ago (#925). I just love it ... I can actually make it fit any occasion ! Here I have used fish fingers and custard.

I decided to make a surprise ATC for a friend, she is a BIG Dr Who fan, and especially of Matt Smith as the Dr. In one of his earlier episodes he ate fish fingers and custard - not to everybody's taste I imagine ... a little bit like art ! 

My ATC : 

The background is made with dylusions sprays and acrylic paint. I die cut the picture frame using a Spellbinders die and painted this with gold lumiere paint. Its very shimmery in real life.

For the fish fingers, I put molding paste onto a piece of card stock with a pallet knife and made the texture bumpy. When it was dry I painted it with acrylic paints, then stamped the image with stazon ink and fussy cut them. Don't they look kinda real ! The bowl was stamped on acetate with stazon ink and fussy cut, the custard is yellow card stock. This was all glued together and added to the ATC. Finally I put micro beads below the bowl for some added dimension, and wrote the words with a gel pen :)

I sure hope my friend likes it :)

Pay-It forward share .. with Vera Lane Studios

I am having such a great time colouring the images from Vera Lane Studios, both the older sets and also there are so many new releases, you should check out the etsy store or the facebook group, such a great source of inspiration...

I have begun a pay-it forward art share in the facebook group. How it will work is that people comment on this photo by the end of Sunday 6th March 2016, then I will randomly select a winner and mail the ATC to them.  On receiving it, they will do the same : post a pic of their Vera Lane Studios make in the Facebook group, randomly select a winner and mail their make.  And we will go on and on from there. This will hopefully become a beautiful art chain.

I love to share my makes, both trading and via art abandoment, and loved this idea of a pay-it forward art challenge :) 

Here is my ATC, using the new March Birthday set. Don't you just LOVE the sheep : 

The background determined the colour scheme for this ATC, it is a gelli® print I made with sublte hues, purple, payne's grey and a hint of orange. I printed the images, coloured them with prisma colour pencils, copics and white sharpie paint pen details. I fussy cut them, and cut around her arm so it appears she is holding or petting the sheep. I punched out flower shapes from co-orindating card stock and from a spare piece of the gelli® print and added white centres. The ATC was matted onto white card stock.

Have a lovely day x

Lost Coast Designs / Carmen's Veranda News ...

We have news ... a new Facebook group, which can be accessed HERE, and also a Design Team call ... Check out all the details HERE.

Hope to see more of you and your creations / love for Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda :)

Friends ATCs

I took part in a 'friends' themed ATC trade. Here are my makes, featuring the awesome image from Art Impressions. They have the most awesome people stamps :

I am really diggin' purple at the moment, especially this bright Dylusions purple acrylic paint. The images are stamped in memento ink and coloured with copics. The hats are from Lost Coast Designs. Everything is fussy cut and glued onto the background.

I had fun looking for the quotes, so many funny sayings I found in google. These were my faves, I think they summarise the friendship experience pretty well :)

Hope my swap partners like them :) 

Thanks for stopping by x

'Girly' ATC

Wicked Wednesdays challenge this week is to make a 'girly' ATC. The sponsor is the awesome SLS Lines. I have used Cute Goth girl with Teddy :

The background is a patterned butterfly paper. The image is coloured with copics, sharpie white acrylic pen and Faber Castell artist pitt pen. I fussy cut and clear embossed her, and typed the words on my typewriter. Isn't she cute :) And that song will be playing in my head for the rest of today, maybe yours too ? LOL

SLS Lines have an inspired by movie/book/song challenge on their blog HERE ... so I will be entering this for sure :)

Thanks for visiting x

Stargazer ATC

The new release from Vera Lane Studios is this lovely star gal, I decided this needed to be a night sky :

She is coloured with copics and gel pen, as is the moon and the starry ground she is standing on.

The purple part of the background is a gelli® print. The orange I painted and then used molding paste through a stencil. I splattered white acrylic paint onto the background and finally added some fussy cut stars from the galaxy/milky way image in the set.

I made two of these ATCs. I have been trading them at an ATC trading group on Facebook, and now make one for me to keep since I am enjoying them so much :) 

 Thanks for stopping by, why not visit the Vera Lane Etsy store, or come and join the fun and get some inspiration from the facebook group.

Here is the complete set for Star :

Stampotique Square Challenge

This weeks challenge SDC233 at the Stampotique blog is squares. Corrie is the gorgeous hostess, and she mentions how she uses circles a lot and so she set a square challenge to get out of her comfort zone. I think I use circles and squares about the same amount, but it was fun to use just squares.

My make featuring the gorgeous Winter - her first inking, isn't she gorgeous ? I love the attitude :

For the background I used an acrylic block and distress inks :

I layered the colours, adding a purple and grey after these layers shown above.

I then used whipped spackle through a stencil with square on.

Winter was stamped onto the background in black ink and I sponged her skirt and legs in the same gray ink as the background. Then I stamped her again in black stazon and coloured her with the co-ordinating distress inks, using cut and dry nibs. I fussy cut her, but just the top half of her body, I liked the bottom being darker. Bit more dramatic :) Finally I clear embossed her and adhered her over the same stamped section.

The words 'Square peg in a round hole' were typed on my typewriter, matted onto black card stock and glued in place. Doesn't she look like a bit of a misfit ? 

Proof of Fun is from France's Barcode Text stamp, stamped in black onto white card stock.. 

Finally the front of the card was matted onto black card stock, then onto my 5" x 5" base. Because yes of course, it had to be a square card :)

I am entering this into the challenge this week, always so much inspiration over there at Stampotique, the challenge blog and the facebook group. Its a happy happy happy place to be x\

Thanks for stopping by x

Monkey cards

I have mentioned before that this year I plan to make more cards for Birthdays etc. I know its expensive to mail, but there is something very satisfying and pleasing about getting actual snail mail.

Here are some cards I made, with mixed media backgrounds using the fabulous monkey face stamp from Carmen's Veranda. I dont know if you know ... I LOVE monkeys. 

Thanks for stopping by x

Hawaiin Wedding card

A wonderful friend of mine jetted off to Hawaii recently for a Hawaiin ceremony, on the beach. It looked idyllic, and the family worse pink/purple and green leis.  

Here is the wedding card I made for them :

This is a gelli® print background with flowers from a retired Stampin Up set, coloured with copics. I punched the butterflies from the same background paper with the Martha Stewart butterfly punch. A little white edge to the card with gel pen and tadaaar ... finished.

Their wedding was the start of a beautiful life together and I wish them every happiness xxxx

Swaddled babe ATC

Vera Lane Studios has such a cute new baby set, called Swaddle them. 

I have made an ATC, using one of the babes and words from the set, and also I have paper pieced the blanket around the baby using the pile of hearts from Lil Love, this was coloured with copics and details added with a sharpie white paint pen :

Non traditional baby colours here. I wanted the blanket to be blue and I enjoy the contrast of orange and blue, so here we are ! LOL

The background is painted with acrylic paint, using a brayer, with orange and white. When the top layer of paint was still wet I put some bubble wrap on it to pick up some of the paint. It gives the background a but more interest and depth. I tore the edges matted it onto a piece of white cardstock that I had coloured with the same blue as the blanket. 

The hearts are punched out and coloured, the words printed and cut up, to be placed around babe. 

It is true : The smallest things take the most room in your heart X

Thanks for stopping by x

Bookmarks

I am a big reader, and making bookmarks is my fave this to make, well after ATC's that is ! LOL 

I have made a number of bookmarks recently, using the awesome images from Vera Lane Studios. They are long and thin - perfect for a bookmark shape, and because they are digital images I can re-size them to whatever works for me. Here I have used the bookmark die from Papertrey Ink.  

I have a variety of mediums, including copics, stamping, acrylic paint, gel pen, india ink etc etc. They have been laminated and ribbon toppers added :

These bookmarks, and more will be sent to friends and also abandoned in various places. I love to abandon artwork, its such a rewarding thing to do. More info at the Artist Network HERE, but also there are other online resources and there is a very active art abandonment facebook group.

The two bookmarks together :

And another I have made features another of the images in the set. This is taking part in a pay-it forward art share at my Facebook group, Craft Chat

Colour Challenge at Wicked Wednesday : Gray, teal and red

This weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday is a colour one : gray, teal and red. 

Before I show you my make, I have to tell you that I went to a Phantom of the Opera type of opera yesterday. The men were dressed very colourfully, with wonderful face make up/masks. It inspired me to make the weird ... weirder ! LOL

My make, featuring moustache ballerina from Bloobel Stamps :

I printed the image, but because this is an ATC it was tricky to know what size to make him. To fit the whole image onto the ATC would have meant making it really small, so I made him a little larger and cut a bit off ... but I dont think it detracts from the look, since I left his shoe ribbons in. 

The image is coloured with copics, sharpie white acrylic paint pen and prisma pencil.

The background I made with gray and white acrylic paint and a brayer. The teal edge piece was cut on my big shot with an ornamental edge die that I cut up to make it fit. The cardnstock I used was white originally and I coloured it with the same teal copics as the ballerinas outfit. The words were typed on my type writer. Not exactly Michael Flatley is he ? LOL Moustache Ballerina is waaaay more cool :)

Thanks for stopping by x

The Organics ATCs

Vera Lane Studios new release from the Floral Park collections is called The Organics, and features these gorgeous gals :

I made some ATC's :

With these gorgeous images, I think its all about the colour, so bright and vibrant.

I used a gelli® print background, then resized the gals in word and printed them. They are coloured with copics and gel pen. I used all the images for these, and cut up the words to suit my makes. 

Here are close ups :

Hope these gorgeous little gals cheered your day, Nikki x

All occasion cards

I made a few quick all occasion cards with the awesome anthropomorphs from Lost Coast Designs with gelli® print backgrounds. These creatures were amongst the first I bought when I discovered this company, with the original and quirky images :

This is my fave, the elephant looked perfect here I think :) 

Thanks for stopping by X

Crayon ATC

I made an ATC using a new digi set by Vera Lane Studios called Crayon de Couleur, I liked all the bright colour for this happy little ATC :

This ATC has two gelli® prints in the background, the purple sky and the teal ground. I wrote the words to the rainbow song .. red and yellow and pink and green etc....  in sharpie white acrylic paint pen on the background. The rainbow and girl are resized in word and printed. The rainbow is coloured with inktense pencils and copic. The girl is coloured with copics and sharpie white acrylic pen highlights added to her and the rainbow. Finally I embossed her with clear powder and cut up the words to include them. I matted the ATC onto plain white card stock.

Thanks for stopping by x

Flip the Birdie ATC

The title of this ATC trade was 'Put a Bird on it' ... well, I did ! LOL

This is one of the cracked critters from Lost Coast Designs, stamped onto a geli print and paper pieced. Doesn't he rock !

The background is molding paste and Lindys Stamp Gang starburst sprays.

Thanks for stopping by x

Its cold outside ATC

This weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday is 'Baby its cold outside', sponsored by Polka Doodles. Here is my make using Frosty Penguins Octavia :

I tried create a scene of her looking in through the window from outside, think it worked out ok, but I have to say, it was harder than I thought it would be ! LOL

The window is a chipboard piece from Southern Ridge Trading Co. The image is coloured with copics, and once glued together put onto the patterned paper, erm I mean wallpaper (LOL), I added some ice effect in the windows with crystal effects and glitter :)

Thanks for stopping by, please come and visit us at Wicked Wednesday for more Polka Doodles inspiration from the awesome DT :)

Eenie Meenie Minie Mo Pocket Letter

So many people have been making these pocket letters, I thought it might be fun to have a go. This is the challenge over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. If you like to make pocket letters, please come and link up to our challenge and be in the chance of winning a shopping spree at Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda.

As I see it there are two ways to make a pocket letter, to make 9 individual ATC's, or to make one large picture and cut down to 9 3.5" x 2.5" ATCs. I liked the idea of continuous colour and pattern for this skull themed make.

My pocket letter featuring sugar skulls from Lost Coast Designs

I know sugar skulls are traditionally associated with Day of the Dead, but I liked the idea of using them in the Valentines month and Eenie Meenie Minie Mo - well maybe that's how some of us choose a partner ? LOL. 

The background is neocolor II's, then I used the negative of a die cut and sponged through it in grey ink, like you would a stencil. I stamped some other random things lightly in the background and added modelling paste through a stencil. I sponged the edge with grey ink, then cut my sheet into none 2.5 x 3.5" ATC's. 

The sugar skulls were stamped and embossed and colored with prisma color pencils. I used the three small skulls across the top, and the larger black nose sugar skull for the bottom one. I fussy cut them, die cut my letters and bats, then glued everything together. The bats eyes are glittered.

Close up :

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found some inspiration here, Nikki x

Lots more inspiration over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.

Valentines Sandra Caldwell style

I made a valentine using this gorgeous stamp from Sandra Caldwell, isn't he fab :

Thanks so much Donna Mundinger for letting me use your words, they are awesome X

Its coloured with copics, I paper pieced the clothing. On the actual digi image it says 'Kiss Me'. I used a die to cut the circle at the top and punched some hearts and coloured them. I doodled and added the three heart beats in.

Happy Valentines everyone, celebrate friendships and relationships, not just the romance X