Sneaky Peeky time for Kraftin' Kimmie stamps...

It's time to start Kraftin' Kimmie stamps November's sneak peeks and first up from me is my buddy Miles and some of his polar pals. This stamp is actually called Miles and Winter Friends and was so fun and fast to colour up for this card. I added some grey copic marker to the inside of my polar pals and then shaded around them in BG0000 to help show how white they are. Okay okay...actually Kimmie did that on her card and I just copied her hee hee! I think Miles is so cute in his Winter coat with it's furred collar- obviously faux fur or his furry friends probably wouldn't hang out with him hee hee. I used my hoarded MME winter paper from last year and some of my other rediscovered winter embellies from last year. Yep proud of myself for actually using some of last year's stash. Of course this didn't stop me from buying more this year...or else what can I use next Winter lolz!!!

For more sneak peeks hop on over to the KKS challenge blog and get ready to see some Winter fun and some amazing rubberized Krafty ladies!!! Cheers, Andi

High Hopes Weekly challenge- use your buttons!

This week's High Hopes Challenge is to use your buttons. Not a problem for me since I own a squajillion of them in jars all around my craft room. Does anyone else keep them from their new clothes when they find them stitched inside as a spare? I swear my hoarding ability keeps growing hee hee!

On my card this week I used Snowy Portrait and coloured him up with my copics on Neenah paper. I then used some of my new Bo Bunny winter paper that I scooped up at SGD after drooling over it. My drool got it wet so I had to buy it ;) Added some ribbon, the sentiment, button, snowflake then voila! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy- gotta love those cards that just come together fast and simple :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and don't forget to pop on over to the High Hopes challenge blog to see how you can play along to win. Oh and of course drool all over the DT samples- just be careful not to drool on your computer hee hee! Cheers, Andi

Colouring snowmen with Copics and Whipper Snapper stamps

Happy Monday! I wanted to share with you today two cards I made where I used different copic colours to shade my snowmen. I have been asked what colours to use so I hope this helps.

The first card is using Winter Snowman from Whipper Snapper stamps which as you may know from reading my blog is one of my top 3 favourite stamp companies. If you like to colour like I do then these stamps are a match made in heaven. Everyone should own some! Trust me! :) On this card I used BG's (blue greens) to give the snow a cool blue undertone. I only used 2 colours- BG0000 and BG10. Oh and my blender pen. I used BG10 to draw a thin line in the areas I wanted to show dimension and then went over the area in thicker lines with the BG0000. I then used my blender pen about halfway into my coloured area and just did a few swooshing sweeps towards the centre of the image to have the colour gradually fade to just white.

This card is using Jingle-balls and I used C's (cool greys) to add my shading. I used C00, C1 and C3. I followed the same process as above. I added a very thin line of C3, then colouring overtop of that line and a little farther out with C1 and then going over both of those colours with C00. Again I used my blender pen to pull the grey to the centre of the image to help it gradually fade. Please note when you first colour it you may be unhappy with it and think it's too dark. Just set it aside and let it dry for a bit before you play with it anymore. I found after the paper dried it lightened up quite a bit and made it not look too harsh.  

I hope you like my cards and that I helped you with your winter cards and your colouring of that tricky white stuff. Have a great day everyone! Cheers- Andrea xoxo

KKS weekly challenge- its so distressing!!

**Only 2 days left to enter my Kraftin' Kimmie stamps blog candy- help spread the word!!**

This is my second post for the day- please scroll down for my 'Oh Alice' weekly challenge card :)

This week's KKS challenge over at the challenge blog is to add distressing to your card. I love distressing every since I got an electronic distresser while at CHA. Schweet! I used Stocking Miles and some lovely Echo Park winter paper. Is anyone else loving Echo Park paper lines? I found them just this past summer and I am grabbing it as soon as Sheila gets it in. Oh and I can't forget to thank a new to me challenge blog Sketch Saturday for today's layout- thanks ladiese!

Just a quick post today as I am crafting with a whole bunch of my BSF's and I am in heaven!!! Hope you have a great crafty weekend too. Cheers, Andi

Oh Alice Challenge- get yer tickets ready!

`Tickets, please!' said the Guard, putting his head in at the window. In a moment everybody was holding out a ticket: they were about the same size as the people, and quite seemed to fill the carriage.

`Now then! Show your ticket, child!' the Guard went on, looking angrily at Alice. And a great many voices all said together (`like the chorus of a song,' thought Alice), `Don't keep him waiting, child! Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!

`I'm afraid I haven't got one,' Alice said in a frightened tone: `there wasn't a ticket-office where I came from." And again the chorus of voices went on. `There wasn't room for one where she came from. The land there is worth a thousand pounds an inch!'

-- Chapter 3, Through the Looking Glass

Greetings friends in Wonderland! We are FULL STEAM AHEAD into November and today's challenge is JUST the ticket! Our ride this week is sponsored by our own Tasha who is generously donating a $15 gift certificate to Stamping Bella (in honor of their cute new Alice stamp) which will be awarded to one randomly selected winning traveler!

But before we get started, there are some changes at our twisted tea party table! We are bidding farewell to longtime design team members Jen and Suzi, so please leave them some extra love as you visit their last Oh, Alice! DT posts. We will really miss their superb talents! Donna, our amazing October guest designer, is stepping up to the table so we are back to our twisted thirteen. Welcome Donna, we are so glad you are staying where it's always time for tea! Be sure to check back next week for to find out who our guest designer will be for the holiday season!

A quick note on my card. I used a sweet Whipper Snapper stamp and my friend Mercy posts a great sketch every week on her blog and this is where my card layout came from this week.

So, do you have YOUR ticket ready for a ride on the Wonderland Express? Our twisted sis Lynne is the conductor this week and she says you can't travel with Oh, Alice! if you don't show us your ticket! You can make a ticket, use a ticket stamp, use a real ticket. Use one ticket or a whole row of tickets! So hop on it and get YOUR ticket ready to take a journey through Wonderland!

To learn more about this week's challenge click here to go to the challenge blog and get ready to travel with all of the inspiring examples.

PRC23- Everything but the kitchen sink featuring High Hopes....

How are you today?? I have to say I had a very crafty day yesterday and now I need a day to rest hee hee! One of the things I made was this card for Paper Romance's challenge 23- Everything but the Kitchen sink. The name of the game was to use lots of embellishments, papers, basically anything you wanted. I went crazy and used copics, punches, lots of paper, stickles, brads, crystals and nestabilities. Phew! I also used one of my fave holiday stamps from High Hopes from Paper Romance called Chris Mouse. He reminds me of my hubby every year when we pull out the lights. Actually more like Clark Griswald from Christmas vacation. A massive ball of string and lights and his blood pressure goes up just from looking at it. Of course not only do I not touch it and interfere with his system I don't talk to him and stay as far away as I can. We have learned the things we do well together....and the things we don't. This falls heavily in the 'don't do together' section of our relationship- just like grocery shopping and home improvements.

To read more about how you can also play to win hop on over to the Paper Romance Challenge blog and see what the rest of the DT has created. Cheers!

I have been holding onto a HUGE secret for months.....

Okay...where to start...okay first- I have had this secret for ages and ages!!!!! Happy secrets are hard to keep but I did it!!! Okay...it's also going to be happening for 3 months- right till the end of January. Okay...have you guessed it yet?? No..okay...well do you recognize the stamp on my card? I used it before on a card found here. Okay..I am just going to spill...

I AM A GUEST DESIGNER FOR HIGH HOPES- WOOT WOOT!!

Yippeeeeee!!! Today is my first post for High Hopes and I am thrilled! I get to play with High Hopes stamps all the time when I create for Scrappingreatdeals and Paper Romance and I love their images to colour with my copic markers...mmm...perfect stamps for colouring!

For my first challenge with HHRS we were to make a step card- I actually wasn't even sure what that was but I was up to it. Thankfully Lacey sent me a link to a tutorial from Beate on splitcoast that you can find here that walks you through it. Phew- thanks again Lacey! I used Ele-fun and some of my hoarded Echo Park summertime paper as it always says birthday paper to me. I also used my glitter pen and clear glaze to add dimension to my image. To read more about this week's challenge deets and how you can play to win click here to go to the High Hopes blog and also to see what the rest of the DT created. Let me put it this way- I almost resigned when I saw the rest of the ladies creations-AmAzInG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, a bit more about me and High Hopes. I actually found out about High Hopes stamps a few years back when I first started using copic markers and I needed to find stamps that would allow me to colour them. I was shown High Hope stamps by Sheila and that was it- my first copic cards would be using their stamps so I have always had a soft spot for their images. In fact some of my first eva coloured cards were using some of their older images. I have included them below for giggles. These are some of my first ever cards using copic markers.

Yep...me and High Hopes...we go wayyyyy back :)