Circle of Friends Blog Hop

Welcome to the Circle of Friends Blog Hop! If you have arrived from Sandra's blog you are in the right place, if not you may want to start at Crystal's Blog so you don't miss anything along the way.

Our Circle of Friends hop is to show our dear friend Annika Ryan that her Whimsy Family is here for her during this difficult time. Everyone needs a circle of friends, and sometimes, during those hard moments, you need to be placed in the center of that circle and be given a big group hug.  Though we may be miles away, our hearts are with her along with our support.

Today we all have made her a creation to show her how much we care. Please hop along with us to Support our Wonderful Teammate and Friend Annika. 

She'll be receiving this card that I made for her. 

 I used my new Dance of Love digital image that I illustrated for Whimsy Stamps.  This is the original colour version I did for them that you can also buy as a pre-coloured digital image.  I used Copics.  Sorry, no colour list today. 

The die cuts are all Spellbinders dies that I kept in the die and sponged with Barn Door Distress Ink. 

 If you know Annika and would like to make a creation for her please go to the end of the hop (Denise's Blog)  and link a card, then email Crystal at crystalkbk30@gmail.com and she will give you her mailing address.

This hop will end on February 5, noon Eastern time so you have enough time to create a card for our friend!!

 Your next stop on the hop is Stephanne. 

Thank you so much for visiting today!

Me and Lexi

We visited my son and daughter-in-law over the weekend and I just could not resist sharing a piccy  of me with Lexi, our grand-daughter!  And I couldn't resist sharing my fav piccy out of the 416 that Granny Crissy shot!! ha ha

Kraftin' Kimmie Blog Hop January Release!

Today Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps is releasing their new JANUARY images!  ALL the new images are NOW available at Kraftin Kimmie Stamps!

They have SIXTEEN new stamps for you!!   

If you have landed here from Andrea's blog, you are in the right place in the hop.  You are at the tail end of the hop with just one more stop to go.  So if you want to start from the beginning, just head over to the Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge Blog.  As you hop from blog to blog, be sure to leave a comment at each and every stop because some lucky stampers will win packages of stamps from the new release!  

I have illustrated a collection of 5 animal images for you - a bull dog, frog family, monkey, three piggies, and this little guy, Stripes the Zebra.  I hope you like 'em!  Each animal comes with a co-ordinating sentiment stamp.  You can see them all here. 

Annie Rodrigue has created some incredibly sweet BERRY GIRLS!!  There are six images in the complete set . Each one comes with a coordinating accessory stamp AND a bonus sentiment stamp!!

We ALL have baby cards to make every year and this month, Steven Leary has brought us the most adorable BABY images!!  There are babies, teddy bears, ducks and a pair of little mice!. Two of them also come with matching sentiment stamps!!

KK Stamps offers ‘Gimme Kimmie’s Kits’ for those of you who just HAVE to have all the new images.  They've grouped each line of stamps together and called them the ‘Gimme Kimmies Kits’!!!  AND it’s at a discounted price!! 

 Next (and last) stop on the hop: Kimmie 

Card Details:

I coloured Stripes with the following Copics:

White portion of Stripes' body: E50, W1, 3, BV23 - for the deepest shadows

Black stripes and hooves: N10, 8, 5, 3, 1, blender.  On the hooves only, I left a strip un-coloured where I wanted to put a highlight.

Inner ear and muzzle: R20, 21, 22 + RV23 on pink cheek blush

Butterfly: R20, 22, 24, 27, 29, FB2, YG06, 07, FY1

Ground: E30, 31, 33 with shadows near the zebra made with C2, 3

Copic Multi-liner black was used to draw a line for the ground behind the zebra and to make dots for sand.  

Blue sky: B000 was drawn all over and then I sponged Tumbled Glass overtop to deepen the colour. 

Flowers were spritzed with Gold Smooch and the white ones with Tutti Frutti Glimmer Mist. 

Corner dies by Cuttlebug.  Main image and sentiment die by Spellbinders.  Thanks so much for visiting today!

God bless!

Three more beauties from friends!

I have a couple more artists to show you who I really love and admire!  These two gals are in Europe and I just love their style!  The first one is Inge.  She and I go way back - met on SCS and both designed for High Hopes when I was drawing for them.  She is such a sweetie too.  I was lucky enough to receive some of her cards in the mail too!  This Christmas card she did last year really popped off the screen at me.  Well, all her work does mind you, but this one in particular!  You really should pay her blog a visit if you haven't met her yet! 

Nicole and I also met when she joined the High Hopes Divas way back when.  She has always impressed me with her card making skills and just keeps getting better all the time.  Each card she makes is one that makes me go, "wow".  I picked out two of my favourites of hers from last year to show you.   She also has lots of video tutorials to look at on her blog as well, so it is worth taking the time to see what she does! She is amazing!!

Go and enjoy these two gals blogs to see more amazing works of card art!!  The links are on their names.

Favourite Cards by Others from 2010!

I wanted to give some big shout outs to the artists in blog land who really "wow'd" me this past year with their eye catching creations!  I found all my favourite creations and contacted each of the artists to ask their permission to post their cards here.  Each one graciously agreed!
These are just a sampling of the cards that have given me "jaw-dropping moments" in blogland.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have!
If you have not ever seen these girls blogs before, I encourage you to pay them a visit.  I have everyones' blogs linked - just click on their names!

Now here is one from my friend Chris Dark.  I have long been an admirer of Chris's work!  We have chatted off and on over the years and encouraged one another in our respective art careers.  Not only do we share the same name, but the same stamp illustration career, same hobby, and our hubby's are both "Mike's" too.  

I have a lot of jaw dropping moments at Chris's blog.  This card is proof of why!  Chris could get her cards framed and put in an art gallery as far as I'm concerned!  Each one is like a miniature painting!

These next two are by Annika.  I am just wow'd by her colouring, whether she uses Prismas or Copics.  And her card construction is just as beautiful with her attention to creative detail.

Here is another one of her beauties!  I couldn't resist posting two of hers! Its linked here.  I love the way she ties the colour scheme together!

Now here is a card by Mary Giemza.  She is another one I've been friends with AND stalking for awhile!!  I love the way she colours too.  And she just knows how to put a card together in such a classy drop-dead-gorgeous kind of way, doesn't she!!  As far as I'm concerned, this card is the quintessential classic vintage Christmas card!!! 

Next up is Zoe McGrath's eye-popping creation.   Does it not look like you will soon hear the tapping of this Diva's foot and see her go storming off the screen?!  Talk about bringing an image to life with colour and shading!  My goodness, this is one delightful card!  Zoe is also famous for making card parts MOVE.  If you have never seen her stuff before, you are in for a treat!!

Now this person's blog was chalk full of cards that I could have chosen, but I settled on this one by Bev at All The Things I Love.  There is something about the way Bev uses all the elements - images, colours, embellishments and sketch to make a masterpiece each and every time.  I just love this one for the subtle greys and creams contrasted with the stark reds and blacks.  Here is the beauty she let me share with you today:

This next artist is someone I just discovered a few months ago, although she may not be new to you.  But I am so grateful I found her blog!  Her style is irresistible and arresting!  Her name is Dena.  Check out this card of hers that stopped me in my tracks! I just love how each element enhances the other:

Now this next lady knows how to colour! (well, all these girls do!)  I have been oogling Melanie Holtz's creations for awhile now, learning a lot about creating depth with darks and lights.  I think you'll be wow'd by this one of hers too -- she has many that make my jaw drop, but I esp. love this one!  Enjoy:

Next up is Yvonne's.  I have long admired and studied Yvonne's work!  Besides her colouring, I find it is the way she uses dies and embellishments that draw my attention.  I have found so much inspiration through visiting her blog! Here is my favourite from her beautiful gallery of creations from 2010. Simply stunning:

Most of you probably know my next guest, Kim Piggot.  Not only does she do amazingly beautiful work, but she is also all over blog land, leaving comments and encouraging others!  This card she did made me sigh.  I just love pink, and she uses it brilliantly on this card. I love the light outlines on all the pink die cuts too.  That's what makes them pop.  And there is just enough sparkle to give it that magical look:

This next card I chose by Jane jumped off the screen at me!  I just love how the nautical theme is woven throughout the entire piece.   Her colouring is great the stamps are oh so cute,  and look at her embellishing!  I love the starfish and life preserver, and how she used eyelets and twine on the white punched piece.  Its just SO CUTE!

Lastly, I met Jerri  back on SCS when both of us had only been stamping for a short time.  I used to pull up a photo of one of her cards and study it for a long time.  Whenever I did florals, I refer back to one of her creations and try to mimic what I saw.  She continues to astound me with the art that she creates!  Last spring she wow'd all of us with her Bridal Collection.  If you haven't seen it, you really ought to pay her blog a visit because you will be floored.  Not only is Jerri a great artist, but a kind and giving friend as well.  Here is a photo of the Bridal collection.  View these creations in their individual posts too, you do not want to miss these!!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing just a few of my favourite creations from around blogland in 2010.  Thank you to my blogging friends who allowed me to snag their photos to post here!  I just thought it was worth sharing all these eye catching works of art one more time! 

If any of these folks are new to you, please don't hesitate to visit their blogs.  I think you'll be wow'd like I was!

God bless and all the best for 2011!!

"Ribbons" Challenge

Happy New Year people!  It feels good to have a fresh start to a new year!

I did this card for my challenge over at Sundays With Crissy.  The challenge runs all month long and I'll be offering up five free digi's to one lucky challenge participant!

The challenge this month is "Ribbons".  I thought it would be cool to make a circular frame and wrap a ribbon around it.  I think I've seen it done somewhere in blogland before some time ago, but who knows where.  Just sayin', it isn't my idea.   I used my digital image, "Teddy's First Christmas" and coloured it with water colour inks.   This is actually the original that Whimsy is selling as a pre-coloured digi.  

I used some paper from mine and Ann's original designer paper, also sold at Whimsy.  It is from the Holiday Folly pack. 

Here's hoping for a bright and happy 2011 for you and yours!

Daughter's Purple Christmas Card

Ever since any of us can remember, purple has been daughter Val's favourite colour for anything and everything.  So every card I make for her has to be purple, no matter the occasion!  So this is her purple Christmas card for this year.  :-)

I stamped the larger poinsettia from my "Vintage Christmas" stamp set for Whimsy Stamps onto brown card stock.  It isn't "kraft" but it looks like it (kinda).  I wanted to use pencil crayons this time for the colouring.  I got inspired by Annika, who has been doing a lot of pencil crayon colouring these days.  I used Copic White in places when I was done to intensify the white in places.

The sentiment inside was done using a digital sentiment by Ann of Raindrop Echo Designs, also for Whimsy Stamps.   It is from her "Christmas Sentiments" collection.   I simply brought it into my Photoshop Elements program to add some colour with the paint bucket tool.  Fun!

Enjoy your holidays folks!  I know I will!  Thanks for coming by today!

Another Christmas Card

 I made this card for my MIL, who is responsible for getting me into this stamping habit!   And as a result, the stamp illustration jobs that I have been doing for about six and a half years now! Thanks Mom, your influence has enriched my life!  I will always be grateful to you for sharing your love of cards and stamps with me!

The image is one I did for Whimsy in a set called, Peace on Earth.  Now this image of the branches is much larger than the actual stamp.  I had to enlarge it when I was colouring it to use on the designer papers that Ann and I created.  The stamp is 1.8 x 2.8 " but this one is around 3.75" big.   The dp is one of Ann's and my creations as well, from the Holiday Folly Pack.

I coloured the image using Copics.  

I must say though that I have to think twice about using Smooch Pearlized Top Coat on certain inks.  Because it caused the black ink in the berries to smudge.  boo.  Live and learn.

This is the inside of the card.  I used one of Ann's digital sentiments from the 

"Christmas Sentiments" set.  I brought it into Photoshop Elements 8 to add some colour to the design.  I love being able to alter digis with colour using the computer!  Its so fast and fun!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Creative Belli Blog: Christmas

Freshly Brewed Challenges: Merry Christmas

For Fun Challenges: Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes

Starry Night

Hi and welcome to my blog!  I have another Christmas card today, this one uses the rubber stamp I did for Whimsy, Starry Night.  I had fun trying to make the image look like night time without getting too dark.  The shadows on the polar bear were tricky but I am happy with the result I got.   

I used some of Ann's ticket stamps from her Holiday Ticket Sentiment set.  I also used her Ticket Die to cut it out perfectly.  And my snowflake die too!  I trimmed the one on top of the bow.  I have a second one just under the bow, its hard to see in the photo. 

I coloured Starry Night with the following Copics:

Sky: B63 plus pencil crayon to smooth out the lines of demarcation.  I find when I use a medium shade of Copics, and I have a huge area to cover, I can't do it without some lines showing.  Before I added the pencil crayon to make the streaks disappear, I used the blender pen to remove dots of colour where I wanted stars.  It made a nice little round "halo" for the stars.  I also removed some streaks in long lines to show the "rays" of the stars.  Then I went over the whole sky with my pencil crayon, and avoided the areas I had used the blender pen on.  Once I was done with the pencil crayon, I dotted Copic white in all the areas where I had used the blender pen to make a pinpoint "star". 

R22 was used on the horizon and blended towards the blue with the blender pen. 

Three big stars: Y23 and white pencil crayon, and then Smooch pearlized top coat to make them shine. 

I used white pencil crayon to make more "rays" coming out from the three big stars. 

Polar Bear Fur: 

E50 all over the entire bear's fur area.  In the shadows I used E53, B60, 63, 66 and C4. Cheek area was done with R00, 01, and 12.  I then used Copic white to make fur-like strokes all over, avoiding the cheek and inner ear area, and also avoiding the black lines of his eyes and facial features. 

After the first coat was dry, I went over it with more E53, B63 and 66 to deepen the shadows. 

Hat and scarf: R00, 22, 24 went on first.  I wanted a pinker look, so then I went over those colours with RV00, 21, 23 and 25.  I made some deep shadows using C2 and 5, and then went over those grey shadows with the RV colours again.  

 Fur trim on hat: C5, 3, 2

Penguin: N0, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8

Feet and Beak: E93, 95, 99

White feathers: E50, 53, C2

Ground and Shadow: E50, B60, 63, 66, C8, 6, B000, Blender and Copic White

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy:  Snow

Stampin for the Weekend: Christmas

Stampin Royalty: Bring on the Bling

Gingersnap Creations: Polar Animals

Dutch Dare Card Challenges: Winter

Cute Card Thursday: One for the Kids

Copic Creations: Sparkle!

SCS WT 301: All That Glitters

Thanks for looking today! If you have any questions, send me an e-mail (address in my watermark and on my profile page). 

I'd Follow You Anywhere

Hi and welcome to my blog!  I have another Christmas card to share with you today.  I used my new "I'd Follow You Anywhere" image I illustrated for Whimsy Stamps.  This one is a rubber stamp, deeply etched red rubber of the highest quality.  The sentiment is by Raindrop Echo Designs and is found in this beautiful set called Winter Letter Seals.

I must say that I was really inspired by Annika's card on her blog.  I copied her card a little bit  and I even wrote to ask her what colours she used on the polar bear fur.  And she graciously filled me in!  Thanks Annika, waving!!

I find polar bear fur is always a bit of a challenge to colour.  Polar bears really are a creamy golden off-white and not pure white.  However, if you use Copics and make the whole bear yellow, its going to look really odd! 

White really does show some colour, as it reflects a lot of its' surroundings -  especially in the shaded areas.  It is just difficult to decide exactly what colours to use sometimes!  

 I did something a little different this time.  After I had coloured the fur using Copics, I took out a small round water colour brush and went over the whole body with single strokes of Copic White.  I had a base coat of E50 all over the entire body, and had used some greys and B60, 63 in the really dark areas. So when I made small fur strokes with the Copic White, it really stood out with the darker colours underneath. 

 I love how Copic White is the most opaque white I have.  It is even more opaque than my Acrylic white.  So it really gives great coverage and shows up really well against colours.  That's why it worked so well here. I also added a few white strokes of Copic White on the penguin's tummy and face and also made the snowflakes by just dabbing the tip of my brush all over the background and ground. 

Here is the list of Copic colours used on the image:

Polar Bear fur: E50 all over, then E53, B60, B63, W1, 3, 4, N0, 1, 3

I used those same colours on the ground underneath the characters too, and added B66 and N6 in the darkest shadows under the feet. 

R00, 01 and 12 for the cheek blush

Hats and scarves: R20, 22, 24, RV10, 21, FRV1, G20, 21, 24 and N6 for the deepest shadows on the pink parts of the hats.

Penguin feet and beak: E93, 95, 97, 99

Penguin body: N0, 1, 3, 5, 6

Background above the characters:  R20, G20, B60 - I used a lot of blender in this section.  I wet a small section first with the blender, then just dabbed on a few dots of colour, and blended it out for a subtle look.  I added a wee bit of light purple pencil crayon in places where I didn't get a soft blend.  Then Copic white in spots overtop for the look of snow falling. 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges: 

Incy Wincy Designs:  Non-traditional Colours

Fab 'n Funky: Christmas is for the children

Cupcake Craft Challenges: Non Traditional Christmas

Riley and Co: Metallics

Creative Card Crew: Anything Goes

Artful Inkables: Punches or die cuts

A Spoonful of Sugar: Christmas

And don't forget it isn't too late to enter my challenge at Sundays With Crissy!   We're doing "Christmas or Winter cards" too! I have a couple of digi's to give away to one lucky participant. 

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going well!  I got the last of my cards out in the mail today.  Just a couple more things to purchase and I'm all set! 

Bye for now!

Rubber Release! Hop! Candy!

Hello and welcome to the Whimsy Stamps December new rubber release BLOG HOP!

We have NINE gorgeous new Whimsy Stamps to show you today! These new stamps are available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites. We also have our wonderful special guests joining us for this hop - the amazing trio of Bev, Deb, and Beate!

Here is a full list of the super fabulous new rubber stamps being released today:

Winter's Joy (Crissy Armstrong)

Valerie's Gift (Crissy Armstrong)

I'd Follow You Anywhere (Crissy Armstrong)

Love in a Bucket (Crissy Armstrong)

Cozy Cap Mouse (Meljen's Designs)

Penguin's Present (Meljen's Designs)

Love Letter Seals (Raindrop Echo Designs)

Music Notes Background (Raindrop Echo Designs)

Friendship Tickets (Raindrop Echo Designs)

I will be giving "I'd Follow You Anywhere" to one lucky participant!  All you have to do to enter the draw is use the Inlinkz option at the bottom of this post!  If you don't have a blog to link to, just let me know in the comments section and I'll make sure you are entered as well.  Here is "I'd Follow You Anywhere":

If you would like to participate in the hop and you didn't arrive here from Bev's blog, please CLICK HERE to return to the beginning of the hop at Bev's blog.

The hop starts today (Wednesday December 8th at noon EST) and ends on Wednesday December 15th at noon EST.

For this hop we have 7 different prize draws - WOW! The grand prize of ALL 9 of the new release stamps is being hosted by Simonne at the very end of the hop, but there are also 6 mini candy stops throughout the hop! Of course as you can see, I am one of them, but  I'm not going to tell you where the rest are, so you'll just have to keep on hopping to find them! *wink* 

For my blog hop creation I used Winter's Joy which I illustrated.   Here is your close-up:

I coloured her using water colour techniqes and water based Tombow Pens and Distress Inks.   I made her sparkle with glitter on her boots and Smooch Pearlized Top Coat on her scarf and hat.  The side view shows the sparkle more:

The sweet sentiment is by Ann of Raindrop Echo Designs and is found in her Winter Letter Seals set.  

So now it's time for you to continue the hop by hopping on over to Beate's blog where I know she has something amazing to show you!

Finally, here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:

Bev Rochester

YOU ARE HERE Crissy Armstrong YOU ARE HERE

Beate Johns

Vanja Stevanovic

Lori Pachkowsky

  Debbie Eastman

Patricia Garcia

Donna Smith

Annika Ryan

Ann Vento

Chris Olsen

Marley van der Heljden

Vicki Parson

Denise Lynn

Erin Bailey

Iris Wiechmann

Deb Routledge

Crystal Irwin

Simonne Clay

Here is a place where you can link your blog so you can be entered into the candy draw.

Thank you so much for hopping with us today and I hope you enjoy the new releases!

Whimsy Digi Blog Hop is ON!!

Welcome to my blog and the last stop on the Whimsy hop that kicks off December's digi release!  It's a big one, with new digi's from me, Ann, Katie and Melissa of Meljen's Designs. Plus me and Mel have coloured up some images for you to use as pre-coloured images!  Each file is JPG at 300dpi for high print quality.  And as usual, you can alter, resize, flip, or crop these images to your heart's content! 

If you have come from Sandra's blog, you are right on track.  If you want to start at the beginning and go all the way through, start at The Whimsy Blog where the hop order will be posted for your convenience. 

Now since I am the last stop, I will be choosing a grand prize winner from the comments on this post! But be sure to leave comments along the whole hop because two more blogs will also be randomly chosen to dish out some free images.  

The grand prize I will give to one lucky commenter will include their choice of five Whimsy digital images, and the chance to use those images as a GUEST DESIGNER for the month of December!  How cool is that! Chillin with the Whimsy Chicks for a month. 

You have until Tues. Dec 7th at noon to complete the hop.  Hop winners will be announced sometime after that. :-)

The first set of cards uses "Leap of Joy" fully coloured.  Now this image, and all the coloured images now for sale are also available as regular black-and-white images as usual.  Here is a link to the regular black and white version of Leap of Joy.

Here is a close-up of what the pre-coloured image will look like when you purchase it for immediate download (minus the watermark of course!):

I coloured the original on water colour paper using water based inks, namely Tombow Pens and Distress inks.  The white snow was hand painted with Copic White after the water colours were dry.

I wanted to chat with you about the pre-coloured images Whimsy is now offering.

I realize that a lot of us find the fun part of making the card is the
colouring. That being said, it is also great to be able to make up a card in a
hurry when you need to.
The upcoming holidays esp put a lot of pressure on us to get cards made. And
sometimes, it is impossible to make a card for everyone on your list, just for
sheer volume.
The pre-coloured images offer a workable solution to that problem!
I had a brainstorm idea to combine Ann's lovely digital frames with my
pre-coloured images and make cards on my computer that I could simply print off!
Once you create the template, it is so easy to just hit "print". Then after a
trim and a fold, voila, you've got your card! It is still hand made, but it
only takes a couple of minutes of your time!
Now mind you, the pre-coloured images can still be used as we normally use an
image we have coloured ourselves. And we can still layer our cards and
embellish them as always. (see the post below this one for an example)
I just wanted to point out that the other option, to print off a simple flat one
layer card, is also there.
I used a combination of effects found in iPhoto and Photoshop Elements 8 to
create the image templates. I then brought them into Word where I resized them and added text.
It was such a dream to work with the beautiful frames Ann created for us! It
was fun to add some colour to parts of them, and to stretch them to fit my
pictures. I think her frames plus pre-coloured digi images is the perfect
marriage!

The deer card used Ann's Happy Holidays frame from Dressed Up Shapes 2. 
If anyone has any questions as to how I did any of it, I'd be happy to answer
you.  I won't be doing a tut on this anytime soon.  I really don't know how to go about that, as it was all done on computer.  And with so many different photo shop type programs out there, telling you how I did it on mine will only help those who have the same programs I have.  Nonetheless, if this computer-challenged non-geek can do it, anyone can! lol

Here's what I printed on the inside:

And on the back:

Here is another sample using "Touched By Love" pre-coloured digi in combination with another frame from the Dressed Up Shapes 2 set or sold individually as Curvy Frame Small Dots: 

I'm using these cards to also kick off my December challenge over at Sundays With Crissy.  Our theme for the whole month of December is Christmas is Coming or Winter is Here (your choice). Please join in the challenge if you can, and show us your Christmas or Winter cards!

Why not pay a visit to the Whimsy Store to see all the new digi's available, and mark your calendars for a new RUBBER RELEASE coming DEC 8th!

Thanks for your time today!