Himalayan Blue Poppy

Aurora Wings

Sketch Challenge #70 - Sketch 

Time for a new challenge at Aurora Wings and this month it is a SKETCH challenge.  So here we go with the sketch we would like you to use and we can't wait to see what you come up with and how you interpret this challenge :) :)

For my DT inspiration to get you in the mood I have used the image Himalayan Blue Poppy available here from Aurora Wings Digital Stamps and also from the Etsy store.

I chose to use the Himalayan Blue Poppy image to decorate the outer side of the circle instead of putting and image in the circle and using other embellishment on the outside.  The image was flipped so it fitted beautifully on the top left of the circle and for the bottom right I removed parts of the image so I was only left with the flowers and reduced the size.  Once that was done I printed the two bits ready for colouring.  Usually I would colour and then fussy cut but this time I was a bit concerned about the fussy cutting so did that first.  Then the fun and games began as seems to be a common trend with me at the moment.  I coloured most of the image but did not like what I had done grrrrr, so printed and cut again ready for a second round of colouring.  Now the second attempt was much better and I was half way through it when I got sidetracked and started thinking about the background.  My plan was to rubber stamp a poppy background in colours to match what I was using (fatal mistake).  I hunted through my stamp inks, nothing suitable there, Promarkers possibly but not what I wanted then I remembered I had some Aqua Tints from Crafters Companion and there I found the perfect colour.  Time to play and see what I could come up with and my stupid hand knocked over the bottle of ink and I think you can guess where it went, all over the half coloured image which I had not moved out the way - I could have cried.  Time to leave the craft room after wiping up all the spilt ink before I did something else rather stupid.  I left things for a couple of days and rethought what to do with the background - that ink went back in the drawer and won't be seeing the light of day for a wee while hahaha.  I ended up using a poppy design paper which I converted to greyscale in Photoshop and then overlaid a colour I thought would work well, hurray, got it pretty good first time.  Next was to print and fussy cut the image for the third time and get the colouring done.  All going well so far so fingers crossed it would continue and it did, no more accidents.  The images were coloured with Polychromes and completed with Liquid Pearls in the centre of each of the flowers then a blast of Crafters Companion Spray and Shine to give a nice sheen. To finish off the card I die cut a background flower die I have and trimmed it to size to fit behind the inner circle, lace was added to the top background poppy layer and this was mounted on dark maroon, then cream vellum and added to the card base.  Behind the image I added some maroon dried leaves, pearl sprays and a glass bead spray.  Finally I stamped the sentiment and added a wee pearl bow to complete this project.

Aurora Wings Digital Images Store

I am entering this creation in the following challenges:-

• Just Us Girls W - #456 - Celebrate
• Always Happy Birthday (M, P1, E4, must be birthday)- September - Birthday
• Creations in Pink (M, P15, E3, mostly pink) #1 - Anything Goes in Pink
• Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog (M, P1, E3, must have hand coloured image) - #9 - Mythical/Magical
• Digistamps 4 Joy (M, P1, E3, SIO) #152 - Anything Goes + optional : Flower Frenzy
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E - I L IS FOR LEAFS  (W1 of 2)
• Brown Sugar – M (First Friday of M), E2 - AUG - No. 281 - FAIRIES AND FANTASIES
• Just Add Ink – W- No. 424 - TEXTURE*
• Cardz 4 Galz 2W,3E #79 Beautiful Backgrounds (W1 of 2)

School Time

Just a very quick post with a card I finished off this morning using the image from IKEsWORLD Progressive Challenge on FB.  I had so much fun with this on and finally got my Promarkers out of the drawer they have been hiding in for the past year.  It seems I have fallen in love with my pencils but it is a shame that the Promarkers got put to one side.  Now they are out and about again I really must try to use them more often :) :) :)

Image - From IKEsART Progressive Challenge
Colouring medium - Promarkers
Background - digital paper

Challenges entered:-

• I love Promarkers  2W,3E Must use Promarkers, #364 - Anything Goes/Option of Die or Punch (W2 of 2)
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #18 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Tinker- Dream (M, P15) #68 - Back to School/Work
• Kitty Bee Designs - 2W,2E, C10 - No.126 - ANYTHING GOES W/OPTIONAL TWIST:ANIMALS  (W1 of 2)
• Paper Shelter Challenge  W, 3E, SIO, #353 - Back to School

Recycled Coffee Tin

 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 #41
Use a non-craft item on your project/Recycle

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister CG.  I have a love hate relationship with this challenge theme lol, so many ideas I get sidetracked.  I was going to make flowers out of coffee filters but then knew the hubby had kept our just finished coffee tin for something so decided to use that instead.

To create my project I used an empty coffee tin and free magazine from our pet store which was ready for the bin.

A quick check on You Tube for some tutorials led to this one showing the making of paper tubes from magazines to cover a container, you can check out the video tutorial here.  Lots of fun to do and not hard at all, the only downfall was the burnt thumb from using my glue gun grrrrrr.  I started by creating all the tubes from the magazine, these were then glued to my container with hot glue, yep, very hot glue.  Next I trimmed each of the tubes to the correct length and applied a couple of coats of PVA glue.  To finish off I found some old hessian string which came off some packaging at Christmas and wound this around the top of the paper straws to cover the holes, 4 circular layers in all and a couple more layers to the bottom of the tin to tidy things up.  Yep, super easy and even got a 'coo' from my daughter when she saw it lol.

Image used:-  recycled magazine, coffee tin and twine

Colouring:- none

Other items:- hot glue gun and PVA glue

Challenges entered:-

• Catch The Bug  W,3E,SIO - Anything Goes
• Use Your Stuff - W,  #327 LOTS OF COLOR

The Lighthouse

 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 #40
Marine, Ocean or Sea

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Sue.  What a great theme and thanks to IKEsART for this fabulous image which is so perfect for where I live - on the Northumbria coast where we regularly see fishing boats.  I just know this card will find the perfect recipient.

To make the card I created a DL size card out of black card.  To this I added a layer of water themed vellum ready for the image and sentiment to be added.  The image was coloured with Polychromes and mounted on black then orange backing paper.  To finish off the image I added a border of gold peel off stickers.  The text was stamped onto the vellum and embossed with fine silver embossing powder.  I then used the compass direction stamp from Creative Stampers magazine and again heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  2 small orange gems to hide the glue dots for attaching the vellum on the right side of the card completed the project.

Image used:-  The Lighthouse by IKEsART

Colouring:- Polychromes

Other items:- sea design vellum, gold peel off stickers, stamps from Creative Stamper magazine, silver heat embossing powder

Challenges entered:-

• Allsorts  W,3E  - #480/481 - From Boys To Men
• Crafting with Dragonflies 2W,1E, No rude/sexy or Halloween/witch, cards only - #111 Guy Card  (W1 of 2)
• Seize The Birthday 2W, 3E, C5  Birthday + Option Of Anything Goes (W1 of 2)
• The Crafty Addicts  M, 3E, #51 - Anything Goes/Boys and Men
• Scrap From Your Heart (M, P1, 5E, C10) #24 - One for the Guys

Wolke

I was asked to make a card for a friends sister with a image of her horse on it.  Her horse is a black Frisian called Wolke and is now 13 years old and really is her baby :)

Now I am no drawer but with the help of my computer I was able to get a good outline shape for the horse's head and the placement of the most important bits which was a great help.  I then coloured the background using Distress Oxides but this time I used a paintbrush to get a stroked effect instead of the usual blending I do.  Onto colouring the horse's head with trepidation and a rather shaky hand lol.  Prismacolor pencils were used for this and many many breaks so I could step back from the image and come back to if fresh, I really did not want to muck this one up as it was a special birthday card.  So very pleased with the outcome, not quite sure I can believe I did it and both my friend and more importantly, my friends sister really love it, happy bunnies all round. 

Will let you into a little story now, I was given the wrong spelling of the horse's name and so it was a mad dash to sort the spelling the day before the birthday.  My friend was so upset when her dad pointed out the spelling was wrong, tears shed and she contacted me to ask if I could do anything.  It was tricky as I had used PVA glue to stick the letters down, thankfully it was just the E at the end which was originally an A.  I heated the card gently behind the letter and with my craft knife prised the A off then had to do a bit of repair work when I had accidentally lifted the colour from the background.  You can still see the mark left by the A as I had also used a spray varnish on the card but it is not overly obvious thankfully :) :)

Image - photo provided by my friend which I copied
Colour - background Distress Oxides, horse Prismacolor pencils
Other items - die cut letters, spray varnish, copper peel off line stickers

Challenges entered:-

• AAA - 2W, 3E, winner and Top Picks, strictly CAS cards - #121 Friendship (W2 of 2) - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HORSE AND THE OWNER
• Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - M, 1st Sunday, E3 - (August) Anything Goes
• Through the Purple Haze M 1st Thurs, E3, C10 Aug- Make It CAS
• Sunny Day Crafting - (M, P15, E3) Always add an Animal
• Crafty Gals Corner  2W, E2, #171 - Tropical Colors (W2 of 2)
• That's Crafty! Challenge -M, 3E, 1st Wed of Month,C20, Animal Magic

pink elephant

Just a quick wee baby card for a friend created today :) :).  I have had a few coordinating sheets of soft pink baby paper for years now and never used them so this afternoon they saw the light of day, I love how they match up so beautifully.

I used this adorable elephant image from Pink Gem Designs and coloured her with Prismacolour pencils.  A couple of die borders and matching paper buttons finished off with soft pink satin ribbon along with gauze behind the elephant held in place with some pink gems.  Rather pleased with how this turned out :)

Entered into the following challenges :-

• DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge 2W, 3E #233 Baby (W2 of 2)
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies (M, P1, E5, must have a critter) #17 - Anything Goes with a Critter
• Creative Craft Cottage Digi Creations (M, P3, E3) #95 - Three of a Kind
• Back To Basics  2W, E3, #9 - Use a Digital Image (W1 of 2)
• Incy Wincy Designs - 1st & 3rd Monday, 5E -  RIBBON AND/OR LACE (Week 1)
• A Gem of a Challenge  2W   - #225 - Breast Cancer Awareness (must be mostly pink) (W1 of 4)
• Crafty Friends Challenge 2W, 3E,  - #89 - Lace/Ribbon (W2 of 2)
• Di's Digis Designs 2W, 3E,SIO  Use Your Stash Items (W2 of 2)

Birthday in Cream

 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 #39
Paper Pricking

This fortnights challenge theme has been chosen by DT sister Josephine.  

Ouch to my finger after this one lol,  I have not done paper pricking before so thank you Josephine for the challenge, such a cool effect but oh so time consuming :) :) :)
For this simple multi layered card I started with a cream base the added a die cut doily created from vellum.  The doily was made by using four corner dies so I could get the exact size I wanted.  Next was a scallop edge circular die cut followed by my completed paper pricking layer.  The final two layers were vellum again and a birthday stamped sentiment die cut using one of my small circular dies.  I do so love monochromatic cards made up of many layers which at first glance are not obvious so yep, I did enjoy making this one :) :) :) To complete the card lots of pearls.

Challenges entered:-

• Crafter's Castle - M, 1st Sat., E3 - August - #8 - Anything Goes + option: Elegant or Shabby Chic
• Always Happy Birthday (M, P1, E4, must be birthday)- August - Birthday + option Water theme