Blog Hop | Color Life by Quim Diaz from Coses d'Scrap

Today I am super excited to be able to participate in a very special Blog Hop to celebrate the wonderful new products designed by my friend Quim Díaz from Coses d'Scrap alongside some of my crafty friends including Alberto, Quim, Elena, Gerry...

This is the card I made. I wanted to go colouring, cardmaking and with my minimalist style to showcase the versatility of this collection.

I will let you in to a little secret. I love colouring, but I always find it a challenge to find easy to colour images and many times I don't get a perfect impression when I stamp on watercolour card. 

So these bold printed watercolour papers ready to colour are perfect for me!

I selected the Nature Life pack of 12 x 12 papers printed on watercolour thick paper.

You can learn more about the whole the products from Colorlife here.

I love that the papers are designed so that there are a lot of elements in them, perfect to trim them to create smaller pieces as well as leaving them all in the 12 x 12 paper. I trimmed the that sakura branch and trimmed to fit inside the frame, but then I changed my mind and did not use the frame but layered in to a card. Typical!

I just love the poppies in the bottom as well, so it was a tough choice between them all.

I was lucky enough to be gifted in February the whole set of Distress Markers and I hadn't had a change to use them for a project, so this was the perfect occasion to use them.

As I used Spun Sugar which is already a very light colour, with water even more so, I used the soft felt brush nib directly to the paper.

Then I blended the colour using a water brush. I recommend strongly to get the best quality water brushes you can afford, as there is a huge difference between the cheaper and more expensive ones. I kept an acrylic block near by to use as a palette, scribbled some ink with the marker

Using the fine nib, I added little dots where the shadows should be inspired by the real flowers, like almond tree blossom, that have that sort of dots on them.

To add even more darker dots I used the Fired Mahogany marker. Because the paper is still very damped, the dots bleed slightly so the effect is quite beautiful and random.

Then, I coloured the branch using Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap (just for the accent dots).

For the leaves I used Shabby Shutters marker, though I did not used it direct. I scribbled it on to the acrylic block and with the watercolour marker I coloured it pcking each time the colour form the block.

For the dots effect I used Crushed Olive Distress marker.

Then, I used Tonic Studios Nuvo Glue Pen, which is a dual glue as it dries to a clear tacky finish which is perfect for the next step.

Of course, gilding flakes! I love them! Once the glue was tacky, I placed with my fingers the Nuvo Gilding Flakes, press down to make sure there was contact, and then rub off the excess with a stencil brush.

To add a sentiment, I used one of my sentiments of the Big Sentiments set with Versafine Black ink pad.

Then I attached it to card and added a little bow butterfly using grey bakers twine on the top right corner.

I just love the dot effect! And those flowers are so pretty.

I hope you like it!

Be sure to visit all the bloggers in the blog hop!

- Annika Flebbe

- Alberto Juárez

- Elena Roche

- Gerry Van Gent

- Karine Cazenave

- Paula Pascual ( That's me!)

- Quim Díaz

- Silvia Curti

Thanks Quim for letting me play with your fabulous new collection!

A visit to Sizzix Europe HQ!

This year I was invited to visit Sizzix Europe HQ in Wales as part of a blogger meet. As I used to be a full time employee of Sizzix not that long ago, I love going to Sizzix to see everyone who works there and specially meet the bloggers that I have been following for a while.

 It was quite an internattional affair with (from left to right): Silvia Curti from Italy, Karine Cazenave-Tapie from France, Quim Diaz from Spain, Gerry Van Gent from Holland (though originally from Bulgaria) and Annika Flebbe from Germany. And then, me representing the UK and Spain I suppose!

Its always a sight to see the Sizzix showroom. With gorgeous samples made by Pete Hughes and Angela Southey, the in house creative designers.

The Big Shot Plus, of course place of pride.

Its always lovely to see that projects I did a couple of years ago are still gracing the walls of Sizzix.

And all those beautifully made quilts and patchwork elements. Angela is so talented!

When you have so many bloggers and Instagram addicts, this is what happens when someone gives you a pretty little something.

We did some crafting on the creative room. This is where Pete works daily.

We visited the warehouse so we had to wear this very attractive vest, but Silvia was rocking hers. The luck of being italian!

 I think I was the only one excited to be wearing the vest! Its fun but not very pretty.

The next day, it was just Annika, Gerry and myself (the other three had arrived a day earlier and left a day before us), we had lunch in this lovely meeting room. Create and Inspire, good creative words to have around!

And then it was my turn to record some tutorials. I have never seen my name on a clacket board. I got all excited! (To be fair, it doesn't take much to make me over excited!)

Quite a professional set up!

And I had to take this photo! I thought it was so funny!

And then it was time to say goodbye to one of my favourite people in the world, Pete Hughes, such a joy to see him and spend some time in the craft room like the old times. This time though, I had to share him with great talented people.

On the way to the hotel I suggested to Gerry, Annika had already left for the airport, to go to the beautiful village of Llangollen, as it is not far at all. Such a pretty place

We had fun!

It was a great little trip and I came back full of inspiration, thank you Sizzix!