Lucky Week

 I've been really lucky this week, its been the first time in ages that I've had the time to enter some of the fabulous challenges that are on the go and I was so chuffed to learn that I won a couple of Wags n Whiskers stamps on the Spoonful of Sugar challenge last week and then this morning I saw that I'd been featured on Our Creative Corner with my very first time using Distress Inks.
 
 Talking about Distress Inks, I was so chuffed with all the comments I got with modern with a vintage twist card that I managed to snap up the Tim Holtz TSV from QVC's craft day on Tuesday and it arrived yesterday - so you know what I'm going to be playing with as soon as I can.

Well I suppose I better get on with all my jobs and hopefully I'll get time later to go and play

Digi Friday - launch

Are you ready for something new? Fancy winning some digital stamps?
Then you need to get over to the Passion for Promarkers blog every Friday and check out our brand spanking new Digi Friday's. You'll find them by clicking on the Weekend Workshop button underneath the main banner.

To kick off our first week, Caryn has done a fabulous tutorial featuring the "Butterfairy" image from Soft Pencil and all you have to do to win $15 worth of digital stamps from Soft Pencil is.... leave a comment. Yes its THAT simple.

So don't forget, 9am every Friday there will be a new digital stamp sponsor offering some digital stamps and you also get to see one of the sponsors images used in a tutorial for inspiration.
Remember all the workshops and tutorials are available to download directly from the Weekend Workshop blog by clicking on the icon at the bottom of each post.

Candy Galore

Pop on over to Digistamp Boutique and grab yourself a chance to win Sally-Ann's fabulous spring candy, she has loads of gorgeous candy to win but it ends on the 1st March, so be quick

Look at what you could win...

And our very own North East celebrity Kath is celebrating her bloggy birthday with some wonderful candy too
Here's some of her favourite things that you can win there

Fun in the Snow

We've had more snow here since Friday - although its starting to melt away now - only for more to be forecast tonight and over the next few days.


Yesterday I thought I'd try and capture Pepsi's party trick on camera and Faith wanted to play too. So I thought I'd share...





This one shows Pepsi's trick with her ball better - turn the sound up a bit so you can hear Faith at the end

Passion for Promarkers #40 Tulip Yellow, Baby Pink + Stitching

am on a roll at the moment, 3 posts in 3 days eh? lol
This week we have a bit of a double whammy, chosen by one of our fabulous Guest Dt's at Passion for Promarkers, Tracy. We have a beautiful colour combination of Tulip Yellow and Baby Pink PLUS Tracy has asked that we use stitching on our creations, it can be faux, hand or machine stitching. So I thought I'd get the old sewing machine dusted off and give that a bash, as well as using hand drawn faux-stitching around the image itself.

This week our sponsor is

 

and they have very generously offered this gorgeous mini-book for our winner.

Just think of the fabulous things you could do with that

Now before I show you my card I just want to explain something.... in real life the machine stitching is actually all straight, but for some reason the photo I took makes it look like I've been at vino while using the sewing machine. And that couldn't possibly be true ;)

Image: Sitting Pretty from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Baby Pink & Rose Pink for her top, dress and shoes, Tulip Yellow and Gold for her top and ribbons, Lavender, Orchid & Purple for her hair.
I also used Tulip Yellow and Orchid to colour the Petaloo embossed daisies.

core'dinations card for the image mat, paper mat and punched branches, the greeting is Stampin' Up. The papers are Papermania colossal pastel which I have had for years.

I machine zigzag stitched the paper to the mat, and hand drew the faux stitching around the image with a sakura stardust pen.

Here's her close-up

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:
Stamp with Fun - Stitch
Totally Gorjuss - flowers (on the paper too)

Springtime

Well, I've actually managed to make a card to fit some more challenges, I'm so much more productive when Graham's at home lol

Image: Chick-a-dee from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Lime Green & Bright Green, Vanilla and Mustard, Mango, Blush, Pale Pink, Tulip Yellow, Primrose, Spice.
Paper is Earth Story from Cosmo Cricket, core'dinations gemstone cardstock punched with MS doily lace border punch, ribbon is Dovecraft, Pearls are Papermania and the flower is Prima E line

Here's her close up...

I'd like to enter these challenges with this card
I love promarkers - Spring theme, using promarkers and sketch
ABC Challenge - O for One paper
A Spoonful of Sugar - Spring Time

DigiStamp Boutique GDT - Isabella & Freddie

When Sally-Ann at DigiStamp Boutique sent me her new Isabella and Freddie images I just knew I wanted to team them up together. As you know, I'm completely hopeless when it comes to Photoshop, so I got Graham to show me how to merge 2 images - I did check that this was ok with Sally-Ann first though.
Freddie and Isabella are available to buy at DSB now, so pop on over and see all the other fab images Sally-Ann has produced too.

This was also my first play with Distress Inks and the blending tool - big thankyou to Kath for the quick lesson. I do think I got a bit blend-happy though lol

The idea of this card was to do a modern card with a vintagey twist, so what do you think? did I manage to pull it off?

The images are Freddie and Isabella from DSB, coloured with promarkers, papers started out a pale yellow and are old Papermania colossal papers - which I inked up with the distress inks and punched with MS doily lace punch
cardstock is core'dinations, pearls are kaisercraft and the stamped greeting is Hero Arts.

Here's the close-up...

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges...
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Sem's Sketch
Saturday Spotlight with hidden Potential - Do the Mess Around
Crafty Cardmakers - Digital Delights
Creative Belli Blog - butterflies
Dare U 2 Digistamp - punches
By The Cute & Girly - Love
Humble Pie - 1 embellishment (pearls)
ABC Challenge - 1 paper
Stamp Something - touch of spring
Our Creative Corner - a new technique (distress inks and blending)
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Love & Friendship

Another Monochrome Tutorial

It feels like ages since I last did a tutorial, so I thought I'd get back to basics again and show you how I do another monochrome image. You can achieve a really striking effect with just a few grey promarkers.
Firstly here's what I used: Stampin' Up, Whisper White cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad, Coffee Time stamp from Sugar Nellie and Ice Grey 1,2,3,4 and 5 promarkers




Stamp your image onto the cardstock


Using the Ice Grey 1, I coloured where the shadowed areas of her skin would be, e.g. under the fringe, under her chin, the bottom side of her hands






Then I used Ice grey 1 again to colour most of her hair, leaving a small section in the middle white

I then took the Ice grey 2, and coloured over most of the area I coloured in the previous step, again leaving a small section near the middle in Ice Grey 1




Repeat this with the Ice Grey 3, then 4 and 5



I then used Ice Grey 1 in small circular motions all over the hair to blend the hard lines, you may have to do this more than once to get rid of the hard lines



For her tights and sleeves, I coloured the whole areas with Ice Grey 2 - using small circular motions



I used Ice Grey 4 to colour lines on either side of alternate stripes on her tights and sleeves



I then used Ice Grey 3 to colour the stripes in between, and then Ice Grey 5 on either side of these darker stripes - this makes the legs and arms look more rounded.




Using the same blending techniques as before, I coloured the dress, coffee cup and shoes




And the finished image...



I hope that has been of some help, and look forward to seeing you all try it out.





I'll hopefully get it made into a card this week

Passion for Promarkers #39 - Buttons & Bows

That's another week passed in a flash and we're onto week 39 at Passion for Promarkers. This week Sue has chosen "Buttons & Bows" as her theme and you can use any colours of promarkers to join in, so we want to see plenty of entries this week.
And to entice you even more, we have a pack of 5 promarkers up for grabs from

www.letraset.com

So this is my sample...

Image: Coffee Time from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers: Cocktail Pink and Salmon Pink, Cinnamon and Walnut, Blush.
The paper, scalloped square and greeting are all from Craftwork Cards, the buttons are Papermania capsule collection and I made the bow from Anita's organza ribbon and pink satin ribbon from my stash

Remember to pop over and see the rest of the DT samples which are simply gorgeous, as well as the samples from our current guest DT's, Emma and Tracy.

A week of operations

well this week turned into a bit of a week for operations, as you already know, Pepsi had her operation on Tuesday, then my dad phoned me to say he was going in to hospital on Thursday and having his operation on Friday. My dad had a heart attack near the end of November last year and had been scheduled to have his operation at the beginning of January but it was cancelled as he had a cold.
So on Friday morning my dad had a triple heart bypass operation.
And I'm pleased to say it went very well, I was in to see him last night and he looks incredibly well. It was a bit distressing to see him all hooked up to monitors, drips, drains, catheters and pumps. I think he had 4 canulas in as well as a central line and he had an oxtgen mask on too. Mum phoned me this afternoon and he's got the drains out and is able to move around now so he's a lot happier. Its such a relief I can tell you. My dad is only 67 and has been active all his life.
Anyway, here's the quick get well card I made for him.

Image: Nurse Anya from TGF coloured with promarkers, cardstock is all core'dinations (panels embossed with swirls folder in cuttlebug), paper is Papermania capsule collection. octagon and scallop octagon nesties were used to cut the image, mat and greeting mat. Greeting is Hero Arts.

and her close-up...

Its half term here at the moment, the kids were off on Friday and they are off this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday too. Today we mostly had a lazy day, the kids were all playing with their DS and DSi's .....

Willow was playing with Faith's fisherprice World of Little People...

And Pepsi was none too impressed with her lampshade...

And I was spoiled again for Valentine's Day, Graham got me these beautiful roses and lilies, a box of Thornton's choccies and that funny balloon - which pepsi absolutely hates and keeps barking at.

Especially for Rubber Stampers

You heard it here first!!
The fabulous folks at Letraset are bringing out not 1 but 2 sets specifically for rubber stampers at the beginning of March. They will contain 12 specially selected colours plus a fineliner pen.
And guess who was asked to do the artwork for the packaging? yup wee mee!
so here's a wee sneaky peak at the packaging...

Set 1 contains: Lavender, Amethyst, Dusky Rose, Honeycomb, Mustard, Lime Zest, Pear Green, Sandstone, Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 3, Cornflower, China Blue

Set 2 contains: Buttercup, Caramel, Spice, Poppy, Maroon, Slate, Lilac, Warm Grey 2, Apple, Turquoise, Duck Egg, Moss

 

A Tearful Day

yesterday was absolutely manic, but before I tell you all about that, I'm going to show you the birthday card I made for one of my BFF's - Marion, whose birthday was yesterday.

Image: Dressy Ebony digi from TGF, coloured with promarkers.
Paper is MME Pretty Please, card is core'dinations and organza ribbon is Anita's
The greeting is Hero Arts, and the adhesive pearls are kaisercraft



and here's her close up

Ok, so onto the tearful bit...
I dropped Willow and Scott off at school then Faith and I took Pepsi along to the vet as she was booked in to get her baby canine teeth out and also to get spayed. Faith was fine in the vets until I had to hand Pepsi over and I could see the bottom lip quivering. By the time I got to the car there were tears and "mummy, please don't leave pepsi"
Then by the time I took her to playgroup there was full on bawling and snivveling. So I stayed with her a wee while until she calmed down. They told me though, when I picked her up again, that she'd burst into tears a couple of times and had a couple of tantrums.
I have to pass the vets on the way home, and again she burst into tears when we passed and didn't stop. And she pestered me to get Pepsi until I phoned in the afternoon to see how it had gone. Apparently everything was fine and Pepsi had woken from the anaesthetic well.
So then all I heard the rest of the afternoon was "please mummy, please can we go get pepsi"
Well, Pepsi is fine - feeling pretty sorry for herself as she's supposed to keep this silly lampshade on AT ALL TIMES for the next 10 days. She's eating and drinking incredibly well - although i did have to ration her for the first 24 hours.
This is her looking particularly sorry for herself....