It's been a while

I have the honour today of being a guest designer for Paradise of Stamps.  Their challenge for the next month is Anything Goes - check them out here

It's been a while since I used a Make It Crafty image, I was addicted to Zoe's images when I first found digital images.  Then I ended up working of design teams and found I no longer had time to create with what I wanted when I wanted.  I'm so happy I've finally had time to colour up this little beauty - she's called Wishful Asha and you can find her here

The image was coloured with Copics - the hair came out slightly messier than I hoped but then I am still practicing :)

The edges for the image have had vintage photo ink applied, it's had a scattering of embossing enamel in two colours and then been distressed.

My design papers are from Studio Lite and First Edition, I'v also used some black card

The black lace I've had in my stash for ages.  The flowers were bought from Wild Orchid Crafts and Noor Design.

Finally there's a For You sentiment coloured with black Copic which I also got from Noor Design.

Hope you like my inspiration for today

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Give Thanks

Tuesday Throwdown - Ribbon and Lace

Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspiration - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes

Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Mini Rudolf

This is one of my favourite Make It Crafty Christmas images - he's Rudolf Reindeer.  He's coloured with ProMarkers and I wanted him to look a kind of warm white colour.  I've done this with a Tan ProMarker round the edges and a blending pen.

I've made him into a very simple CAS card.  The image has been square cut, edged with Tim Holtz antique linen and mounted onto some red card stock.

The card is one from my stash from last year. I got from Hobby Craft last year (I think) and is already cut so you can thread ribbon through.

The red glitter ribbon, red glitter adhesive letters and gems are all from my stash

I think he's got to be one of the cutest reindeer I've seen.

Andrea x 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Your Scrap Book Place - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

Crafting with An Attitude  - Anything Goes

The Cutie Pie Challenge - Simply Cute and Christmassy

Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Fab n Funky - Christmas

Penny's Challenge - Use Something From Your Stash

Amazing recovery

For the people that know of me this was another experiment.  For those of you that don't I constantly experiment trying new things/ideas when I've got time with my DT commitments.  This one nearly went horribly wrong BUT I successfully managed to recover it and I'm actually very happy with the result!

The digi I've used here is Poppies from Make It Crafty.  As I wanted to do it in water colours I took some of my thinner water colour paper and put it through the laser printer.  Well that kind of worked, some of the ink speckled up the card but I knew you wouldn't be able to see it once I'd disguised it with paint.

I tried a new technique on this one and used some masking fluid on the image.  I created a kind of fuzzy background that gave the hint of other poppies - fab that turned out well.

Then ooops - as I rubbed the masking fluid off the toner came off with the masking fluid.  There was only left a vague hint of the beautiful poppy digi left!!

So I took my iPad and looked up photos of poppies for some inspiration.  So then end result may not look exactly like the digi - but it's as near as I could get it.

Keeping the image CAS to showcase my water colouring I just used some back card stock and some black self adhesive gems to finish it off

OK who want to see me make a mess of something else :)

Andrea x

Crafty Cardmarkers and More - No Patterned Papers

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Crafting for All Seasons - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes

Crafty Boots - Fair and Square

I think I'm ill!

Not only have I done a CAS card - it's with a cropped image, my own background and with blending outside the colour group.  I'm having a MIC Challenge overload all in one card!

This is actually my secret Celebration card for Monika Gallard in Australia.  Now she's received it I can actually get it posted :)

The image is Carly Celebrates from Make It Crafty.  I've coloured her with ProMarkers blending blue and purple for the current colouring challenge.  I've also cropped the image for the current CAS challenge!

The back ground was created using a stencil and blue and purple ProMarkers.  The coloured were slightly blended to blur them a little.

The background papers are from Lili of the Valley.  I managed to use some strips of old papers I'd been hoarding - yay!!

Anyway there's nothing else to her - no embellishments - I really must be feeling ill

Andrea x

Colour blending

I was supposed to be making a ruby wedding anniversary card - obviously I needed to use red, deep, and lots of it.  Now there's a colour blending challenge on at the moment at Make It Crafty to blend outside the colour family and I got a little distracted as you can see :)

Si I've not got to go back to the drawing board and do a RUBY card!!

The image I've used is a rubber stamp called roses of love from Make It Crafty.  I've used ProMarkers to do all the colouring of the roses.  The background is a combination of ProMarkers, Copics and black polychromos pencil.

Once I'd finished the image I framed it with some black card.  I knew I wanted to put it onto a stepper card and needed some design paper to march but that wouldn't overpower the image.

I've chosen some paper form Lili of the Valley to do this.  I've also used some more black card stock and come black self adhesive gems. 

Has anyone any tips of photographing steppers cards coz I really struggle to get a "nice" angle and get the whole card in :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Left of Centre - Nature / Outdoors

Allsorts - Roses

Crafty Catz - Flowers

Crafters Cafe - Shaped Cards

Creative Moments - Anything Goes / Fancy Folds

Sparkles - More than One Fold

A little bit of fire

I originally coloured this image Adele for the colour challenge at Make It Crafty.  I hadn't made her into a card yet so when I saw this sketch from Sandra for the Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge I thought here's my opportunity :)

I'd already done one image with black hair and I wanted to try my hand a doing a hot firey red head.  To do this I used ProMarkers a little black biro and white gel pen for the highlights and this was the result.  Obviously she's been sitting in on my desk since May but I cut her out this last week by drawing round the edge of a Spellbinder die. I had to hand cut it because the image was too bit for any of my dies and I didn't want to chop her hair off!

The design papers I used are from Lili of the Valley.  I've also used some golden organza ribbon, some yellow/gold self adhesive gems and some brass looking heart beads which I bought in Hobby Craft.

Yay finally got her on a card, so glad I did :)

Hope you join us this is the last chance this month to get into the draw to win the Make It Crafty.

 prize.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Paradise of Stamps - Anything Goes

The Sisterhood of Crafter - Sumer heat

Glitter n sparkle - Use something that starts with a B (beads)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Digi Galore - Summery / Bright

CAS Christmas

Yes I succumbed I've given in the all the Christmas in July goings on - but only coz I could colour up Fairy Bear from Make It Crafty.  Tempted as I was to do this in traditional colours I decided to do for pastel blues and browns.  I used ProMarkers to do this :)

I wanted a very simple card to keep him the main focus.  I've used very simple design paper from Srantoro's Gorjuss.  To take off the stark white look I've aded a little distress ink in antique linen at the edges of the image.  Added to this are some blue self adhesive gems and a piece of blue and beige ribbon to add a sentiment.

And that's it folks short and very sweet!

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes Christmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Dots and Stripes

Live & Love Crafts - Christmas in July

Without Words - Colour Challenge Blue & Brown

Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas in July

Crafty Boots - Christmas in July

Cards4Guyz - Christmas in July

I Love ProMarkers - Clean and Simple

Crafting for All Seasons - Christmas in July

Penny's Challenge - Christmas in July

Birthday possibilities

I'm playing around with flower card at the moment.  Partly because the girls at work have cleared me out and also because my mum's asked me to make a card for an aunt.  I'm not sure which one we'll give her but this is one that I've made using a stamp from Make It Crafty.  I bought it before Quixoitic Paperie closed down so you'd have to get it directly from Zoe now.  The stamp is called Magnolias for Mum.

Here's a close up of the image which I've coloured using ProMarkers.  I cut the image out and then used some antique linen ink from Tim Holtz and distressed the edges.

All the design papers are from Lemoncraft.  Apart from the backing piece all the others have been distressed and had antique linen ink applied for an aged feel before layering them up.

The sentiment is also from Lemoncraft as are the butterflies (three of them) which I fussy cut out of their paper.  The final touch are some green self adhesive gems.  Once we decide which card I'm then going to customise it with 70th Birthday :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Create and Inspire - Anything Goes

Fantasy Stampers - Pretty Petals

Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes

Passion For ProMarkers - Flowers

Papertake Weekly - Build It Up

Creative Inspirations - Flowers

Left of Centre - Three of A Kind

Aussie Sheila at Outlawz

Here's another image combination for you using Make It Crafty images.  They's sponsoring us over at Outlawz Sketch Team for July - come on over and join us and you could be in with a chance to win some :)

The combination I've used is Aussie Outback Sheila and Australian Outback Farm Road.  I've coloured the image in a combination of ProMarkers and Copics.  The image has been mounted onto some plain black card stock to frame it.

The three design papers are from Lili of the Valley, I chose greens and browns to go with the image background.  I've not added anything red apart from Sheila's shirt and a red heart button as I wanted the image to pop as it's the main focus in this sketch.

The sun metal embellishment was part of a prize I won over at Through The Craft Room Door.

The black swirl embellishments were bought from Hobby Craft ages ago last year when I started crafting cards.

So this is my inspiration for what can be done with some Make It Crafty images

Hope you join us :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Come and Get It - Combine Two Images

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Digi Choosday - All About The Girl

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Inky Chicks - Use a Metal Embellishment

Jacinta Dreaming

For the Outlawz sketch team inspiration for today I've used two digs and merged them to make this scene - Jacinta Sitting Dreaming and Fern Log.  She's been coloured with ProMarkers, and cut out with a Spellbinders die.

Papers used are from Lili of the Valley.  I've used from my stash some paper flowers from Hobby Craft, some hemp string, a lilac spotted ribbon, two brass mushroom charms and some self adhesive gems.

This sketch is so simple to use but we've all come up with completely different designs :)

We'd love to see what you design too!

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

The Ribbon Girl - Everything Goes with an Image

Crafting by Designs - July Anything Goes

Digi Galore - Summery/Bright

Paradise of Stamps - Anything Goes

Chelsea in Pastel

This is the second week of sponsorship by Make It Crafty for the Wednesday Sketch Team at Outlawz.

For my inspiration for today I've used Chelsea Hugging Legs.  She's coloured in a combination of ProMarkers and Copics.  Then I've just cut her out and mounted her onto some mint design paper.

The sentiment is also from Make It Crafty.  I've printed it then cut it out using a tag die from Marianne Designs.  When I cut it out I coloured it with a bit of pink ProMarker and added some vintage seam binding.

All the design papers are from Lili of the Valley.

I've finished the card of with a pearly swirl which I've had in my stash for a while and some pink and green self adhesive gems.

Come on over to Outlawz to be in with a chance to win some of these fantastic Make It Crafty digis.

Andrea

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Goes

Robyn's Fetish - Anything Goes

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Create and Inspire - Anything Goes

Crafty Card Markers - Sentiment

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Make It Crafty with an Outlawz Sketch

For this month the Wednesday Outlawz Sketch Team are being sponsored by Make It Crafty. 

I'm a definite MIC fan so will have a few images to share with you over the next month.

The digi I've used here Girls Flying Kite which has been coloured with Copics, then cut out and mounted onto some black card to frame it.  I've also added some tiny black self adhesive gems to the corners.

 

I decided to keep the card simple to show the image off.  The design papers are from Lili of the Valley.  On the white lacy one I've sketched some clouds then added a little colour to highlight them with ProMarkers.

 

The sentiments is from Make It Craft.  I decided to fussy cut it (which took a bit of doing!)

The last thing I added were some neon pink enamel beads which I got from Hobby Craft.

 

Come and join us at Outlaws for a chance to win some Make It Crafty images :)

Andrea x

 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Penny's Challenge - Anything Goes

Kraftin Kimmie - Wonderful Wednesday

Fab n Funky - Birthdays

Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

 

 

 

Dad n me

Apart from MAN stuff for Father's Day (like cars and beer) I sometimes get asked for sweet stuff.  What better than this beautiful image from Make It Crafty - Daddy and Lucy.

The image is so beautiful I wanted to do a CAS card - someone take my temperature I must be feeling ill again ;)

The sentiment was produced on my lap top before printing the whole thing.

I've coloured the image with ProMarkers in pastel shades.  The grass believe it or not was also done with a ProMarker (I have a secret to share - don't ever through away your pens that have nearly run out. You can create beautiful effects like this with them :) - this was a Moss Green nearly dead one!)

All I've done with this is use some blue design paper from Lili of the Valley to frame it.  The stitching effect was hand drawn in pencil.  I've also used some blue self adhesive gems.

Ta Da

Right back to complicated stuff like layering and flowers ;)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Digi Galore - Father's Day

Crafty Boots - Father's Day/For the Man in Your Life

Dream Valley - Father's Day

Digi Choosday - Father's Day/Male

Passion for ProMarkers - Masculine

Papertake Weekly - Something for the Boys

Creative Moments  - Father's Day

Crafty Catz - Clean and Simple

Guys best friend

With Father's Day fast approaching I though I'd better get my skates on now and start making some more guy cards.

The use of this sentiment may not be for how Zoe intended it when it was created BUT according to my hubby is very appropriate in the way I've used it with this image :)

The back ground is some plain red card stock to go with the colours of the image.

The image (Brian drinking water) is from Make It Crafty as is the sentiment.

I've coloured the image with ProMarkers and left clean and simple - all I've added are some black self adhesive gems!

Mmmm... beer - I wonder if Zoe could do a wine or cocktail one for us girls ;)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Polkadoodles - Father's Day/Anything Male

Crafty Boots - Father's Day/For the Man in Your Life

Digi Choosday - Father's Day/Male

Dream Valley -Father's Day

Passion For ProMarkers - Masculine

Papertake Weekly - Something for the Boys 

Tick tock

This one was a bit of an experiment - nothing new there then :)

I decided I wanted to try and do something with the Hare from Alice in Wonderland.  The image is from Make It Crafty - Crazy March Hare.

I've coloured it with ProMarkers and cut it cut with a Spellbinders die.  I've then edged it with blue ProMarker.

I didn't know what to do with this one for a while as I'd used an unusual colour combination for me.  I played around with all sorts of papers and then eventually came up with this combination.  (Probably the longest it's taken me to put a card together for a while!)

The papers are from Santoro Gorjuss and Lili of the Valley.  The circular shape looks a bit like a moon behind him so I though a wooden star embellishment would go quite well.

I actually love the final result and hope you do too

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

Dream Valley - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations - All Creatures Great and Small

Glitter n Sparkle - Include an Animal

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Mr Fix It

With Father's Day coming up I thought I'd better make a few male themed cards.  I always find them a challenge and prefer to do the girly stuff.

Anyway here we go :)

The image I've used is Mr Fix It Dad from Make It Crafty.  It's been coloured with ProMarkers, cut out with a Spellbinders die and then  though the background looked too white.  So I've messed it up with some brown ProMarker and a blender.

Papers are from Tim Holtz Idea-ology and Wellington (found a scrap left in my stash).

The brown string is actually from a parcel and my hubby had said do you want to keep this - my reply of course I'm sure I'll find a use for it :)

All that's left to mention are some Tim Holtz Idea-ology cogs

I'll hopefully be showing you a few more male cards soon

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a Twist of Die Cuts

CRAFT - Fathers Day/Male

Left of Centre - Upcycle/Recycle

Sweet Stampin - Father's Day or a Special Man

Digi Galore - Father's Day

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

How did I do that?

I thought I'd share with you today one of the abstract style backgrounds I've started making and using.

I first used this method to create Chelsea for a clean and simple card back in March 2015 - here's the finished one I did previously and I'm now going to show you how to do it with a new image.

Here we have an already coloured image from Make It Crafty - Penny and Scott Cuddle.  The image has been coloured with ProMarkers apart from Scott's jeans which I've done in Copics as I've a full set of greys :)

As the image is coloured in pastel pink and blue.  I will use these and a pale yellow to make the background.  I'll also add some shading underneath the figures.

Pens used in making this card - ProMarkers - fresh bloom, pale blue, ivory, vanilla, Copic greys.

Design Paper - Lily of the Valley Solids - Bonnets and Bowties.

First start placing blue dots around the image and pick one or two areas to expand away from the image.

I then use a blending pen to fade out the spots.  The image here is still slightly wet from the blender pen.

I then go back and add in some more blue dots to darken the area towards the image.

Once I've done this I use the pink to make dots to the side of the blue ones.

I use the blending pen again to fade out the colours.  I've also added some pale yellow around the blue and pink and also started some shading underneath the image.  The image below is again slightly wet from the blending pen.

Here's a close up when the image has dried.  As you can see the dots are slightly smudged giving it an abstract feel.

On this next picture you can see I've added in some darker yellow as shading underneath the image.

This is the finished card below.  I've backed the image with some pale pink paper and then cut out some pink paper and white card with a Spellbinders die for the border at the top.

The result a gorgeous clean and simple card to which you could add a sentiment if you require.

Hope you like my how to do and it will inspire you to have a go

Andrea x

I've made this tutorial for the Make It Crafty Design Team Call for Clean and Simple Cards

Thinking of you

I'm a huge Make It Craft fan, I love their images.  While I was browsing their website recently I saw this image Chelsea Hugging Legs.  At the back of my mind whilst I was browsing was Zoe's Design Team call for clean and simple cards.  In the blurb she'd written - sorry Zoe if you read this :)  were some examples of clean and simple cards.  If you want to take a look click here.

I knew straight away what I was going to try and do with this image.  Chelsea looks kind of dreamy and I thought she looks like she's thinking about someone.  I produced this sentiment on my computer and cut it out with a Spellbinders die.  The edge of the die is coloured in alternate purple and blue.

Chelsea her self was printed out so I could use her to one side on a CAS card.  She's coloured with purple and blue ProMarkers.  Here's a close up of her.

In this close up you should be able to see the dotty fantasy background I created around her.  I did this by making lots of dots first in pale blue ProMarker and using the blending pen to blur them.  I then added some purple dots around the blue ones and used the blending pen again.  To make some darker patches I just added some more dots but didn't blend these out.

To be honest I was panicking a bit when I was doing it as I've never tried this before.  BUT I'm pleased to say the result was even better than I hoped and I've used this technique on a few more cards since.

The only other thing I've used to finish it off but still keeping a clean simple design are some blue and purple self adhesive gems.

Now you know how I did it have a go it's really easy :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Paradise of Stamps - Clean & Simple

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - A Cut Above

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

A Little bit of Magic

This one is very different for me.  The image (The Magician) was coloured for the Make It Crafty in the Spotlight colour challenge.

The first task was for me to find an image that would look good in a spotlight.  So what I was really looking for was some sort of entertainer and I thought this one fit the bill perfectly.

Next task - look up spotlight photos.  I discovered something I didn't know here.  When a spotlight hits the ground it forms an ellipse BUT the ellipse isn't actually at the base of the spot light it's outside of where the light hits the ground!!  There must be some geeky physics terms for this (perhaps I should as the guys at work).  Anyway here's a close up of what I sketched.

So first I coloured the magician a lighter colour inside the spotlight area and darker outside.  I then added some shadows to his clothes and made lighter spots on both him and the rabbit for a shining light effect.

I then sketched a shadow slightly behind and to the right of the magician and coloured it.  Once done I moved onto the inside of the spotlight.  I used a darker yellow at the edges of the ellipse and downward lit area and a lighter yellow towards the centre.

The outside was created using three pens a dark blue a very dark blue and a blending pen.  The lighter of the two blues was the one I coloured first.  The darker one was used towards the edges of the card.  Once down I thing started to use the blending pen to lighten some of the area around the spotlight.

So to finish him off I mounted him onto some plain black card stock, used some black self adhesive gems and an appropriate Magical Birthday sentiment form one of Lili of the Valley's art pads.

For those of you that asked me how I did it I hope this helps.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Cardz for Guyz - Clean and Simple

Addicted to Stamps - Celebration

Polkadoodles - Birthday

Create & Inspire (Formerly A Step in the Dark) - Anything Goes

Without Words - The Bunny is Coming/Easter

Make It Crafty - Colour Challenge - In the Spotlight

Pink magnolias

I originally did the centre of this card for a Make It Crafty Colour challenge, which was water colours.  The stamp I've used is Magnolias for Mum bought from Quixotic Paperie.  I've used Faber Castelle water colour pencils but first I had to use a light coating of hairspray to stop the ink running when I applied the paint!

Once I'd done the image and entered it, it ended up buried in my crafting stash.  I was looking for something (as you do) and found it and hough do you know that would make a lovely mothers day card.  So I set to work doing a simple mount onto black and pink papers to showcase the image.

The sentiment I made was computer generated and just finished the card off with a few self adhesive gems.

Lucky I found this in time for my stash of cards to sell at work :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Fantasy Stampers - Mum's the Word

Digi Choosday - Mum's the Word

Creative Knockouts - Border Time

In the Pink - For a Special Lady