Female relative/Mum at Passion for Promarkers and Things with wings at Crafts & Me

Well haven't I been a naughty blogger!  My new years resolution in tatters lol!  I just couldnt get on blogger last night and was in so much pain anyway I just scribbled away furiously instead :(  Back to the Drs on friday unless I ring at 8am tomorrow and try and grab a book on the day one, I hope so as the tablets he gave last week are about to run out eeeek!  Not that they *do* anything anyway but its a comfort thinking they might ease it off a little.

Got 2 cards to share with you tonight.  The first one is for Passion for Promarkers DT and the challenge is For a female relative/Mum.  I wanted to print a mothers day sentiment for this one but I completely ran out of card, not one sheet left so have been up to Strikes today and had a scribble on some of theirs and got one suitable for the digi papers I print and one suitable for colouring work.  I hope Letraset bring out that gorgeous new card they have in their new stamp packs soon as I'm itching to get hold of some more of that, its like silk and blends beautifully!

Crafty Emma's Store is sponsoring this week with a £10 voucher to spend there so rmember to use your promarkers/flexmarkers/tria or aquamarkers to be eligible!

For this I used a recently acquired Tilda stamp called Tilda spreading love and she's actually throwing hearts around but I thought that a bit valentineish so I used flowersoft instead.  I chose a turquoise colour theme as I didnt want it to appear too weddingish either lol!  I added a little heart charm to the bow (that really helps set it aside from valentines/weddings....!) and the making memories cherish border (Oh dear, blame the medication!) and a heart shaped doily (OK I'm amusing myself now!)  The papers are floral fantasy by Crafts and Me and I used some ancient button brads with some turquoise prima flowers.

I'd like to enter into...

Kaboodle doodles - Flowers
Stamps & Fun - One bow
Magnolia down under - buttons & bows
One stop craft - Button it
Crafty Emmas - Flower Frenzy

Next up is Crafts & Me and our challenge this week is Things with Wings.  Naturally as the shop is FULL of winged fairies, angels and creatures I selected a stamp that hasnt got wings only because I really really love Melody and wanted to colour her :)  This one is Fashion Melody by Lemon Shortbread.  I saw the rest of the DT had naturally gone with images that are fairies/angels so got a bit nervous but then Mona piped up that she was using Cali Girl which isnt either so safety in numbers ha!

As I'd run out of card for printing on I had a rummage through the ones I'd already printed off from the Floral Fantasy paper pack and went for one with hot pink flowers on which isn't a colour you'll see here too often, I do like to push the boat out sometimes :)  I wanted to keep this pretty simple mainly because I'd also run out of glue dots so flowers were out of the question but with papers like this in the background you dont *need* a lot of embellishment as the paper does the work for you.  I used some letratac to attach the butterflies :)

This particular paper has gorgeous hot pink flowers with some violet tones in the bottom corner so I picked those colours out and scribbled away adding a fold here and there and punched out little violet and holographic silver flowers for her brooch and added punched butterflies and some pink gems and 2 diddy pearls on her pockets.  The sentiment is from a stampman sheet and its matted on violet and holographic silver card.

I'd like to enter this into...

Pan Pastel UK - Stamped image
Papertake - Anything goes
That craft place - Anything goes

Letraset Stamp Pack 2

Evening all!  Ahhh I got a poorly sick boy, he's being brave though.  Seems to have a bit of a temperature and the sniffles so he'll be off tomorrow.  Never mind we can all nuggle down in bed and watch Rio he got for his birthday on Tuesday :)

I have another of the LETRASET stamping packs to share with you tonight, the other one you will find the post here  This one is Stamp Pack 2, specially designed for newer crafters wishing to have a try of the letraset products.  It contains another exclusive stamp designed by Gillian Roberts and this one is the Easter kit.  Inside you get the stamp which is pretty large (nearly A6) 3 promarkers; Pastel yellow, Lime Green and Cool Aqua, a hints and tips sheet and 6 sheets of A6 card which is THE most delicious card I've ever coloured on - hurry up and bring it out on A4 Letraset, we NEEEEED it!!

I did find the stamp a bit tricky to get a clear impression with it being so large, seemed to miss a little in the middle whereas the stamp in set 1 is the same size and didnt so you may need a mouse mat or some cushioning underneath and practice on some scrap card first.

The colours in the set are lovely eastery spring ones and to compliment the 3 in the pack I also used the limited edition spring set alongside them too.  I added some of the lime green on the grassy bit and coloured her jeans in the cool aqua and the chicks on her hat are the pastel yellow.  There are a couple of lines on her top and I kept just seeing a love heart shape there so I added that :)

As its quite a large stamp with quite a lot of detail then again I don't feel like you need to do anything fancy with it, just a matt and some gems.  I added 2 peel off bunnies and coloured them in also and a pearl bow on the hat.

These have just been released and will retail at RRP £8.99 which is pretty good value for the 3 pens, a stamp and delicious card so if you've or a friend have been thinking of trying promarkers or were wanting to get into stamping then check these out at http://www.letraset.com/ and various Letraset stockists.

Thanks for looking!

Pastels at Passion for Promarkers

Evening all!  Its my turn to pick the challenge this week over at Passion for Promarkers and the theme I've chosen is Pastels as it goes nicely with the new Limited Edition Promarkers just released.  We have 2 sponsors this week so double the chance.  We have Letraset offering a yummy set of the new Promarkers and Digistamp Boutique offering 6 digis to the lucky winner.

For this challenge I used the very cute King Tilda, I love this one she's so cute.  I've coloured using the new limited edition colours of daffodil yellow, april showers, budding rose and fresh meadow.  Papers are the Tatty Teddy spring ones which are a great match and the die cut is a memory box la rue I got it off Caz5555cards on ebay :)  I pressed it down onto some letratac and added some glamour dust then added letratac on the back to fix it to the card.
Ive added mother of pearl flat back pearls, organza ribbon and magnolia sentiment.

Hope you can join in my pastels challenge, you can take part using promarkers, tria, flex markers or aqua markers.

I'd like to enter into...

Celebrate the occasion - Birthday
Cutie pie challenge - flowers
Truly madly crafty - ribbon and bling

Letraset's New Stamp packs

Evening all!  I've got a cutie to share tonight :)  Letraset are releasing 2 new stamp packs especially designed for newbies (or more experienced too!) so I'm showing you one of the packs and one in the week.

This one is the Mother's Day pack and included in the set is a sweet stamp which is very large so no fiddle faffy bits, 3 promarkers (Blue Pearl, Buttercup & Pink Carnation) a hints and tips sheet and some sheets of A6 card.  Can I tell you a little secret?  The card in these packs is THE BEST card I have ever coloured on and I've tried lots!

I started colouring this in my usual style with like 5 shades on the skin then I looked again and thought you know it would look better just keeping it simple and achieveable by all.  There's no fancy tricks just plain colouring using the 3 pens in the pack, blush for the skin and tan for the hair.  To get the top darker I just waited for the 1st layer to dry then did a 2nd layer so it looks darker then the jeans :)



This pack will be available at Letraset stockists near you right about now!  Thanks for looking!

Take one pack of Promarkers - A review of the Limited Edition 2012 Spring Colours

Good evening all!  I have a little review for you tonight of the brand new 2012 Spring Limited Edition colours of promarkers by Letraset.  These are only available for a limited period of time and once they're gone they're gone!

Postie sent me my pack courtesty of Letraset Paul (Fankoo muchly!) and they arrived this morning so after Ethan finished his footie practice I have a whirl with them.

There are 6 in the pack and they are:-

BUDDING ROSE

MARCH HARE

DAFFODIL BLOOM

FRESH MEADOW

APRIL SHOWER

MORNING MIST

I'd already seen these posted up on facebook the other week but its different once you get the pens in your hand and you start scribbling.  One thing I noticed straight away was that there are 2 potential skin tones, a blusher, sky and grass and you'd also be able to do hair so with this in mind I wanted to see if I could colour an image using ONLY these colours.  I have a couple of 'Shoestring tutorials' in my tab up there which are designed for those wanting to try a pack or just a handful of colours so I was looking at if I was a newbie and bought THIS pack would I be able to do anything with it or would I need to expand?


I chose a Magnolia image for this, Beautiful Tilda as I love her wings and love colouring them in in multi-colour so I started with this and used budding rose, feathered into daffodil bloom then fresh meadow and finally april shower.  I quite liked how this turned out so I moved onto the skin tones so using March Hare I added some shadows then some Budding Rose for the cheeks and also added this as a shadow mixing it in with the march hare then used the morning mist to fill in.  I felt it was a bit *too* brown so I used a blender pen to lighten it then added another layer whilst it was still a bit wet from the blender to give more tone.

The hair I used the daffodil yellow and the March Hare as the shadow keeping a bit white.

Onto the dress I added Budding Rose just in the shadow areas then coloured over with the blender and added a little more so so far so good!

Onto the sky I drew in my clouds then coloured the sky with April Showers then coloured over it all with the blender and again repeated.  When that was dry I added a bit of shadow using the april showers underneath the clouds to give some definition.

The grass I coloured the floor bit first with the blender then added the Fresh Meadow using the chisel end then coloured over with the blender.  I then coloured a smaller area in and gave a quick colour over with the blender then when that was dry I added a shadow underneath with the bullet end.

So there you go yes you can do an image using just one pack and a blender pen.  I do have my favourites for skin tones and this wouldnt be my first choice but I think its perfectly acceptable as a combo if you're wishing to try a small pack out and don't know where to start then you have skin, hair, clothes, sky and grass in a pack of 6 pens right here :)

If you're a hardened Promarker addict like myself then yes its a great addition.  The yellow is like a paler pastel yellow, the green is delicious, love the pink and I think that will replace my usual baby pink as a cheek colour and the blue reminds me of stormy sky distress ink :)

BTW the papers I have used are the Taddy Teddy Spring Collection and they match PERFECTLY to these ;)

These pens are available at LETRASET and other promarker stockists.

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Monotone

Good Evening all!  I'm back again with another promarker tutorial for you and this time we're looking at colouring in monotone.  It might seem a bit daunting as of course your colours are somewhat restricted but in case you haven't noticed my banner up there you'll see I kinda quite like colouring in monotone and hope to teach you how to do this and *think* in monotone :O)


Firstly I would HIGHLY recommend using an image you're familiar with.  Doesn't necessarily have to be the easiest one just one you personally enjoy and are familiar with.  If you've previously coloured one in photograph it then use your photo editting software and turn it into GREYSCALE.  A lot of the free programs also do this.

This will be your guide whilst you train your brain to think in monotone.  So firstly grab your coloured image, I've used Miss Mirabelle by Hannah Lynn (Crafts & Me)

 Next use a photo edting program and turn your image greyscale (I think photobucket does it).  Print it out or save it on screen.  This will give you a great guide how dark or light colours are in greys and help with shadows and highlights

OK feeling confident?  Grab a full set of greys - I use COOL GREY 1-5 plus the BLENDER.  If you think in terms of skin tones then the blender will be equivalent of ivory, cool grey 1 will be your blush and cool grey 2 your vanilla or colour you use for shadow. 

For the skin tone I started with the darkest colour first in the shadow areas on the skin so use COOL GREY 2 and add some shading.

Next use your COOL GREY 1 which will be the equivalent of your blush and working from the dark into the light blend the colours in

Then to finish the skin off use your blender which is the same as ivory and it should be looking nice and luminous like below :)

Next look at your greyscale image and you'll see the bra bit is darker than the top so I used the darkest greys here COOL GREY 4 & 5 and a lighter mix for the top COOL GREY 3 & 4.  If anything appears to dark just run your blender over it lightly and let it dry.

Then onto the hair, I used COOL GREY 5 for the darkest parts at the roots etc then blend that in with a mid tone COOL GREY 3 then the lightest bits are COOL GREY 1.  You can also leave a bit of white showing or again use the blender to lighten the highlight points.

And here she is completed!  I only did one layer on this one but you can add a bit more depth to it doing a 2nd layer or using coloursoft/prisma pencil too 

Here's the 2 completed side by side.  Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and do have a go at this lovely technique, you'll be hooked!

New Beginnings at Passion for Promarkers

Its time for some New Beginnings over at Passion for Promarkers this week with a £10 voucher up for grabs to spend at JOANNA SHEEN.  Wouldnt mind that myself, can get more pens *shake shake*

For this I went with a really old cutie that is Baby Alvin who is by Magnolia.  I kept him really light using the cool aqua promarker, soft aqua flex and the blender pen and blonde hair using ivory, pastel yellow and a touch of cinnamon.

I added broken china distress ink around the edge of him and the edge of the card and mounted onto gorgeous starburst stains and some papers which have all boy phrases on them.  The wording Baby boy is individually stamped onto 1cm squares and edged with distress ink then Ive added gems and some organza ribbon and a little baby feet charm which I bought some before xmas as I knew they'd come in useful!  Also added stickles to his wings and star :)

Sorry my pic is a bit rubbish but I havent found lens cleaner yet for camera so still using me fone.  Although to be fair the fone pics do pc up a truer colour but just less detail.

Anyway I've got a little treat planned for you on friday so grab a stamp, any stamp will do and colour it in any way you like then pop back friday ;)

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Teddy Bears (Teddy Bo)

Evening all!  I'm back with another tutorial to share with you tonight and we're going to be looking at colouring teddy bears or more specifically Teddy Bo/Bea bears.  For this tutorial I have used Teddy Bea_075 (Daisy Chain)  I cant link direct to the image but if you want her then go to the TEDDY BO SHOP and click Teddy Bea store on the left hand menu and she's on page 5 and costs £1.65 with 25% off until 6th Feb if you use the code on the front page.

For colours there's no real right and wrong, simply select a light, mid and dark of combos that work well so for this I chose a yellowy brown as it gave her a golden glow :)

Promarkers I'm using today are...

PRIMROSE
PASTEL YELLOW
CINNAMON
SOFT PEACH FOR THE CHEEKS
SANDSTONE (INTERMEDIATE PART)
COCOA (INTERMEDIATE PART)


STEP 1 - Colouring most things including animals uses pretty much the same process, identifying your highlights and shadows.  From the hair tutorial I showed you how I do this by colouring with my lightest colour first to bring the image more to life so I can see the points easier.
Here I have used the lightest PRIMROSE and coloured in a large part leaving some points white at this stage. 

Next take your PASTEL YELLOW and go over most of your PRIMROSE just as you do for hair and leave a bit of the primrose and white showing where you want your hightlights.
On this image I have picked out above the eyes and on the muzzle, part of the left arm and chest.

In colouring fur and the like I colour in a slightly different way, I don't want smooth glossy features like you get with skin tones and hair I want it a bit rough looking so I scribble when I colour in fur.  Start from the outer edges and push the pen in towards your highlight points in a scribbly fashion, not unlike a kid colours if you're with me lol!

On this first pic I've used the primrose and pastel yellow.

STEP 2 - Take your CINNAMON and again starting from the outer edges of each section colour inwards over part of the pastel yellow you just coloured.

STEP 3 - Add some SOFT PEACH for cheeks on either side of the nose in the bit you left white.  You can be quite bold with this as it will blend in.
Next use your PRIMROSE to blend in all the colours.  Literally just scribble it on as we're not looking for glossy here.

STEP 4 - Add in more PASTEL YELLOW over your first layer to build up some depth.  Re-add some SOFT PEACH on the cheeks too.  You can see the pastel yellow clearer on where the mouth should be and how its scribbled on :)

STEP 5 - Again use your CINNAMON and add this to your darkest shadows.  Bring a line from the eye outwards and around the frame of the face, under the chin will be quite dark and the inside and ouside of the arms and around the paws. 

STEP 6 - Add a little more PASTEL YELLOW over the CINNAMON then use your PRIMROSE to blend it all in.  This is perfectly fine as it is, add a dot of white gel pen on the top of the cheeks if required but thats job done...

INTERMEDIATE

Now you've got the hang of that one and are identifying the shadows and highlights a little better we can add in another couple of colours

STEP 7 - If you're feeling confident you can add in an extra couple of colours so here I've added on some SANDSTONE.  That shade sits between the cinnamon and pastel yellow so add this on going over and past the parts you previously coloured with cinnamon.

STEP 8 - Now re-add some CINNAMON where you previously coloured.

STEP 9 - Here's the brave bit, add some COCOA around the very darkest parts so here it is the line on the eyes, down the edge of the face, under the chin, under the paws, inside and outside of the arms.  You dont have to do solid lines, just scribbles remember and if you miss a bit out thats good as it will give it a more natural look

STEP 10 - Add more PASTEL YELLOW and PRIMROSE in as you did in step 6 to blend them all in again.

STEP 11 - Give a final touch up with the COCOA whilst the ink is still wet and you're done!

Please do experiment around with colours as everyone has their preferences.  This one below uses SATIN, SANDSTONE and CINNAMON.  I think that would work better for Lily of the valley ones but thats my personal opinion so do experiment as you might like another combo more :)

And the finished article.  They always look better when you bring them all together :)

2012 Promarker Tutorials - Skin tones

Here I am again with another tutorial still using Izzy, if you're follwoing these then please do leave a comment with a link to you blog so I can come over and have a looksie!
I have another skin tone tutorial in the Tutorials tab at top of the page and this first part is using the same colours which I find nice for newbies wanting to get a bit more adventurous than just using blush all over!

The colours I've used here are

IVORY
BLUSH
VANILLA
SANDSTONE
BABY PINK or PALE PINK for cheeks


STEP 1 - Here I've added the IVORY leaving just a bit of white in the centre.

STEP 2 - Add the BLUSH going over most of your ivory (I always use the palest colour as a guide so I can see the image better)

STEP 3 - Add VANILLA leaving part of the BLUSH showing.

STEP 4 - Add PALE PINK or BABY PINK for the cheeks then colour over all the skin with your IVORY.  Next use SANDSTONE around the edges of the image as a shadow and then repeat STEP 1 - 4 to give a greater depth.

Your finished result should look something like this!  This is a good basic combo for getting to grips with using more than 2 skin tones as you cant go much wrong on it.  I used this combo for a long time until getting more adventurous!

INTERMEDIATE

This one is getting more adventourous with the tones, you might panic and think eeeek at first especially when you put the coral on but it all comes together in the end!

The colours I've used are...

IVORY

BLUSH

CORAL

CINNAMON

BABY PINK

ROSE PINK

STEP 1 - Colour in your face as above (Step 1 & 2) using IVORY and BLUSH then add some bold shadows using CORAL.



STEP 2 - Add BABY PINK cheeks and use CINNAMON around the hairline and down the darkest part of the face.

STEP 3 - Use BLUSH to partly blend in towards the white part in the centre then add a small amount of IVORY over the entire skin area.

STEP 4 - Repeat all the above steps to get some depth to your image then add a line of CORAL and smaller line of CINNAMON over the nose then blend them all in again.

STEP 5 - Whilst the ink is still wet add in more BABY PINK then a smaller dot of ROSE PINK in the centre of the cheek and use your IVORY to blend it all in.

This combo works really really well with Magnolias too which I'll show you in a couple of days :)

2012 Promarker tutorials - Grounding

Morning again lol!  Had a request for this one and its something you can do so easily that really ties an image together so it doesnt like its floating in the middle of the page!  This one is GROUNDING so basically adding a shadow underneath the image.  I'm going to show you a grey shadow and a green one which you can add more texture in to make grass.
Again I'm using IZZY from Di's Digi Downloads


The colours I've used here are....

COOL GREY 1
COOL GREY 3
COOL GREY 5


STEP 1 - Underneath your image use the COOL GREY 1 to colour in quite a large area, try to imiagine how the shadow would look in real life so make it wider where the image is stood gradually going up to a narrow bit at the top.  Cool Grey 1 is very very light so it won't matter a jot if you make a mistake here plus you'd usually be trimming it down to add to your card so go wild!

*NB I've editted the photo a little darker so you can see it better

STEP 2 - Add some COOL GREY 3 now leaving a larger shadow

STEP 3 - Add a smaller bit of COOL GREY 5 directly under the points that are touching the floor

STEP 4 - Use your COOL GREY 1 and colour over the entire greys to blend them all together.

STEP 5 - This bit is optional but whilst your ink is still wet from blending all the greys in from step 4 use your COOL GREY 5 again and with a light hand re-add it.  As the ink is still wet it wont be as harsh a line as you see on step 3.

ADDING SOME GRASS GROUNDING

You can use lots of combos for grass depending if you want it looking green and lush or more summery, its the same principal of using a light, a mid and a dark so here I chose my favourite grass combo of LIME ZEST, PEAR GREEN AND OLIVE GREEN

STEP 1 - Same as for the grey, add a shadow underneath using LIME ZEST



STEP 2 - Add in your PEAR GREEN as Step 2 above

STEP 3 - And again like step 3 above add in your OLIVE GREEN

STEP 4 - As above blend in your greens using the LIME ZEST

STEP 5 - As above, whislt the ink is still wet use a light hand to add in more OLIVE GREEN underneath the points that touch the floor.  You can leave it as is or continue and add some flicks of PEAR GREEN to make some grass blades

STEP 6 - Add a few blades of OLIVE GREEN here and there then give it all a once over with the LIME ZEST and repeat step 5 and 6

You can take your time more with this and use the Letraset Fine Nibs to add more pronounced blades and greater shadows :)