Simply Betty Fan Page Challenge - Medusa

Simply Betty's Facebook Fan page had a challenge this month to colour this lovely image of Medusa. The challenge was to use black, cream and one other colour. The other challenge for me was to colour all those snakes! Not easy I can tell you.

I used the Print & Cut technique on your Cougar to cut my digi out & I went with one of my favourite colours at the moment - turquoise using my Duck egg, Turquoise, Marine & Petrol Blue Promarkers.

Her skin is Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush & pastel pink Cheeks

Dress: Satin & Ivory

The background is a free cut file from Birds Cards called Swirly Frame 5 - I thought it matched the snake theme nicely. I've left space to add a sentiment later on the black oval if I want to.

Hougie Bookspine Gatefold Cards

I've been playing with another of the ideas from Everyone Needs a Hougie 3. It's funny how an idea that doesn't jump at you immediately can turn out to be something you love. This is the Bookspine Gatefold Card. Very simple to make but so effective.

This is the card I made for my Mum's birthday.

I used my new Gorjuss Stamp set - I found my Family in a Book. 

The papers are from the Gorjuss Ultimate Paper & Die Cut pack The ones on the side are actually a dark turquoise but have come out grey in the photo.

I coloured the little girl with my Promakers:

Skin: Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Pastel Pink Cheeks

Hair: Henna, Chestnut, Burgundy, Walnut

Dress & Butterflies: Turquoise, Marine, Petrol Blue

Boots: Caramel, Burnt Sienna

As you can see the side panels sit flat for posting but tuck under her arms so they stand up for display.

I also made an envelope for it using my Hougie board & washi tape

This is the same card base made with paper from the Tulip & Friends DVD from Do Crafts & some Anita's peel off stickers

Promarkers used:

Skin: Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Pastel Pink Cheeks

Hair: Tulip Yellow, Sunflower, Gold

Dress & Butterflies: Carmine, Shocking Pink Flexmarker, Vermillion Flexmarker

Boots: Caramel, Burnt Sienna

I used my trusty Cougar Cutting Machine from Thyme Graphics to cut out the Gorjuss girl & elements in the second card. I did this by stamping the images, scanning them in & tracing the outline in Inkscape. I then deleted the scanned version as I only wanted it for the outline & didn't want to breach copyright.

I cut the outlines from a sheet of Diamond White cardstock & while still on the carrier mat I stamped the images. I used my Stampin' Up Stamp-A-Ma-Jig  to make sure the rubber stamp was in exactly the right place on the card. 

It took a bit of time to set up but now means I can have a fussy cut shape without having to cut it by hand

Hougie Tool Chest

On Page 23 of Everyone Needs a Hougie 3 there is a Dresser made of matchboxes. 

Me being me I decided to interpret it slightly differently & made this Tool Chest. 

I used the basic instructions but added a flap top like you see on the big tool chests that go in garages. 

I used some sizzlits tool dies & layered 4 card layers of each tool together to make it more substantial.

I used silver peel off stickers to imitate the silver bar along the front of the drawers & Papermania Chronology Brads that look like flat head screws as the handles. 

I hope you like it - I'd love to know what you think 

St Patrick's Day - Digi Galore Challenge

It's challenge time again at Digi Galore! This time the theme is St Patrick's Day & our sponsor is Bugaboo. Come along & join us & win some Bugaboo digi's.

I chose to use Gus - Marriage - Woman Angels. He's not in the St Patrick's Day section of Bugaboo but to me he immediately looked like a man who was in need of a pint of the black stuff. I chose not to use the sentiment that came with the digi but created my own in Craft Artist 2. I coloured my image with my Promarkers & mounted it on glitter card as no one can have too much glitter on St Paddy's day can they?

Hope you like it. Don't forget to come over & join in at Digi Galore x

Custom Envelopes made on Hougie Board

One thing I regularly use my Hougie board to make envelopes for cards. I've started to make 15 cm square cards & don't have any envelopes so it's great to be able to make my own.

It's really easy to do - all you need is 2 sheets of A4 paper & some washi/ paper tape. If you don't have the washi tape you could use strips of patterned paper.

Place your paper on your Hougie and place your card centrally on the paper. Choose the next groove out on either side of the card & score all the way down the length of the paper. Do the Hougie trick.

Turn the card & paper 90 degrees and butt into the corner of the Hougie. Score on the groove below the bottom of the card. Do the Hougie Trick.

Trim the paper so it looks like this

Fold & the basis of the envelope is ready. 

Attach the second sheet of A4 to the top edge of the base with washi tape.

Trim it to give the desired size overlap & cut the edges at an angle.

Fold & Stick the flaps. Use Washi tape to cover the side & bottom edges of the envelope so all the edges match.

If you have envelope glue you can use that on the flaps. Alternatively use a small strip of washi tape.

Nice & easy & you can make envelopes any size you want. 

Canvas Word Art

I've seen several white on white word art canvases on Pinterest & thought I'd have a go at making one myself. The method usually suggested is to use a canvas, adhere wooden letters, then spray the whole canvas white - as shown in this tutorial.  I decided to think laterally (as I usually do) and come up with a different way of making it. Using my trusty Cougar cutting machine from Thyme Graphics I was able to make my own  that only cost pennies.

I used one of the 'make your own canvas kits' like this one but used a sheet of Rymans 200gsm Smooth White cardstock rather than the supplied canvas paper as I wanted the letters to exactly match the backing. I designed the letters in Inkscape using slightly thickened Edwardian Script and welded them. I cut 6 copies in the Rymans cardstock and carefully glued them one on top of each other so they gained the appearance of chipboard letters. I then glued the words to the canvas.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. Amazing what you can do with some glue & a few sheets of
white card.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

MilkCoffee Challenge - White on White 

Something a bit different - No Lines

Simply Betty's Challenge Blog has a challenging challenge this time - printing the digi with almost no lines showing! I've seen a few people colour like this & it looks very different but I decided to give it a go.

I must say it was challenging (the whole point of a challenge I suppose!). I took the intensity of the lines down in Publisher by right clicking on the image < format picture < washout. This seemed to set it about right without greying out the rest of the picture which is what happened when I tried to change the brightness or contrast. The lines still show a bit but not much.

Colouring was challenging - I had to be a lot more careful about the edges of different elements & she looked very peculiar at various points but I'm pleased with how she's turned out.

 I was doubly brave & ventured into the world of patterned paper which I normally struggle with. Not sure why I went for it this time & I went for a spectacularly patterned paper but I think it works. I've left the sentiment off so I can add one when a suitable recipient comes up.

I'm pleased as I've finally found a combination of pens that give a bright pink I really like - they are Cerise Promarker, Shocking Pink Flexmarker, Vermillion Flexmarker & Maroon Promaker. It's taken a bit of searching but I'm finally there.

Digi - Sugar Plum Fairy from Simply Betty Stamps

Paper from DCWV Butterflies and Blossoms 8x8 Stack

Promarkers & Flexmarkers*:

Skin - Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Pastel Pink Cheeks

Hair - Tulip Yellow, Sunflower, Gold

Eyes - True Blue, Azure, Sky Blue

Dress & Ballet Shoes -  Cerise, Shocking Pink*, Vermillion*, Maroon

Ribbons - Pink Carnations, Fushia Pink

Roses - Blender pen, Pink Carnation

Leaves - March Green, Olive Green

Tiara - Metallic Gold

Digi Galore Challenges - Mother's Day with Jellypark

I know it's not time for my team to do the challenge on Digi Galore but I love the images so much that I thought I'd jump on board & join in. The theme this fortnight is Mother's Day (hint hint it's on the 10th March in the UK) & our sponsor is the lovely Claire from Jellypark. The prize is 5 digis from the Jellypark shop so do come along & join in.

I chose the beautiful Woman Gardening stamp to work with & decided to make something other than a card this time. I made this Match Box Gift Set following the instructions in Everyone Needs a Hougie 3. It takes a while to assemble & make it perfect but I'm really pleased with the result as it's nice & sturdy. The base is made with 4 drawers to hide nice treats for my Mum in.

Card - Lidl Card pack

Patterned Paper - Winter Wonderland - The English Paper Company

Brads - Papermania

AB Self Adhesive Rhinestones

White Lace

I used lots of colours of Promarkers on this digi as there were many different elements:

Skin - Coral, Sunkissed pink, Blush, Pastel Pink Cheeks

Hair - Buttercup, Pastel Yellow, Mustard

Jumper - Orchid, Amathyst, Purple

Gloves - Purple, Plum

Shirt - Rose Pink, Blossom

Trousers - Olive Green

Soil - Henna, Walnut

Post - Cinnamon, Cocoa, Walnut

Grass - Grass, Lush Green

Snail - Satin, homeycomb, pumpkin

Fork - Ice Grey 2 & 5, Cinnamon

Flowers - Cerise, Mulberry

Robin - Berry Red, Cinnamon

Sky - Powder Blue

Come along and join us at Digi Galore - we'd love to see what you make x

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Sincerely Yours Creations - Mothers Day