Catching up!

I realise to my horror how long it is since I've been blogging. I'm sure no-one is still following me and sad to say I've not been following others either as been having screen breaks after work.  Anyway enough babbling...

I originally set this up as a sort of online crafty resume so I can look back on what I've made. So I'm going to try get some pictures up of things I've made recently to get things back on track. First off a really cute card using a Humphrey stamp I love:

Just a little stepper card. I've layered up with pretty papers and flowers and coloured in using my alcohol markers. Cute isn't it?  I'm really liking the blue and pinky-red.  Here's a close up of the scrumptious elephants and their ice cream sundae:

I'm craving a sundae now... Anyway see you soon.


Helen x

Spotlight on Colouring with Promarkers and Flexmarkers

I've recently come across a few coloured images I've done from time to time but never made into cards. It was about time they were used so here you go.  I've especially chosen images created with Promarkers and Flexmarkers to share. I've still a long way to go and some of the pictures aren't brilliant but they were perfect for some everyday cards. Here the cards:

 And some close ups to spotlight some of the shading, skin tones, and shadowing:

A couple of people have asked for some hints on colouring with these alcohol pens so I've posted below some of my lessons learnt. Believe me I'm no expert and still learning but I was really appreciative of the advice and hints and tips I got from other people so thought someone out there might find them useful as well.... I've included links to my favourite tutorials and stores. Ignore all you experts out there :-)


Hints and Tips on Colouring with Alcohol Markers

• Always use a card that is designed specifically for alcohol markers like the Crafters Companion Neenah Card, or the Craftwork Cards Digital Cardstock
• Put down more ink than you think. Go over a few times, this gives a more even colour and helps keep the area wet when blending which helps the colours mix more smoothly.
• Before you start decide where your light source is coming from so you know where your shadows will be. 
• When choosing what colours to do dresses etc then first of all decide on the design of the whole card. If you have a particular paper you would like to do then choose your pens to match in and bring the whole thing together. I did this here.
• Always pick 3 coordinating pen colours when colouring larger areas. Lay down the lightest first (remember lots of ink), then use the medium pen to shade around the edges or where you need shade - go about 1/3 in. Go over the whole thing again with the lightest pen to blend in. Then use the darkest colour to put around the edges again but this time barely going into the area at all. Again get the lightest shade and going in tiny circles move the colour into the image.  If the middle of the image gets too dark use the blender pen to take out some of the colour.
• When colouring very light areas go over the whole image with a blender pen first to wet the card, and then bring in the light shades at the sides. Use the blender like your lightest colour above to bring in the colour gradually. See the elephants here and here for an example of this. 
• When colouring images that don't have a background (like the gorjuss girls or animal characters), always go around the entire image with a light pen. This helps the image to stand out from the page. Favourite colours to use for this are Flexmarker Blue Grey 1 and Flexmarker Antique White depending on whether it is a 'cool' or 'warm' tone image.  Flexies are particularly good as the brush tip gets right into the intricate bits. 
• Get some fine tips for the promarkers - I have one or two for each colour group and swap them around. Essential for small or fiddly areas.
• For hair you might need 5 or 6 colours in one shade to achieve depth and make it look shiny. Fine tips are essential :-)
•  Favourite Caucasian skin colours for me are: base colour satin or almond. Shade colours dusky pink, march hare, coral. Cheeks Pale blossom, pastel pink, budding rose. For other skin tones I'm not going to repeat what is suggested so expertly here!
• Use Memento or Adirondack ink when stamping so it doesn't run.
• All time favourite promarker colour that appears in most of my projects is pear green! (Leave me a comment to tell me your favourite colour if you like)
• For the best tutorials and videos look at these Letraset Tutorials, Kirsty Wiseman tutorials and try and catch Nikky Hall from Polkadoodles when she is demoing on Create and Craft.

To see examples from my archive blog posts, and how I store them then click on promarkers under labels to the right. Any questions then do ask - what colours did I use, how did I achieve certain effects, and please let me know any of your top tips!

Warning - once you start colouring it is a bit addictive!  But you'll love it...

Helen x

A little box of blessings

It is so hard to find contemporary Christian images or quotes in the crafty world.  Most look so old fashioned or ugly, but I finally found some really cute stamps.  I wanted to make some notecards for a friend of mine who is a really big encourager who sends little  notes to her friends all over the world.  The art of the written word has not been overtaken by email in her world! So here are the cards.

And a close up of the images which were coloured with pro-markers (of course).

They were just crying out for an little box so out came the Envelobox board again, along with some lush Amy Butler paper from K&Company from my stash, topped with some satin ribbon and a cute peg.

I'd like to make some more of these little notelet sets as presents so watch this space...

Helen x

A Gorjuss Stepper Card

Earlier in the year I got invited to a Teddy Bears Picnic (they are not just for little girls, although there were quite a few there as well).  The organiser, who happens to be one of my closest friends, had a birthday this month so I just had to use the Gorjuss Girls stamp with the little bear.  So cute!

I added to the image to a stepper card similar to my previous one .  The pretty paper is Kate Knight, and the flowers are craftwork cards (as usual!).

Here's a close up of the flowers on the stepper.

It has been coloured with my trusty Pro&Flex Markers.She's such a nice stamp to colour as the image isn't too fiddly.

Such an embellished card needed an extra special envelope.  So I had to whip out the Enveloplus Board from Crafters Companion. Such an easy tool to use to make super envelopes like this:

At least it made a bit of a first impression and the card was very much appreciated. Hope you like it too!

Helen x

A parade of baby elephants

So who knew that the collective noun for a group of elephants is a 'parade'? Makes sense when you see them walking all trunk to tail in a dignified row.  So what's this got to do with craft, I hear you say?

Well my lovely sister is soon to have a baby and I've been making her a heap of thank you cards for all the kind people who are showering her with presents already.  Like Christmas cards, I had to keep them quite simple to get the quantity done so I reverted back to my favourite Humphrey stamp and coloured them with promarkers, cut them out with a nestie, stamped a Paula Pascual 'thank you' and stuck it all together et voilà!

 So here they are. Sorry the light is so bad - it was crazy weather yesterday and taking indoors was too dark (I get too much reflection from the flash so prefer outside) and then outside the sun was coming through the willow trees so I was getting a dappled effect.  I so need some photography lessons to get the best piccies I can with my camera!  Anyway, at least the close ups are better.  And I can't complain about the sun shining through the willows.  I'm so privileged to be living next to a canal with beautiful willow trees and wildlife galore.

 I actually really love the simple design so you might be seeing more basic cards in the future! I've not been brilliant health-wise recently so these are a little overdue but at least they have been posted to my sister before the baby has been born!! I'm also working on some Peter Rabbit cards that will be winging their way to her soon as well so keep a look out here for their appearance shortly. 

I am beyond excited about meeting the little munchkin when the time comes... I love being an Aunty.

Snowdrops and Chocolates - two of my favourite things

I love birthdays for being able to connect with family and friends from all over the world and to indulge in a few of my favourite things.  I've been a very lucky girl again this year, and I never really have favourites but do you know what present I can't stop looking at, or smelling, or touching?  Take a luck at these beauties:

What makes them more special is that they were handpicked for me.  Snowdrops encompass that perfect blend of delicacy and strength, surviving in the freezing cold but looking so pretty.  I can't believe I'm going to get poetic here, but I guess poetry is another (great!) form of creativity, but the words of Ted Hughes still ring in my head about snowdrops "Her pale head heavy as metal" - that little flower pushing up through the icy ground but heralding spring and assuring us that all is not dead in the frozen earth. And look at these little flowers; who'd have thought they could achieve so much:

 

Getting back to craft, instead of Thank You cards this year I decided to make little boxes of suprises.  And coincidentally I ended up keeping the snowdrop colour theme! 

Following along with my usual nature theme, don't you just love the little birdies?  I stamped the images using some Inkadinkado stamps, and a little thank you stamp from a Dawn Bibby set my nephew bought me, both from Topaz Crafts.  The boxes are constructed on my very clever boxer board out of Stampin Up Very Vanilla and Certainly Celery card.  The green is just the scrummiest shade.  And take a quick look at the even scrummier contents...

Like I say, don't you just love birthdays?!  And snowdrops!

Baby boy card

How cute is this little fella?  I keep saying I'm not really into cute, but when it comes to baby cards and especially Humphrey the elephant I do get a bit gooey. I remember when I saw my first baby wild elephant on safari in Tanzania and I'm not ashamed to say there were a few blobbers in my eyes.  There is something so endearing about them with their big eyes and even bigger eyelashes, and those comical little trunks and enormous feet. The little eles in Tanzania were running after their mums and trying to hold their tails with their trunks. It was a really special moment - will have to try to find the pictures I took now!

Anyway, back to the card!  The stamp is one of the Humphrey's Corner sets from Crafters Companion, stamped in Memento London Fog, which is much more suited for the soft outline.  Then of course it has been coloured with the ProMarkers - mainly using the blender pen to wash in the colours to a really gentle hue. I've used Coredinations White Wash paper for the mat, punched with a Martha Stewart punch.  The ribbon was actually needed to hide the botched punching (why can I never cut out a square of the right size!) but worked out to be one of those happy accidents.  And finally it has been layered onto a Craftworks Card notched edge 6"x6" square card.

Now I do know someone expecting a baby boy but will I be able to part with this card? Maybe I need to make a duplicate to keep as I really do like it... (anyone else do that?)!

A seaside card and fabulous at 50

Very quick post today with a couple of my latest cards! First off a good friend and colleague has recently turned 50.  Now there is now way on earth that she looks that old and I am sure her birth certificate must be wrong... We needed a big card to circulate at work so out came the 8x8 square cards again, and I wanted to make it fresh, vibrant and funky.  And a little bit of paisley was also needed to reflect where her hometown.

She loved it and was very thankful that the age was hidden down at the bottom! And now for a little seaside card inspired by my hols in Anglesey.  This time for my cousin who has recently moved there.  The stamps are clarity stamps and of course they are coloured in with my trusty ProMarkers. I was quite pleased with the simplicity of it all.

Wish I was back there, but with weather like this maybe not. I'm resisting putting on the heating seeing that it is still August (just) but it's pretty nippy isn't it? No signs of an Indian summer then...

Another Sepia-tone Card with the ProMarkers and Copics

Just a quick post today - been a rough couple of weeks and not much time for crafting.  So in danger of repeating myself this is another little card that demonstrates my attempts at using the ProMarkers and Copics to achieve a sepia tone (see here for previous card).  It's actually quite a tiny little easel card using a Craftworks Card elegant rectangle die cut which was scored twice to make the easel.  The Popcorn the Bear stamp is a freebie I got from Crafters Companion during their birthday event last year.  I thought it might be a bit cutesy for me but it's growing on me and I'm sure I've got some friends who quite like cute.

Might be a bit of a gap now before the next blog post but who knows!  Going to Krakow, Poland with work (woo hoo) and then back at the desk for a week before going on hols to Anglesey (double woo hoo!).  Hopefully there'll be more crafting by the sea as I unwind and recharge the batteries...

Boxes and crafting pals

I must say my new crafting tool obsession is The Boxer Board by Crafters Companion.

Feeling a bit guilty that I have also passed this obsession on to my sister and brother-in-law who spent Sunday evening making loads of boxes! It is soooo clever how it just makes perfectly fitting box bases and lids. I also love it for measuring cm and inch increments, and it is so handy for paper pleating. So many uses! Loving it. So what have I made? Well here are a couple of boxes that I rustled up in literally minutes.

First is a little box made with Ivory Centura Pearl Card.  I have embossed a scalloped design around the edges, and topped it with some little handmade flowers (thanks to Karen's instructions!) and ribbon. I'm imagining this will be a good box for a jewellery gift for someone (good job I can make jewellery as well!).

Here's a close up of the flowers.  I'm loving the subtle cream on cream look at the moment (with a tiny touch of lemon!).

The second box is a lot brighter - I wanted it to be a bit more folksy.

It's been made to house a set of notelets I've made as a birthday present for a friend. As I was taking the picture my cheeky marmalade cat came for a look see and sneaked into the picture.  He hates being left out!

I'm sure this board will be used for many, many projects in the future!

Beatrix Potter Card

This is a little easel card I made using the Beatrix Potter images from Crafters Companion. I wanted a really simple card where the images spoke for themselves rather than being swamped with extra embellishments. I just love the little robin and how he can keep the card in place!