High Hopes Stamps .... Thank you Card challenge

Time for the High Hopes Stamps bi-weekly challenge! Lynne has challenged us to make Thank you cards. And so I made a Thank You gift bag. Please don't take this personally Lynne- I am prone to rebelling ;). In all seriousness I started thinking about saying Thank you and giving handmade gifts is a great way to say it. So why not a cute bag to give it in? I am going to fill this bag with some seeds and gardening gloves to say Thank you to a special someone in my life. My husband. Who I hope takes the big hint and works on the garden this week hee hee. No seriously it is for my youngest daughter's teacher.

I used the versatile stamp- Friendship Seed Pack set- to jazz up my plain ole kraft bag. I coloured up it with copics to match my Kaiser Craft paper. I used some of the matching paper to put in the centre of the image and fancy cut out some of the flowers from the design and popped them up a few layers. Some matching tissue and Voila! A perfect bag for my Thank you gift.

For more Thankfully calorie free eye candy pop on over to the HHS challenge blog to see what the Diva's have created for you.

Cheers- and thanks for stopping by- Andi 

Whipper Snapper Stamps- Hat-Bee Birthday!!

I just love this Whipper Snapper Stamp! While I am scared silly of bees in real life after being stung many times I love the cute ones that Whipper Snapper has to colour up! Oh and I also like the bees in that movie- The Bee Movie. I almost felt bad for stealing their honey after that movie...but I luvs honey so I figured I won't kill them and they can share their honey. Compromise. 

Sorry it has been soooo quiet on here lately. As I had mentioned previously I have really pared down some aspects of my life as I have lots of busy stuff going on personally and my blogging got sidelined for a bit too. But there is no excuse today not to post as I am sitting here on my laptop playing Farmville and drinking tea so I figured I should start posting the TONS of cards I have made that I haven't shared yet. Like this Whipper Snapper one. Sigh- I luvs Whipper Snapper. Just needed to say it again. 

School is almost out for my girls. My oldest has one exam left on Monday then she is finished Gr. 9. I will be sooo glad to put that year behind her. She is much more comfortable now in H.S. and I wouldn't say she is looking forward to Gr. 10 because she prefers not being at school but she isn't dreading it lol. My youngest...my baby is in her last week of Gr. 6 and looking forward to Gr. 7. I am in COMPLETE denial. She is just a baby! I am so not good with letting her grow up. She even brushes her hair now everyday without being nagged and chooses her outfits and accessories the night before so she is styling at school. I never thought I would miss the days of me saying 'You can't go to school with your hair all scraggly and those clothes are already 2 days old- go change! And for the love of Pete- have you brushed your teeth yet?". Now my baby is fully styled every day to the teeth. 

I think I am going to start pushing down on the tops of their heads each day to make them stop growing. While I can still reach it that is- those kids are going to be tall!

Well here is hoping your day is better than the weather here. Cold and drizzly are not how we like to start Summer. Sounds like a day for the craft studio. 

Cheers, Andi

Copic Tutorial and High Hopes Stamps challenge....

Good Morning!!!! Oops- hope that wasn't too loud and made your spill your tea lol! I have to admit I am feeling a bit peppy blogging about this bright card. And I used some primary colours- sooo not me and I like it! It's making me have an extra skip in my step today. And I may also be feeling extra smug because I have a tutorial to share too. Yep- I better stop all this self-congratulating because my head is now so big it is bobbling around on my neck like one of those bobblehead statues hee hee. Okay back down to earth ;0).

Today's HHS challenge to use Stars and Stripes on your card. Could be a patriotic card for my neighbours across the way. Or could just have stars or stripes. As long as you are using a High Hopes stamps image on your creation and stars/stripes somewhere you are all good! Click here to pop on over to the HHS Challenge blog to read the full details and see more eye candy from the Divas!

Copic Tutorial- Mottled skin great for scaly things

First stamp your image using your preferred copic paper and ink. I used the Copic X-press it paper and Tuxedo Black Memento ink. My stamped image is Tubby Dragon from the most recent release. I let the image dry for about 20 minutes before colouring it. Probably longer than necessary but I didn't want it to bleed in my fancy tutorial pictures lol.

You will need the following Copic markers if you want to use the exact same colours I did- G40, G82, G85, G94, G99. Of course you don't have to use the same colours I did- feel free to experiment!

Taking your G40 marker cover your dragon with dots all over the body where you want the green to show. I left his horns and belly green free.

Next up grab your G82 and cover the body in the same areas but not completely so that you can still see the G40 showing through. This will give it a fun mottled look instead of just one colour in this area. After adding your G82 go over the same area again with your G40 to blend the colours.

Now we are going to give our image more depth by adding shading. I will be the first to admit I am not the best at knowing where to add it so use your eye and start where you would imagine the body to be darker in spots. It may help to put an object on your table under the same light you are using to get a better idea. Take your G85 and start dotting your shaded spots. I extend it quite a way into my already coloured areas as I will be adding more colours for depth and I want to give myself room. You can see the difference in the picture below.

Grab your G94 marker and add more dots in the same area you just put your G85. I typically put it up to half of the G85 dotted area. Looking below you can see it is darker in the shaded areas where I used G85 and G94.

Now I am going to add my darkest dots using G99. I am just putting a thin layer of dots into the same area I just added the G94. This will deepen your shadows and make them flow.

Last step! Now using your first colour G40 you are going to do nice big squishy dots and colour over the entire area to blend all the colours. I dotted and dotted then dotted some more until happy!

Now you are ready to colour the rest of your image! I added glitter to his belly and horns by dotting my Sakura stardust glitter gel pen and quickly blending the dots with my finger. I recommend just doing a small area at a time as it dries really quickly then won't blend. I find doing it this way just adds a sheen of sparkle instead of covering over what you just coloured with the silver glitter if you use the pen directly on your image. I also added some glossy glaze over my dragon (which was still wet at the time of the picture so it's cloudy) and a Viva Decor pen in Ice White pearl for the foamy bubbles.

I hope you find this a faster way to colour so that you don't find time 'draggin'!! Hee Hee, sorry couldn't resist! ;)

My Card samples for the June SGD Card kit

I had so much fun picking out what was going to be in this month's kit and playing with all the goodies. Seriously- these cards pretty much made themselves!!! All those pretty colours- they sing to my soul. I know- pretty sappy but art really is food for my soul- it is why I create. How about you? What is one of the reasons you create? Plus there is nothing like getting all inky either from markers or paint- soothes me better than any massage oil. Oi- may be too much info hee hee but I am SURE you know just what I am talking about. 

Click here to be taken to SGD's Card Kits. I got the idea to make these kits way back from my old days as a Stampin' Up demo. I was always making up kits and classes for my customers and while some like to take the same ideas and make it their own others like to make it exactly like mine. Exactly. If I said to use whatever colours they wanted- nope- they wanted to use the same ones I did. So I have changed up these kits the past 2 months. I have given sketches to follow and created samples from those sketches. I have also mentioned all items I used including the ink colours. And the feedback has been amazing!!! Thank you so much to all of you who have taken the time to give your feedback- more than we have ever received! And honestly- what a compliment to have people want to make it just like me- makes me *blush*. So thank you! And for those of you who are like me and see rules as just something that makes me want to do the complete opposite there are tons of bits and baubles for your own creations. And please feel free to share them with me!

Well that's enough from me right now. My freshly painted watercolour pages are now dry and it is time for me to learn how to play with the Cinch machine. I applied Gesso to my pages to prime them for my very first Art Journal. Squee!! So excited! My friend Lori is going to help me get started and I am so pumped! I took pictures along the way so I can share it with you. Unless of course it turns out to be an epic fail hee hee!

Cheers! Andi

My last Kraftin' Kimmie stamps Design Team post....

This week's KKS challenge is to 'cut it out' and use paper piecing on your KKS image. I used Carole for my card with her super cute running gear. I would like to think it is from LuLu Lemon- just because one day I would love to have some schnazzy gear from there. I paper pieced both her shirt and her capris and added some copics to the paper just to add some dimension. I am more than a little pleased with myself because I made this card using older scraps of paper from a card kit that I found in my massive pile of scraps. I have been forcing myself to use some of my older supplies...so that I can justify getting more new ones of course! hee hee. I made her cheeks really rosy due to her brisk run. If I was colouring my face while running it of course would be completely beet red hee hee. For more details on this week's challenge and more lovely eye candy don't forget you can pop on over to the KKS blog for all you'll need.

Now on to my attention grabbing title of this post. I want to thank Kimmie and all the Krafty Girls for such an amazing time on the KKS Design Team. I have a busy next few months ahead of me and needed to pare down my responsibilities so that I can focus on my family and the craziness ahead. It was a difficult decision and I still wonder if I made the right one. It will be hard leaving such a fun caring group of talented ladies and I am sure we will still keep in touch. I have been blessed to build some great friendships and support systems with this group that I will always treasure. Of course you will still see KKS creations on my bloggy- I absolutely LOVE KKS stamps and will still be inking them up with glee month after month.

So raise your mug of tea with me and say 'Cheers' to some of the best and most talented ladies I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know.

Andrea xo

Blog candy Winnah!!!!! Is it you????

Thank you so very very much to all of you who played along for a chance to win my blog candy! I loved reading all of the sweet comments. I used random.org to pick the winner for me. The winner is.......................................................................................................

Brenna said...

that is the cutest ribbon!! i haven't been able to find that ribbon in my hometown, that would be fantastic to win! tfs
brenna
rbanderson@live.ca

May 22, 2011 4:58 PM

Congratulations Brenna!!!! Please email me at ajmurdock@hotmail.com with your mailing address and I will get this in the post for you! It may take a wee bit longer than normal due to the strike but fingers crossed it comes quickly.

I will be posting more candy soon as I found more goodies to give away so stay tuned!!