Once Upon A Time with Autumn Mermaid

Such a special post for me as I am the Guest Designer for Aurora Wings Challenge #68, such a privilege.  Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity Mitzi and I hope I have done Autumn Mermaid justice :).

The theme for Challenge #68 is Once Upon A Time, and I have used the children's story "The Little Mermaid" as my inspiration.  You can read a summary of the story here.

I started by printing the image as large as I could on A4 paper and coloured here with Prismacolour pencils for this mixed media creation.  This beautiful mermaid was then fussy cut and set to one side while I tackled the background.  I used a canvas 20x50 c.m. and painted the background with acrylic paint, a first attempt for me (nothing like diving into the deep end lol).  Once painted and at a point I dared not play any more I used some gold stamping ink, a fish shoal stamp and small flower stamp to add some more detail.  When everything was dry I took the fussy cut Autumn Mermaid and sprayed the back with permanent adhesive and stuck her in place on the background.  Think I am going to keep this one but now I have to try and find a place to put her were I can enjoy looking at her :)

Close up of the Autumn Mermaid coloured image

Items used:-
Image:-          Aurora Wings Autumn Mermaid
Colouring:-    Prismacolour pencils, acrylic paints, gold stamp pad
other items:-  acrylic stamps, Stickles, adhesives and acrylic spray varnish

Challenges entered :-

• Crafting from the Heart - W, E3, F - #211 ANYTHING GOES
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E -  F FOR FISH (W2 of 2)
• Crafting-With-Friends - 2W, 3E - No.69 - ALWAYS ANYTHING GOES (W2 of 2)
• Creative Artiste Challenge - M, E3, C5 -JUNE- No. 39 -  ANYTHING MIXED MEDIA GOES
• Crafting With An Attitude M,1st Thurs,3E Always Anything Goes

Lloyd

I was asked to make a Father's Day card for a friend, that did not seem to be a problem until she added she wanted a Fresian horse on it.

Oh boy, that is not an image I have in my collection and knew what I was going to have to do next - go well out of my comfort zone lol.  I asked her to take a photo of the horse, Lloyd (Lloyd is deceased and the photo needed to be taken from another photo) and I would use that to try and draw one. 

As you can see the image was very dark and lacked detail unfortunately and not much time to get her to take another one so I decided to trace the horse outline and then scan my tracing so I could turn it into a digital stamp and do the resizing for the card before I printed it.  A lot of Google research so I could fill in the detail.  I coloured the image with Prismacolour pencils and the background is created with Distress Inks with some stamped trees.  The rosette is made from a die cut and the centre I foiled the text #1 DAD.  I finished off with simple mounting in black and then gold.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:-

• Daisy Chain Challenges (M, P5, E3) #20 - For the Boys/Men
• Paru's Card Making Challenge (M, P1, Cards/Tags only) June - Masculine
• Sweet Stampers (M, P10, E3, use stamp or digi) #21 - Animals
• Kitty Bee Designs - 2W,2E, C10 - No.120 - MASCULINE CARDS (W2 of 2)
• Simply Create Too - M - JUNE - No. 139 - FOR A MALE
• Sisterhood of Crafters - 2nd/4th Wed, 3E - Animals (W1 of 2)
• Cardz 4 Guyz 2W, 3E - #196 - Father's Day (week 2)
• Stinkin' Inkers - M, E3 - June - The Guys Have It
• Unicorn Challenge M, E3, No fully digital projects June - #33 - Masculine

Love is all around

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #35
Sentiment as the Main Focus

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Christine,

Challenges entered:-

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Hydrangea Blooms

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 109
June Is Bursting Out All Over

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Ike, you are a superstar, thank you so much for drawing this wonderful digi for me to work with for this challenge :) :) :)

For the background (I meant to do music but got carried away with the flowers hahahaha) I used a leaf stencil and Distress Oxides, blitzed with some water and left to dry. Using Photoshop I placed the Hydrangea bloom three times, resizing and rotating each time.  Once I was happy with the layout I printed the image on to the background paper.  The flowers were coloured with Prismacolour pencils and the centre of each finished of with Liquid Pearls. The butterflies were cut using acetate and coloured with Promarkers, I love the translucent look this gives.  To complete the card I added a simple sentiment and then decorated the inside of the card with my leaf stencil and Distress Oxides again.

Ingredients:-

• image - Hydrengea, by IKEsART
• colouring medium - PrismaColours, Promarkers and Distress Oxides
• other items - leaf stencil, Liquid Pearls, acetate, polymer sentiment,

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - W, 5E - ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL
• Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - M, 1st Sunday, E3 - (June) Bright Colors
• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - #220 - Use 3 of something (W2 of 2) - 3 FLOWERS
• Crafty Calendar M,3E June - Three of Something
• Hiding in my Craft Room W,1E - #355 - Use 4 Different Colors
• Creative Craft Cottage Digi Creations (M, P3, E3) #92 - Flower Power

The Wedding Couple

Phew, this was a hard one to do.  You know when you think you have a good idea and it does not work and so you modify you plan and end up with a challenge and a half, that is what happened to me.  Yesterday I planned this card in my head for the Aurora Wings May Challenge - Joyous Occasions, something a bit 3D with lattice type doors on the front using a die cut and the image showing when you open the doors.  Well I set to this morning and all the dies I have which would have worked were to small for my 6" card.  What a bummer grrrrrr.  Off the cuff I thought this image would be rather cool to colour with water colours.  Now I am no water colour painter, at school we only ever use blocks of poster paint and then I gave water colouring a go when I was in my 20's and got on pretty well with flowers but never people or landscapes so this was a first for me.  Yep blood and sweat with this one, coffee used instead of water on some occasions too!!!!!

Using the 'Wedding Couple' image by Aurora Wings I removed the white background using Photoshop then added an image 'Mission San Gabriel conceptual elevation by Rexford Newcomb 1916.' from Wikimedia Commons Public Domain where the copyright usage has now expired, to create the background.  I printed the final image on water colour paper and set to with my paints.  Once done I then cut and mounted the image on silver card, then white which I added a decal edge to and finally onto the silver card base.  A simple die cut of leaves and hearts was cut twice using the same silver card, one die cut for the outside of the card and the other for the inside.

I am pretty pleased with the end result and it certainly kept me quite today.  Certainly need a lot more practice with this medium but hay ho, it is all about having fun and that I sure did :)

I am entering this card in the following challenges:-

• Aurora Wings Challenge #67 Joyous Occasions

A Splash of Brushos

Another quick post.  It has been a busy day, two cards made and lots of procrastinating hahaha but I am done and feeling like I have accomplished something today.  Feeling like making a mess, and I sure did, ink, Brusho powder, glue, soggy patches everywhere but boy it felt good.  I do making cards like this but somehow they don't turn out as free flowing as I want but I am happy with this one.

Brushos were used for the backgrounds - Violet, Grass Green and Sandstone.  I used a Sheena Douglas stamp and heat embossed it with Verdigras as I thought it would look rather cool.  I then used Brushos again to paint the flower.  I stamped the sentiment which is from a Fiskars set I have and mounted the card front on black sparkly paper I picked up very cheaply in the Range.  I had a boo boo with the back of the card with all this ink lying around so raked out my Distress Inks and using similar colours to the card front covered up my errors lol.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:-

• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #110 - I is for Inky
• Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - M, 1st Sunday, E3 - (May) Flowers
• Fashionable Stamping - M, 2nd Sunday, 3E, must use stamp, no digi - (May) Floral
• Pattie's Creations - M, 2E, SIO, include an image – MAY - No. 146 - FLOWERS

My Beloved Africa

Just a very quick post to share a card I have made with a wonderful Africa theme.  I was born in Africa may moons ago lol, in Nigeria, later I moved to Zambia and then the final country I lived in was Kenya where I met my hubby and had our two wonderful daughters.  We, as a family, returned to the UK back in 85 but Africa lives deep within our hearts, such a wonderful experience I have truly had the privilege of experiencing.

For this card I used Distress Oxides for the background and stamps from the Creative Stampers magazine and also from the Africa set by Sheena Douglas,  There really is a bit of Africa on this card as the backing paper behind the image layer is some hand made paper I picked up in Kenya on our last visit a couple of years ago and is made from elephant poo and the local newspaper.  It is the first time I have used the paper as it is a bit special :) :) :)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• Die Traumfabrik Dream Factory - Challenge #56 - Nirgendwo in Afrika / Nowhere in Africa
• Stamping Sensations - M, 3E, Winner + Top 3, must use stamp (no pre-colored digis) Stamp must be focal point of project – (May) Close to Nature
• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - #220 - Use 3 of something (W1 of 2) 3 TREES
• 4 Crafty Chicks W #404 Masculine Birthday