For My Niece

Hello Peeps.  I hope your weekend is shaping up nicely.  Blessings to my neighbours to the South, who are having their Memorial Day Weekend.  Here in Canada, we had a holiday last Monday, to celebrate Victoria Day, or the Queen's Birthday.   But this weekend is business as usual for us.  :-)
I must tell you about a new store I found here in my Province of Ontario: It is called "LSL Diversified".  AMAZING store - LOW LOW PRICES everyday on COPICS and TIM HOLTZ stuff and everything.  In fact, I don't know of any other Canadian store that sells Copic Sketch markers at her price: $5.50 each! You read it right!  And that is the REGULAR price!!!  (I know, I sound like an ad announcer... I'm just so excited I found them!) They put my order together SUPER FAST  and had EXCELLENT customer service!  I can't say enough about them!  I don't work for them in any way.  I am just sending all my Canadian buddies there because I have been SO happy with the service, prices, and products available. 

I made this card for my lovely niece who needs a cheer up right now.   This fairy named, "Ophelia" is one of my illustrations from my "Crissy's Cuties" line that I did for Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

 I coloured Ophelia with the following Copic markers:

Hair: 100, W3, 5. 8, E47, 49, B60, 63 

 note: I started with W3 and put it where I wanted highlights.  In retrospect, I should not have done that, and should have gone for the B60 instead.  I realized after the dark shades went on, that it would look better with cool highlights rather than warm.  And so I did what I could to go over and over them with both the blender pen to remove the warm grey.  Then I added B60 where the warm grey had been.   However, greys are very difficult to remove and don't respond well to the blender pen.  But oh well, live and learn, right?  Next time I do this hair colour, B60 only for the highlights!! 

Skin: E00, 01, 11, 13, 15, and R20 for blush

White bodice: B60, 63

Rock: C2, 4, 6, 8, B60

Red dress: R30, 32, 37, 39, 89

Wings: R000, 00, 20, 30, 32, 37, with E47 and W8 on the tips of the two antennae

Birdie: G02, 07, BG11, 72, C4 for shadow on tummy, and R35, 37 for the red parts

Background: Blender pen, BG72, 000, R32, 000

For the background, I tried a new-to-me technique.  Probably has been done before, but don't know the official name for it.  However, I will try to explain it here in case you want to try it out:

I used the blender pen prolifically throughout this technique, so for best results, make sure the blender pen is nice and juicy (refill it with a few drops of blender solution if it hasn't been filled in awhile). 

I uncapped the blender pen and BG72 and held the blender pen in the hand I was going to draw with (I'm right handed, so for me I held it in my right hand).  With BG72 uncapped and in my left hand, I swiped the tip of the blender pen onto the tip of BG72 to pick up some colour.  Then I drew little swirly lines on the background starting close to the image, with the blender pen.  I made small circular motions.  The little bit of BG72 quickly disappeared off the tip of the blender pen and made a nice faint mottled design. 

I had to keep re-swiping the tip of the blender pen onto the tip of BG72, every second or two.  It does take some time and patience to do this technique!!

I was quite random with where I placed the colour.  I decided I wanted to add the second colour so I repeated the same process using R32.  And just to keep the colours well blended, I also used the same process using R000, and BG000, so that there would be a very soft blending of light colours as well, mixing in with the deeper colours. 

Here is a close-up of the background so you can see it better:

I have a slew of challenges I am entering this card in today! Here's the list:

Kraftin Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog: Rough It Up (distressing, tearing)

Just Us Girls: Dry Embossing (used my CB folder for a couple of the red panels)

Quixotic Challenges: Emboss It!  

Stampin' Sisters In Christ: Distressed or Vintage

One Stop Craft Challenge: Swirls & Pearls

Incy Wincy: Button Up!

Saturday Challenge: Buttons and Blooms

Ooh La La Creations: Bright and Cheerful (I think this one qualifies, agreed?) ;-)

The Character Cafe: Rhinestones, Ribbon and Red  (the pink lacy ribbon was a gift - thanks Deb!)

Oh, Alice! : Swirls

Paper Garden Projects:  Girly (could this get any girlier??)

Stampin' for the Weekend: Cheer up card

Flutter By Wednesdays:  anything goes, as long as it has a butterfly, angel or fairy on it

Special Props to my friend Rach of Papercrafts by Rach for doing this card that inspired my creation here.  It isn't an exact CASE, but I had it up on my screen as a sort of guide and inspiration.  Way to go, Rach, you are a crafting genius!

Since this post is already uber long, if you have any questions in regards to any of the details, please shoot me an e-mail (addy on the watermark).  

Thanks for coming by for a visit.  God bless you in His mighty amazing Love for you!

Special RAK and Free Image!

Hi Precious Peeps!  I have a special RAK request to mention today.  Lisa, who is one of my designers for Sundays With Crissy (boy, am I lucky to have her on board!) and also designs for Whimsy Stamps (among many other companies!) has asked us stampers to send a cheery card to her sister Jayme.  Sadly, Jayme has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.  Lisa is offering up a huge blog candy giveaway and all you have to do to be eligible to win it is send a card to Jayme, and post a link to your creation on Lisa's blog, and post a link to Lisa's RAK request on your own blog.  Here is the link to Lisa's post with all the pertinent information, including Jayme's mailing address, in case you're interested.   She is asking that we refrain from "get well" cards, and instead requests that we use frog images, or just something humorous, to make her smile.  

 I got inspired and so I drew this special little froggy gal.  I call her, "Beach Baby Jayme" in honour of Lisa's sister!  

Denise and I are offering it for FREE  through Whimsy Stamps to anyone who wants to use it.    Just go to this link and click on the blue download button and it should automatically download into your computer.  If anybody has any problems, I can e-mail the file to you, so just shoot me an e-mail if you run into any difficulties.  Please continue to respect our wishes that you do not share digital files, even when they are free.  But send as many friends as you want (the more the better!) to the site so they can download their own.  Thank you!

I am not going to go into details about this card because I don't want this post to get too lengthy.  Only that I did use Copics to colour Beach Baby Jayme, and that I obviously had fun with my Spellbinder and Cuttlebug dies!

Here is your close-up.  Edited to add Copic List below: 

On frog's skin:
YR11, 13, 93, 95 Blender pen to create the white-ish dots for added texture
Swimsuit:
RV10, 32, 34, 95, B21, 23 YG00 and stickles on flower centers
Parasol:
RV10, 21, 32, 34, 95
Dotty ground and background:
RV10, RV00, R000, W00, 1, 3, 4, 5, T0, V000, YG0000, B21, Blender pen

Thanks for stopping by today! God bless you and keep you and shine His face upon you! Know that He loves you beyond all words! 

Sundays With Crissy #4

It's time for another challenge at Sundays With Crissy!  This is the card I made for challenge #4 "Layers."  I used lots of paper layers, but I also layered the ribbon and the flowers - and - I made the all-white flower myself!  Cut the petals and everything!  I used some hand made paper (not that I made the paper too, lol) and cut ten petals.  Then I twisted them all together by adding one petal at a time.  I worked from the inside out.  Used a wire stem I had cut from the Prima flower to hold the petals together at the bottom where they were all twisted up!  I also really layered up the larger Prima flower too using six flowers.  It makes for a very fat card though!  I will probably hand deliver this one!

The leaves are the new Martha Stewart punch and stamp combo.  It is a really cool little tool! I stamped the leaf in white ink on dark green cs and then lined up the punch over top of that and punched out a perfect looking leaf with veins and stem (can't see the stems here, obviously!).  

The shiny satin ribbon is actually very purple, but it does look blue-ish in the photo.  The little Spellbinder die cut flourish in the corner is also purple and matches the ribbon. Red and purple are typically hard to photograph true to colour.  Trust me, it looks better and matches IRL! lol

I coloured Teddy Bear-ing Gifts (digi image I did for Squigglefly) using Copics.   I apologize for not having the list of colours this time.  I coloured this image last fall and didn't write it down. :-(  But I do know that the fur is lots and lots of layers of colour using the feather stroke and a variety of brown shades  And I know I used this lovely thick and thirsty paper : Fanboy Manga Drawing Pad by Canson.  The lighter parts on his face, muzzle, around his eyes and tummy were produced using the blender pen.   

And for those interested in aTip: Take note of the narrow strip of lighter fur along the bottom of his tummy line.  I left that light on purpose (simply by not colouring my darker shades there).  I think it gives the image even more dimension.  I did the very same thing on the left side of his cheek and also on the paw holding the balloon strings, at the "finger tips," for lack of a better word.  Sometimes (though not always) your light source will bounce off walls or or other objects, creating a secondary light source.  This secondary light source is much dimmer than the main light source, but bright enough sometimes to cause a tiny reflection of light even in dark and shadowed areas.  That is what I was thinking here when I left those narrow strips of lighter fur.  Here is your close-up so you can see what I'm talking about:

My Precious Peeps of Crissy's Crew have all joined me on this challenge today over at my challenge blog, "Sundays With Crissy" so why not go and check out their lovely layered creations!  And if you feel so inspired,  join in the challenge!  I will be giving away this versatile set of Spellbinders dies in another two weeks from now, to one lucky challenge participant (who uses one of my digi images - please see my challenge blog for the rules of play!):

Fancy Tags by Spellbinders!

May your day be filled with the knowledge of God's amazing love for you! God bless you, and thank you for visiting today!

New Rubber Release for Whimsy!! First stop on the hop!

Hello Precious Peeps!  I'm your first stop on Whimsy's latest blog hop!  I'd like to introduce you to Party Pony, a sweet little image I designed for Whimsy Stamps.  It is one of two new carousel horse sets I illustrated for them that are being released today!  In fact it is available to purchase right now at the Whimsy store.  My other carousel set, "Proud to Be" (perfect for fourth of July cards, or to send to an American friend) as well as some really cool sentiment sets done by the amazing Ann of Raindrop Echo  Designs are also now ready for you to buy!  You have until Friday May 21 at noon EST to hop around to all the designers blogs and get in on the draws.  Rowena, Ann, Stacey and Bev each have blog candy to give away! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on each of their posts.  

Besides this new release, there's lots of rubber goodness on sale for the month of May at discounted prices, so why not go have a look-see!  Some stamps are going for as low as 40% off! 

 I hope you have fun on the hop and win something!

Now on to my card:

I entered this card into these challenges:

Whoopsi Daisy Challenge, "As You Like It"

Ooh-la-la Creations, "Bright and Cheerful"

Stamp Something, "Celebrate Something"

Papertake Weekly, "Shiny and Sparkly"

KL Stampin N Scrappin, "Lets show our animal friends some love"

Prairie Fairy Fridays, "Use flowers"

Cute Card Thursday, "Someone Special"

Allsorts, "Birthdays"

Pollycraft, "Summer Blooms"

Giving credit where credit is due, I was inspired by this little beauty of a card/gift set by Claudia Rosa of Pretty Pressings.  I wanted to at least follow the colour scheme, and so I did as best I could.  My blue turned out deeper but oh well!  Isn't her stuff divine?  If you have never seen her blog, you are in for a treat today - go check it out!!

I stamped Party Pony onto 140 lb cold press water colour paper by Canson, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Copics act great on watercolour paper.  Almost identical to how they act on my Fanboy Manga Drawing Pad, which is what I usually use.  But I knew I wanted to combine some water colouring as well as Copics. That's why I chose to use the water colour paper.  TIP:  Always use the Copics first, then water colour on top.  You don't want to clog up the marker tips with the crushed mica dust found in Twinkling H20's, or other binders and fillers, so never use Copics on top of other mediums.

  Here's the list of Copics used:

Pony body: E50, 53, Y28, blender

Hooves: E55, 57

Tail: E50, 53, 19, 29

Saddle, cinch, reins and streamer: RV23, 25, 29

Saddle blanket: E00, 01, 11, RV23

Gifts and Pole: E00, 01, 11, RV23, C0 and C3 for shadow

Pink Balloon: RV23 and blender pen 

C0 and C3 on the ground for shadow

Blue Balloon:  I wanted to use this very cool blue shade but there is no Copic this exact blue colour.  And so I reached for my Twinkling H20's to create it.  I combined True Blue and Dragonfire on a pallete and water coloured the blue ribbon and other blue trim in the image.  I also used it around the outside edges of the main image panel.

AND, 

I made the DP!!  I used the accessory images I illustrated that come in this set.  I stamped them on water colour paper (same stuff as I used for the image) in Versamark Clear ink, embossed in clear embossing powder and heat set.  Then, I painted the inside of the flower design with a mix of Ruby Red and Poppy Red (more Twinkles!).   Using the same mix I had used for the blue ribbon on the image (True Blue and Dragonfire) I then painted around the flowers.  I had to mix a lot of it to cover the whole sheet. Plus I had to put a generous amount of water down onto the paper first.  It's called a "wet into wet wash" in water colour terms!

Once it was dry, I ironed it with a sheet of printer paper overtop, to remove the clear embossing.  It makes a kind of batik look that I just love! Plus it removes the warp of the paper too, which you really need when making a card!

I bought the gorgeous flowers from the Whimsy store and was really happy with Denise's prices - much lower than what I've seen in other places!

Now why not go to the next stop on the hop and see what the rest of the amazing DT has created for your enjoyment! Rowena's blog is next! What'cha waitin' for! Go get hopping!!

Sundays With Crissy #3

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! 

This is another one I did of Gracie's Roses, a digital image I drew for Whimsy Stamps.  It is my current favourite image that I have penned and so I could not resist using it a second time.  Again I printed her onto water colour paper, and painted her in water colours.  I use Twinkling H20's. 

It is also my sample card for my third challenge at Sundays With Crissy, my new challenge blog.  I now have nine members of a design team to help me with the challenges!  You should see what they did on their debut post!

The challenge for this week (and next, as it runs for two weeks) is to use your "Favourite Things."  And like I said, this picture I did of my niece Gracie is my favourite image right now! (subject to change as I draw more images, lol).

I am going to make this short so I can enjoy Mother's Day with my family.  If you have any questions about this card, feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to reply! Here is the card from several viewpoints:

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you have a great weekend and are really blessed this week!

Hugs,

Crissy

New Digi Release for Whimsy!

There is a new release of digital images going on at Whimsy Stamps right now, and if you have just arrived here randomly, you are in the middle of a blog hop!  It is a shorter blog hop (so it won't take up so much of your time) with just nine places to hop to.  I hope that encourages you to join in today!

Whimsy has added a new artist too!  Melanie Jenkins, aka Meljen's Designs now has a collection of digital images exclusive to Whimsy!  Kevin and Ann have also contributed to this new release 6 new images and 9 new sentiments.

I am really excited about Melanie's art.  I found her by chance just a few weeks ago, and right away it was instant love!  When I found out she was coming on board with Whimsy, I was pumped!  Check out all the new digital designs by following this link.
If you have arrived here from Ann's blog, you are right on track! If you want to start at the beginning, Denise's blog is the place to go.

Denise has divided the Whimsy Design Team into two groups.  The first group is doing the hop (that includes me!) and the second group is hosting a fun challenge!  If you are interested in joining the second half of the team on the challenge, find the details at the Whimsy Blog HERE.

Of course there will be random draws for some yummy blog candy, so you get chances to win by leaving comments all along the blog hop, and also by joining in the challenge!

The blog hop runs until Tuesday May 11 at noon EST.

I had a good time drawing my niece Gracie.  She is a real cutie pie, and I tried to capture her as best I could with this image.  This is the dress she wore when she was a flower girl last fall at my nephew's wedding. Only her real dress was white.  It was quite a site to see her march up the aisle, holding her little rose!

I call this image, "Gracie's Roses" and it is available now at Whimsy Stamps . 

I printed Gracie onto smooth water colour paper, using my laser printer, and then heat set it.   The laser printer heat sets a fine powder onto your paper, but when using thicker card stock or water colour paper, the heat doesn't get through the paper enough to emboss it completely.  So when it comes off the printer, I have to go over it with my heat gun.

I water coloured Gracie with Twinkling H20's.  If you have any questions about this card, e-mail me at my regular e-mail (on my watermark and on my profile page).

Next stop on the hop:  Deb's blog.  Hope you enjoy the rest of the hop! Thanks for your visit here today!