Simply Create - Alford

Well I had a fab day yesterday - I was up  at the back of 7am (I'm not usually up at that time during the week!!) and had my shower and was off just after 9am.  Scott and Willow were up but were playing with the pc, Faith was still sleeping and so was Graham.

It took me about three quarters of an hour to get there, but it was soooooooooooo worth it. Jacqui's shop is simply stunning. It has a gorgeous, sumptuous boutique feel - complete with comfy sofa to sit and have a chat, or read a craft mag. The shop is beautifully laid out, very spacious and airy. Poor Jacqui was physically shaking with all the nerves and excitement. She was handing out pink champagne and the most gorgeous cupcakes - and yes I had a tiny dribble of champagne as I was driving, but seeing as I already look like I ate all the pies, I left the cupcakes for Judy who was going to be going later on lol

I also met up with Kath, so we had great fun filling up our posh pink baskets then went and had a coffee at one of the coffee shops on the main street. We were getting very strange looks from the staff as we were laughing so much. It was fab to see Kath - one of our local crafty celebs again - definitely have to do it again soon.

So here are all the fab goodies I got...

DCWV Scalloped card stack, Flora Doodles photobox of flowers, Bear Hug and Flower Girl Gorjuss Girls stamps from Sugar Nellie

Hero Arts 4 Dolls clear stamps, Hero Arts adhesive pearls, Colorbox ink queue, Stamping Bella Tatiana KETTO stamp

And look at these fabby patterned kraft papers and alphabet from Jillibean Soup, and the flower paper is 3 bugs in a rug

Today I've been out in the garden, colouring some images for forthcoming Passion for Promarkers challenges. The kids have had a ball playing outside in the sun. Its been scorchio and I now have stupid white strap marks and a white wristband where my watch was lol

Passion for Promarkers - Not the final cut

It looks like I'm just showing all my rejects this weekend lol. This is another cards that didn't make the final cut. I chose these images as I thought they would be good for showing off the colouring with promarkers, and I was going to use it for the first challenge over at Passion for Promarkers... BUT, although I'm reasonably happy with the images, I just couldn't get the card to work. I seem to be having a bit of mojo-freeze at the moment.

Images: Charlotte's Horse and Queen Charlotte by Alison Acton @ Whiff of Joy, coloured with promarkers: Horse; sandstone, cinnamon, cocoa, shale, moss, olive and holly, spice and terracotta, Queen Charlotte: Ivory, Blush, cinnamon, cocoa, maroon, moss, olive, meadow green and apple. Shadow is warm grey 1 and 3. Highlights are all sakura gelly roll med, and clear stardust

Pale and mid green card is all core'dinations, the mid green was embossed using the cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder and sanded. I used a metallic green sakura gel pen to doodle faux stitching round the edges.

Greeting is Daisy & Dandelion, Papermania clear shimmer dots

New Craft Shop Opening

Well, I'm off on a jaunt tomorrow to Alford (Aberdeenshire) for the opening of Simply Create - the brand new craft shop. It opens at 10am, for anyone else who wants to have a nosey and the address is 1 Greystone Road, which is just at the fork at the Haughton Hotel. The owner, Jacqui is also laying on champagne and cupcakes - as if we needed any more of an incentive to go craft shopping :)

Can't wait to see it - who can resist crafty shops??

And the other good news I heard this week is Hobbycraft are opening a store at the brand new Union Square shopping mall in Aberdeen. The best bit about that news is its right beside the train station so i don't have to mess around taking the car in and trying to get parked in their massive multi-story car park.

Anyway, I will be back later tomorrow to let you all know about Simply Create.

Love Birds - Not the final cut!

This was the first card I made for the DigiStamp Boutique competition, but I decided that I didn't like it. I'm happy enough with the image, although the blue chalk got a bit out of hand. But because I decided to use lilacs and limey greens to colour the image I thought it would be perfect with the Papermania Spring Burst  papers, but it just didn't work out.  But hey - we learn by our mistakes, right?........ right?

Image: Love Birds by Sally-Ann Hancock @ DigiStamp Boutique, coloured as ever with Promarkers: Lime, Moss, Lavender, Lilac, Amethyst, Cocoa and blue chalk.

The image and mat were cut using classic oval and scallop oval nesties in the cuttlebug

Purple and Green card used for matting and layering and as background are all core'dinations

Papers are all papermania Spring Burst

The green core'dinations panel was embossed with the cuttlebug Birds & Swirls embossing folder and sanded.

Greeting is Daisy and Dandelion and I have added Papermania clear shimmer dots

By the skin of my teeth.... Again!

Yup, this seems to be becoming a habit, I come screeching in by the seat of my pants every week for the CCSR challenges, this week's was a colour challenge - one of my favourite colour combo's too; blue and brown.

I have had this Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie all coloured up and lying on my desk for weeks but never used her, so I thought this was the perfect excuse to do her justice. If any of you have been using my How To's on colouring with promarkers, you'll have noticed on my Colouring Hair - Brunette, that I mentioned the same technique can be used for almost any colour of hair - so this will show you what I meant by that.

Image: Sitting Gorjuss Girl from set #1 @ Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers; ivory & blush for the skin tones; pastel blue, blue pearl, cornflower and china blue for the dress, socks and hair - and of course the obligatory opaque white sakura pen for highlighting

the polka dot papers are from CCSR The Big One paper pad, the mat for the GG was cut using the labels 1 nestie in the cuttlebug. I then kept the nestie in place after it had been cut and used it as a template to doodle in some faux stitching with the white sakura pen.

The blue card is core'dinations, the scallop edging was made with the SU scallop border punch. 

The paper flowers are all prima and the centres are all papermania brads (brown and beige from the embellishment trios and the blue I have had for ages) This bit was a pain in the bum, because I used such large brads, the legs were longer that the flowers themselves, so I had to snip the excess legs off all of them. The paper leaves were from my stash.

The greeting is Daisy & Dandelion message banner and finally I used the HOTP swirly doodles template to draw the doodly swirls and dots with a cocoa promarker.

Here's a wee close up of my blue GG

Love Birds

Finally I have managed to grab a bit of time to enter the 1st of their monthly competitions to win next month's offer of the month over at the fabulous DigiStamp Boutique.This month you have to use the current offer of the month which is the gorgeous Love Birds collection.

I'm a huge fan of Sally-Ann Hancock's, and these designs are just gorgeous.

I have used the sketch from Sketch and Stash Challenge #11, and I have have used loads of new and neglected stash for this challenge (listed below) This is the first time I've entered one of their challenges, and I'll certainly be back.

Image: Love Birds by Sally-Ann Hancock @ Digistamp Boutique (new stash), coloured with my beloved promarkers: Berry Red, Poppy, Ruby, Blossom, Rose Pink, Maroon. The image was cut using large classic circle nestie in the cuttlebug and faux stitching doodled with a black micron pen

The mat was cut from dark red core'dinations card using a large scallop circle nestie in the cuttlebug and sanded

The paper was old neglected stash - an old paper pad that came free in an edition of Simply Cards & Papercraft

Pale pink Doodlebug card was wrapped with Anita's red organza ribbon and Smirk red grosgrain ribbon.

The interlocking heart charm is new and was bought from Calico Crafts

I punched 5 circles using a SU 1" circle punch from the dark red Core'dinations card, sanded them and doodled some faux stitching with an opaque white Inkssentials pen.

The paper flowers are from one of the new Papermania Embellishment Trio's, the centres are from a set of papermania gems that I have had for about 2 years and never used, I'm ashamed to say!

And finally I used 3 pink Papermania adhesive stones in the top right hand corner

Passion for Promarkers - Challenge #1 - Anything Goes!!

Yay, the day has finally arrived, I've been so excited about the beginning of this blog. If you still haven't had a look, then I suggest you check out the fabulous prizes up for grabs with this first challenge on Passion for Promarkers- all of us ladies on the DT are so jealous that we aren't eligible to win :) In fact, you also need to pop along and see all the other fantabulous designs from the other DT members

Anyway - I'm sure you're now bored of me telling you that I'm on the DT, so we'll move swiftly on and I'll show you my card...

Image: Blossom Fairy Charlotte from Whiff of Joy, coloured with - you guessed it...

Promarkers; pastel blue; blue pearl, cornflower, lavender, amethyst, aubergine, ivory and blush.

Matted onto silver mirri card

Paper: kaisercraft airy fairy - whimsy from Angel Crafts

swirls cut using the flower and vine sizzix die in the cuttlebug

Anita's purple organza ribbon, papermania fabric flowers (stickles added), Dovecraft butterfly brads, Basic Grey Cupcake glazed brad, and Friend sticker from stash

A wee close-up of the image...

OOOOOOOOOOOO I could crush a grape!!

As Stu Francis used to say on Crackerjack - goodness, thats me showing my age now eh?

Anyway, my point was... I'm so excited about the launch of the very 1st challenge over at Passion for Promarkers tomorrow morning at 9am GMT. 

Be there, or be square! - so they say lol

Ida's blog candy

My fellow Passion for Promarkers  DTeam-mate Ida is celebrating 7500 hits and giving away some candy, all you need to do is post on your blog about it and comment on her post here.

For every 20 comments she will be adding something to the candy - isn't that cool?

My wee protege

I have been flat out with things for the Passion for Promarkers challenge blog - there is so much going on behind the scenes, it really is going to be fabulous. If you haven't already had a look, then please go now. The first challenge starts on Tuesday and everyone who owns even 1 promarker can enter - and if you don't own any then you can still order from one of our sponsors, who do some fantastic deals - which you will find on the sidebar at Passion for Promarkers.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon, while I was busy with the DT, Faith decided she wanted to draw like mummy, and I managed to capture these cute pics of her - needless to say, there was no chance of her getting her hands on my precious promarkers lol

  

  

 

Amazing Prizes to be won!!

I have been sitting on this information almost all day and it's been killing me!!

There is the most exciting news over at the Passion for Promarkers blog. As you know the very first challenge will start on Tuesday - and let me tell you, you NEED to enter it.

Gina and Denise have managed to secure some sponsors and the prize for the first challenge is simply astounding - I'm so jealous, because as a DT member I can't enter.

you could win....

2 Stamps, from Tracy at Dies to Die For

AND

3 Ribbon kits, from Angela at Angel Crafts

AND

wait for it......

.........

........

92 - yes I said 92 - promarkers from Joanna Sheen

thats the entire range of promarkers!!!

All you have to do is make a card using ANY promarkers, and you can enter as many times as you want - as long as you use promarkers on your card. You'll find all the info you need at the Passion for Promarkers blog

I need to ask a favour from everyone who reads this - could you please help us spread the word, so everyone can have a go at winning these amazing prizes.

Just because

Did I tell you I was chosen to be one of the Design Team for the brand new Passion for Promarkers blog? haha, are you sick of hearing about it yet? cos I'm still as high as a kite :) If you haven't already become a follower over there then you really must dash over there now and start following. There are so many super challenges planned, and also hints, tips and tutorials too - it really is a must see for anyone who has promarkers or is thinking of getting some. The other 10 ladies on the Design Team are very talented, so pop round and see their work too, you'll find the links to their blogs on my sidebar. The first challenge starts on the 26th May, so mark it in your diary now. And if you don't own any colours yet, you still have time to buy them. I'd recommend Angel Crafts as they sell promarkers singly and in sets as well as a terrific value bulk buy pack of 10 colours of your choice.

This is a card I made quickly last night, so that I would have something to show you today.  

Image: Painting Rainbows from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers, highlights are sakura white gelly roll

pink, cerise and chocolate card for matting is doodlebug

polka dot paper is CCSR, Pink paper is doodlebug

Daisy & Dandelion greeting banner

Papermania and Prima flowers, papermania button

charm and thread from stash

I bet you thought...

I'd disappeared off the face of the earth today..... but no, have just been up to my eyeballs. 

I've been getting to know my new fellow teamies over at the Passion for Promarkers challenge blog and they're a lovely bunch of very talented ladies. There are some fantastic plans being made - but I can't tell you any more than that or I will have to kill you  mwah haha haha.

So, I haven't shared anything with you all for a few days, so I made a quick card tonight - because as usual I'm haring in by the seat of my pants before the deadline for the CCSR sketch challenge #4.

Image: CCSR Gordon the Golfer, coloured with promarkers (cinnamon, cocoa, umber, carmine, maroon, ivory, blush, warm grey 3, meadow green)

Papers: CCSR The Big One, and pink doodlebug card

WRMK eyelets, Papermania embellishment trio buttons, Daisy & Dandelion greeting banner

Still on a high

Yup, I'm still a bit high about being picked for the Passion for Promarkers Design Team. And I've been blog hopping round all my teamies to say hello, and they're all very talented ladies, please pop along and visit their blogs. (the DT list is on my sidebar).

Well I had another appointment with the clinical psychologist about Willow this morning, and I had a Primary 1 induction meeting at Willow and Scott's school last night. Tomorrow I have an appointment with Scott's teacher and on Friday I have an appointment with the social worker to review the support plan for Willow's needs, then next week its appointments with Willow's consultant and the clinical psychologist again. So its all go at the moment.

But at least I have a couple crafty things to look forward to..... a new craft store is opening on the 30th May at Alford and I've been invited to the opening. Then the following weekend I'm off on the train to Edinburgh to the Artstamps Scotland show.

With a bit of luck I might get some crafting done tonight so I have something to show you tomorrow

 

Am all gleckit!!!

I can't believe it, I was accepted as a member of the Design Team for the brand spanking new Passion for Promarkers challenge blog, woop woop. I'm so excited, am like a dog with two tails!!

Most of you will know I've never had the confidence to apply for a DT position before, this was the first time I'd applied and I'm totally over the moon at having been accepted by Gina and Denise.

I would also like to congratulate my fellow Design Team-mates:

Caryn , Helen , Ida, Maria, Michele, Natalie,  Sarah and Sue

The first challenge starts on Tuesday the 26th May, so I'd love to see you all have a go.

And don't forget to enter the candy which ends tonight - you could win all the promarkers for the next 4 weeks challenges: 

26/05 - Apple and Pastel Pink
02/06 -Cinnamon and Pumpkin
09/06 - Berry Red and Royal Blue
16/06 - Lemon and Meadow Green
plus Ivory, Satin, Blush and Vanilla

No time....

well, not much time for anything but minimising the devastation that Willow and Faith cause, before Graham gets home this afternoon.

My Whiff of Joy Summer Stamp Kit arrived on Saturday and they are fab - absolutely beautiful images from the wonderful Elisabeth Bell. Have inked them up and just need to find the time to colour them now. 

I'll be stalking my long-suffering postie today in the hope that my new Rain, Snow, Shine Miss Anya's will arrive from the incredibly helpful Tracey at Dies to Die For, as well as the scrummy new Leanne Ellis stamp and a couple old favourites from probably my favourite; Sugar Nellie.

So, better get on with the housework - can I get away with tying the kids up so they don't make a mess????

**Update**

OMG OMG OMG my stamps have arrived - I have to do housework, but I NEED to ink these babies up argh!!!

Gorjuss Girls combo

Would you believe it... Faith was in bed before half 8 last night, and when I went through to the living room to see what Willow was up to, she was sparked out on the chair. So I lifted her and put her to bed and actually had peace to do some crafting - woohooo. Scott went away to bed and I gave him a book to read so he wasn't laughing too loudly at the telly - not sure if thats an autistic thing or whether its just him - but he just has to roar with laughter at the telly, or just for no apparent reason at all.

Anyway, I thought I'd colour in a couple of the new Gorjuss Girls from set 2. Tina and I went halfies on the 2nd set of GG's and I stamped up some of the ones I kept and she did the same for me, so I used 2 of the GG with teddy bear that she sent me (thanks Teen xx) just for fun. 

The tag is just a plain white die cut tag that I bought in a batch from the wee craft shop on the dual carriageway between Westhills and Kingswells. To that I added a swirl cut with the flower and vine sizzix die in the cuttlebug from Papermania Scrumptious paper. The image is from the Gorjuss Girls set #2 from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers - accented with white sakura gelly roll.

The card is a plain white Anita's square card blank, the paper is Papermania Scrumptious again, matted onto lilac core'dinations card. The lilac ribbon was from Recollections in Peterhead. I used another plain white tag and cut it down a bit to fit. I used the flower & vine sizzix die again to cut the swirl from the same lilac core'dinations card. The image is the same as before. And finally the greeting is a Daisy & Dandelion banner.

Friday Sketchers #52

Now that I have a huge stock of my fave Doodlebug Papers from the fantabulous Oliver at Emerald Crafts, I got the opportunity to play with them when I spotted this week's Friday Sketchers challenge which is sponsored by Elzybells.

This card is for the 19th birthday of the daughter of an old friend of mine, I've known Emma since she was just a little girl and I can't believe she's 19 already, where does the time go?

Image: Miss Anya, coloured with promarkers and accented with white gelly roll and metallic pink sakura

papers and pink card are all Doodlebug

flowers are prima and papermania embellishment trios

papermania adhesive clear stones and shimmer dots

pink organza ribbon

Daisy & Dandelion greeting

And here's a close up so you can see the shimmer dots and adhesive stones a bit better

A wee heads-up for Leanne Ellis fans

The brand spanking new Leanne Ellis stamps were released last night over at Funkykits. But, as with everything else that Karen releases, be quick before they sell out. Don't forget if you want all the new ones you can make a huge saving by buying the set of 8. 

I treated myself to Poise, isn't she lovely?

I was also going to tell you about the brand new Miss Anya's - Rain Snow Shine that Tracey at Dies To Die For has, but they've sold out already :( But keep your eyes peeled for them coming back into stock as they are GORGEOUS!

The Big Fish

A friend of Mar's is making cards to sell in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support at The Big Fish 2009' on the 13th June. You'll find the details on Mar's blog.

Anyway, I thought I'd lend a hand and made 6 cards this afternoon, I kept them simple for speed. I really wanted to use the new Daisy & Dandelion decoupage pack, but couldn't find anywhere with it in stock, so settled for the transfers instead.

 

Images: Daisy & Dandelion Transfers

transfers were added to concord card and cut with labels 1 nesties in the cuttlebug

core'dinations card as mat, cut with labels 1 nesties in the cuttlebug

backing papers were all free in an old issue of Making Cards

sentiment: Daisy & Dandelion

papermania brads

images: Daisy & Dandelion transfers, rubbed onto concord card and cut using classic round nesties

matted onto core'dinations card, again cut using nesties in cuttlebug

paper: Basic Grey Marrakech, matted onto core'dinations

background is core'dinations

greeting: Daisy & Dandelion

Which colours of Promarkers??

I thought I'd just add a wee note to let you know where I get my promarkers from, I have found the best deal from Angela at Angel Crafts who, as well as selling the 5-packs, also sells larger packs, and singles - and the best value bulk buys I've found in the UK.

If you are just starting out with promarkers I would recommend the skin tones pack containing Ivory, Satin, Blush, Dusky Pink, Cinnamon, its an absolute must for your collection.

I personally, would recommend buying 3 colours from a colour family and that way you can pick and choose which and how many colour families you buy depending on your budget

I am going to list some selections that I would recommend for beginners and those on tight budgets, I have selected them especially for easy blending and giving as wide a scope as possible with a limited number of pens.

Browns: Sandstone, Cocoa, Burnt Umber, Umber (the 5th colour, cinnamon is in the skin tones pack)

Oranges: Apricot, Pumpkin, Mandarin

Yellows: Pastel Yellow, Mustard, Canary

Greens: Meadow Green, Apple, Grass

Blues: Blue Pearl, Cornflower, China Blue

Purples: Lavender, Lilac, Amethyst

Pinks: Blossom, Rose Pink (the 3rd colour, Dusky Pink is in the skin tones pack)

Greys: Warm Grey 1,3, and 5

So for instance you could buy the skin tones plus the browns, greens and blues all for a total of £15.95 (bulk buy) + £7.45 (skin tones) = £23.40

I hope this is of some help

Debz x

Colouring with Promarkers #4 Tights/socks

To complete this batch of "How to's" I'm going to show you how I colour the tights on the Sitting Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie. Again, I have stamped the image using Memento ink on Concord card.

Firstly I chose 2 shades each from 2 different colour families, in this case; lilac & amethyst and meadow green & apple 

First I coloured the first pale shade onto alternate stripes 

Then I dotted the darker shade onto either side of each stripe 

Then repeat those 2 stages for the other leg

And do the same with the other colour family, in this case the lilac and amethyst

Once the promarkers have dried, I take either a sakura opaque white gelly roll or an Inkssentials opaque white pen and draw a narrow line down the pale part of the tights - preferably in one stroke.

and here's how the image looks when its finished.... ready to be cut out and added to a card or project.

To download the tutorial, click on this icon 

Oliver has done it again!

Its official, Oliver at Emerald Crafts is fantabulous. I emailed him the other day to ask if there was any chance of him getting in my all time favourite papers from the Love Spell collection from Doodlebug. And he has absolutely come up trumps and he has them in stock - so now that I've ordered a whole stack of them I can tell you lol

These are absolutely stunning papers and so versatile - and of course paisley is hot right now..

Cherry Chocolate Paisley and Very Cherry Paisley

 

just click on the pics for a link to them on Emerald Crafts. 

Oliver is such a star, if there's anything he doesn't have just pop him an email and he'll do the best he can.

Colouring with Promarkers #3 Dress/Top

To complete this batch of "How to's" I'm going to show you how I colour a dress/top on the Sitting Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie. Again, I have stamped the image using Memento ink on Concord card.

Firstly I chose 3 shades of the same colour family, in this case; lavender, lilac and amethyst

Then I coloured the dress with the palest shade, lavender - for areas that are not large enough to use the broad tip of the promarker, I find you get a more uniform effect by colouring in a circular motion.

Then I took the slightly darker shade, lilac and started to colour from the left hand side - here I have imagined the light source would be coming from the right. I coloured in small circular motions about half way across the dress

Then I took the palest shade, lavender, and blended the lilac out from left to right using small circular strokes, stopping before I got all the way to edge.

I then repeat the same process with the darkest shade, amethyst, but only colouring about a quarter of the way across the dress. I have also dotted the amethyst colour over the fold lines on the image (where the fabric would appear to pool and fold)

Repeat the blending, this time using the mid colour (lilac), using small circles to blend the colour

To finish off I like to dot a little more of the darkest colour over crease and fold lines to emphasize them if necessary. And this is how the whole image looks so far...

To download the tutorial, just click on this icon