Whoops - Late again - with CC Designs

Hmmm I think I need to make a batch of these! Stupidly for a cardmaker I'm very regularly late sending birthday cards! I don't know why but birthdays seem to disappear into M.E Brain Fog even when I have them written down! I know my friends do know I love them - but a few of these in reserve may be very useful!

I really love this image from CC Designs' Roberto's Rascals. She's called Huh! and her expression is just priceless! I've absolutely fallen in love with the images from CC Designs, but haven't played with them nearly as much as I'd like to. It's a company that's newish to having digi stamps and they make me excited.

Here's Huh!'s close up.

I typed the sentiment and added some Sakura Stardust gel pen & a few layers of clear Sakura Glaze pen. I love the dimension it gives sentiments.

Copics used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - E51, E53, E55, E57

Top - C1, C2, C3, C5

Cardigan - R35, R37, R39, R89, W7

Skirt - B21, B24, B26, B28

Shoes - C9, 100

W2, W3, W5

Pilot Gold Super Gel Pen

I hope she's made you smile as much as she did me.

Jillian Creates with Make it Crafty

I needed to make a Thank you card & chose Jillian Creates from Make it Crafty and cropped her so she snuggles on the card.

Here's her close up. I do love her expression.

I typed the sentiment and added some Sakura Stardust gel pen on the uprights before adding several layers of clear Sakura Glaze pen to give it dimension.

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 cheeks

Hair - E23, E25, E27, E29, E49

Top - BG53, BG57, BG18, BG78

Trousers - B95, B97, B99

Hearts & Ribbons - R24, R27, R29, R59, W7

I hope you like her and really hope you'll come and join in the Make it Crafty Skin Colouring Challenge.

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Simple Storage for Make it Crafty Chipboard

I had a play this week and updated my Chipboard storage. I've built up quite a collection of Chippies (well they're addictive aren't they and Zoe keeps bringing out amazing new designs!).

Until now I've been keeping them in an airtight plastic box, but I wasn't happy with rummaging through them each time I wanted to find one (or to just admire my collection).

A quick adaptation with a pack of zip seal plastic bags & some sticky labels & it's so much better!

I used:

0.4l Zip Seal Bags from Ikea - they are 15 x 16cm

1300ml Airtight Plastic Box from Asda - in the kitchenware department. Its 20 x 13 x 7cm

Sticky Labels cut to size

Different sized bags & boxes would work just as well - these just happened to work nicely - and I had them in the house which was a bonus.

I've labelled the bags with the contents. With some I've only stored one design per bag - eg 'Birthday' I have quite a pile of them in several different sizes so they're all in one bag; with other designs I've put two designs in each bag.

I put the labels in different positions depending on whether they're Single Layered Words, Adapt-a-words, or Tinklings etc. - a little thing, but it makes it easier to find the different sections when I'm flicking through them.

Nice and easy to find and nicely contained so those mischievous ones can't play hide & seek or escape. I like keeping them in airtight box as the UK can be more than a little damp & I like to keep them in the best condition and not risk them getting damp.

When I've finished creating the lid pops on and they're safely away until next time.

I hope this idea is helpful for you. There are all sorts of ideas that would work, but this is one that worked for me with bits I had in the house.

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Just Because - with Sweet Escape Digis

I fancied making a 'Just Because' Card .... just because! I thought I'd use Lovely Girl from Sweet Escape Digis as I've not coloured her for ages.

Clean & Simple with a simple sentiment - just as I like it. I coloured her with my Copics and used Polychomo Pencils to add details to her hair. It's something I don't do often enough as I love the effect.

I added a hint of Sakura Stardust pen on the uprights of the letters and then added several layers of clear Sakura Glaze pen. I added Wink of Stella to the coloured card base to add a hint of shimmer.

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R30 Cheeks

Hair - E51, E53, E55,

Eyes - G82, G46, B93, B95, B97

Dress - BV02, BV04, BV08

Belt - C2, C3, C5

Heart - R24, R27, R29, R59, W7

Sakura Stardust Gel pen, Clear Sakura Glaze pen

Wink of Stella

I hope you like her x

Mmm Doughnuts - With Tiddly Inks

We all know January is about healthy eating right? Well it's taken me most of the month to get on board with it so Molly's Donut seemed a suitably appropriate image for me to play with :D 

I typed the sentiment myself and was seriously tempted to add 'Or the Day After.....' on the inside!

I cut Molly's Donut out on my Silver Bullet Cutting Machine using the Print & Cut feature. It's fun being able to make shaped cards like this.

I coloured  Molly's Donut with my copics and added a layer of Stickles Sugar Dust to the glaze on the doughnut with a few accents of Stickles Stardust. It really does look like it's got a shimmery sugar coating! Yum! 

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24, YR27

Dress & Shoes - Rv81, RV83, RV85, RV89

Doughnut - E31, E33, E35, RV00, RV81

Don't forget the 'Anything Goes' Challenge that's running over at Tiddly Inks Blog.

Make it Crafty January 'Skin' Challenge

Well here we go - the first Make it Crafty challenge of 2018. How on earth did we get here! It feels like no time at all since we were celebrating the beginning of 2017 ... or 2015 for that matter. But hey ho - on with the colouring!

The first challenge of the year is 'Skin' - a nice easy one eh - so many of us feature Make it Crafty people in our creations. If you need some extra inspiration or pointers why not pick up one of Zoe's Ebook Tutorials - there's the Basic Techniques when Colouring Faces Ebook and Basic Techniques when Shading Body Tones Ebook. 

I chose to use the new digi Insta Penelope. Isn't she great! Lots of skin (and lots of hair!). I paired her with a collection of Chippies to create a full sentiment.

I do love the effect of chippies. I used three different ones - Sending Single Layered Word Chipboard, Birthday Single Layered Word Chipboard and Love from Sending Adapt-a-word. I double embossed them with WOW Rich Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder. and coloured the base with Copics.

Here's Insta Penelope's close up. I do love the details in her clothes & hair & of course all that skin. I kept her fairly simple rather than adding lots of the details in the Ebooks, but I will do her again sometime with all the extra details. I had fun playing with a different colour combination for her clothes.

Products used:

Digi -  Insta Penelope

Chipboards - Sending Single Layered Word Chipboard

Birthday Single Layered Word Chipboard

Love from Sending Adapt-a-word.

Copics Used:

Skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 with R20 Cheeks

Hair - YR12, YR15, YR18, E09, E19

Eyes - G82, G46, G29

Clothes - BG45, BG49, BG09, B97, B99

Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24

C2, C3, C5

Shadow - W2, W3, W5

Pilot SuperGel Gold Pen

Wink of Stella Clear

I hope you like her and hope you join in the Make it Crafty 'Skin' Challenge - it runs until the end of January.

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I'm on the Tiddly Inks Design Team!!!

I have exciting news! I've joined the Tiddly Inks Design Team! The Tiddly Inks DT take part in a challenge each month  and share projects throughout the month in the Facebook fans group.  I've always loved the Tiddly Inks digi stamps, so am over the moon to be part of the Design Team. 

So here we go - my first Tiddly Inks DT creation. 

I decided to go small & clean & simple using Changing Chameleon.

What better card to make than a 'Hello'!

 I extended the branch to reach the edge of the card & paired him with the Hello Single Layered Word Chipbard from Make it Crafty.  I coloured the chippie with Copics & finished with Stickles. Here's a close up.

Here's a super close up of Changing Chameleon. I coloured him with copics and used the copic blender pen to give him lighter spots. I love how it creates a light pattern.

Copics used:

YG13, YG17, G46. G29, Blender

T3, T5

E55, E57, E59

Stickles Stardust

I hope he's made you smile & look forward to sharing more Tiddly Ink Creations in the future.
Pop over and join in the challenge - all you need to do is use a Tiddly Inks image in your creation

Instagram Nine Best of 2017

For the last few years I've loved seeing the analysis of my nine 'most liked' photos on Instagram. This year is no different - there's a real range of amazing digi companies featured - some of my very favourites - Mo's Digital Pencil, KennyK Stamps (Oh how I miss them!), Kraftin' Kimmie, CC Designs & Make it Crafty. Lots of colouring, Lots of happy!