Monday 31 October 2011

Simply Betty Stamps - 12 Days of Halloween part 2!

Well what an absolute nightmare of a week (or couple of weeks if I am honest) I have had!!  I was so geared up to complete all the challenges for the 12 days of Halloween over at Simply Betty Stamps.  But still at this point (7 hours before deadline) I still have 2 cards half finished left to do!!  Not only have we been having a few 'teenage' related issues with my son, it being half term and having my step son to stay, I have also been struck with some sort of bug that has had me backwards and forwards to the doctors like a yoyo!!  I have decided to give myself a break now and admitt that I just didn't have the umph to complete it all.  Under the circumstances (for once) I know this is the right choice!

Anyway I have completed 10 out of the 12 (and who knows I might well be back here in a couple of hours putting the final two entries in if my poor tummy holds out, temp doesn't go up anymore and I can stay awake!!).

You have already seen my first 3 entries in the previous post so I shall be showing  another 7 here so be warned!! 

On the fourth day of halloween my true love gave to me......

4 Skeletons......

Ummmmmm, This is one of the unfinished ones and is sat in pieces on my craft desk!!

On the fifth day of halloween my true love gave to me......

5 Scary Spooks


Papers- Docrafts and Echo park
Image- Tickled Pink
Letting- Kandco

On the sixth day of halloween my true love gave to me.....

6 goblins gobbling




The inspiration for this project came from the wonderful film, The Labyrinth. One of my all time favourites.  I used a photo from the film of the labyrinth itself as the backgound paper.  The baby image is from Saturated Canary and I have coloured him in red and white stripes just the same as the baby in the film.   The image of the goblin is a pro marker sketch copied from a book that I own....."Good Fairies ...... Bad Fairies" by Brian Froud.   He designed the characters for the film and again I am a fan......(have been since the days of "Dark Crystal").

As for my goblin, I made him using fimo.  He has then been finished off with some acrylic paint and some cheesecloth.  I adore him and now I want to make more and more.  He is holding a sign with words from the film which say "Say the right words".  This is then followed up on the card with a second quote from the film, this time it reads "I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away.... right now"
And this is where the fun begins!!  I have really enjoyed this project and just wish the inspiration had come a lot sooner.....  I would've done a much better job!!


On the seveth day of Halloween my true love gave to me......

7 pumpkins glowing


Here I have used the gorgeous Pumpkin Mickey Hat Betty Digi (from SBS) and the Pumpkin Boarder from The Octopode. 1 + 6 =7!!
I have also used some green and black crackle beads, some glittery ribbon and the words are from Docrafts again.  Think this will be the card my neice recieves!!


On the eighth day of halloween my true love gave to me.....

8 monsters shrieking


Scarey spider image is from Rick St.Dennis and gorgeous girl is the Gabby digi from the Zander Zone collection at SBS.
Paper- Docrafts

on the ninth day of halloween my true love gave to me........

9 ghosts a booing


The image is "Danien Digi" from SBS and although I coloured everything with my promarkers I wanted him to look ghostly.  Once I finished colouring him I used a soft pastel and then some clear glitter to make him sparkle.  I then used 8 tiny ghosts from some halloween confetti to make up my number of 9.
Pepers- docrafts
lettering and fence di cut- from stash.


On the tenth day of halloween my true love gave to me....

10 gouls a groaning

Well this is the other card that is in pieces!!!  So no number 10 here!

On the eleventh day of halloween my true love gave to me......

11 casks a leaning

After much confusion, swearing (!!) and a little research thisa is what I ended up with.


If you look closely you will see that there are 10 containers in the picture that are coloured blue....that along with the real bottle full of blue gu make up the 11!

Images-  Alchamists chamber from MIC and WitchLizzie Digi from SBS

And so we come to the last one.

On the twelth day of halloween my true love gave to me.....

12 bats a flying


Image- MissBettyBurton digi from SBS
Background paper - Docrafts


Well there we are...... 12 days of halloween minus 2.  It doesn't look like the last 2 will be completed seeing as I fell asleep whilst writing this post!! 

Right now to link everything!!

I hope you have enjoyed and I am sorry if you also fell asleep!!

Have a great halloween and dare I say bring on christmas?? lol!!

I am off to curl up in bed and feel sorry for myself .......

xxxxxxx










Wednesday 26 October 2011

Simply Betty Stamps - 12 Days of Halloween

Halloween is just round the corner and I have to say it is one of my favourite times of the year.  So to celebrate the countdown the wonderful girls at Simply Betty Stamps have been doing a twist on the "12 days of Christmas" ditty.  For the 12 days leading up to Halloween a different challenge is being set.  Well it may look like I am a a bit behind, and I guess I may be, but I have numerous different projects all on the go at the same time.  I will be working on something and have bit of a block but then have an idea for something else.  I don't tend to plan very well!!!  I like everything out infront of me and I like to see what grows organically when I am working.  It may not be very productive but its how things work for me at the moment!!

 So here we are at the beginning..........

On the first day of Halloween my true love gave to me.......
......an owl in a rotton oak tree


For this I used images from Tiddly Inks.
Coloured using various copics and pro markers.

NEXT........

On the second day of Halloween my true love gave to me.........
.......Two Trick or Treaters


This time the images are Fairy Nellie Digi and Skeleton Peter Digi, both from Simply Betty stamps.
I have also used the awesome Spooky House Digi from Make it Crafty.
Again I have coloured this with copics and promarkers.  I also used some batd from a halloween confetti pack and some black jewels to finish off.
close up x

and the finally one for now.....

.......on the third day of Halloween my true love gave to me......
.......Three Black Cats


The image is called Halloween Witches Cat from The Octopode Factory.
The paper is from Echo Park Papers.
The lettering is from K and Co.
I used thin jewellery wire to make the cats wiskers and a tiny christmas jingle bell for the collar.


I hope you like my first three entries, watch this space for more to come including ghosts and goblins!!

Back to work for me now! 
xxxxxx





Tuesday 18 October 2011

Second stage of colouring snow


Hi folks! 
Here I am with my second stage of my personal challenge of colouring snow.  As those of you who read my previous post will know, I was a guest designer with MIC for there latest challenge of colouring snow.  I have decided to take this a little further for my own personnal gain by following tutorials, trying different pens and techniques all in the hope to improve the look of snow on my projects.  I am being very strict at this stage and not allowing puff paint, glitter or glossy accents.  It is purely colouring work I am concentrating on. 

Zoe from MIC has done a brilliant video over on Youtube for Colouring reds and snow and it is an absolute "must watch" for anyone needing a few pointers.  Plus you get to watch her colour which is a treat in itself!!  There are a number of tutorials avaliable on there and I am sure you will watch many more than one!!

After watching the tutorial my OH surprised me by coming home with a set of warm grey promarkers as I only had cool greys.....(in both promarkers and copics!!!).  Anyway I have used these to colour the snow in this picture and I can see a difference.  I used to think grey was just grey...... oh how wrong was I?  I decided to colour this whole picture with promarkers instead of my copics for a change.  It still needs a little work and of course to be turned into something worthwhile rather than just another coloured picture to add to the collection!!

I have used images from MIC's new "winter scene elements" and also Lil Victorian Christmas Lylah from Tickled Pink.

I hope you have found this post to be of some use and don't forget to get your entries for the challenge in over at MIC for the chance of winning some goodies.

See you next time xxxxx


Friday 14 October 2011

Guest Designer for the MIC 'Colouring snow' challenge!

Ever had one of those days when your best laid plans get tossed out of the window and you end up flying by the seat of your pants??  This is my day today!!  But I am here now, maybe a little late but I am ready to make up for it!!

I still can't get over the fact that the wonderful DT girls at Make it Crafty asked little old me to join them as a guest designer for this challenge.  This is my VERY first time as a GD and to say I was beyond nervous is an understatment!  So please be gentle!  Joining me as a guest for this challenge is the very talented Kaylou of Kraftywheezle.  If you haven't already, check out her fab blog!!

I am using this colouring challenge as a personal test aswell.  Over the next 2 weeks I am going to be concentrating on colouring snow and will be sharing my progress on here.  I want to see if and how much I can improve on my ideas and techniques during this time.   Who's with me on this? 

The challenge closes in approx 12 days time, there is a wonderful countdown clock in the challenge gallery to make sure your entries are in on time, so you have no excuse for not taking part!!!!! 

Now down to my cards!!  First up we have 'Christmas is coming......'

Here I have used the really cute 'Jolly Santa' digital image and then teamed him up with the 'Festive Lantern' and the 'Gift Boxes' digis from the brand spanking new 'Festive elements' collection.  I have also used the 'Christmas Decorations' chippies to make the string of lights across the top of the card.  All of these can be found in the Make it Crafty Shop.
For my snow here I have used BG10, B00 and C1 copics.

My second card is 'Frosy the snowman'


For this card I used the beautiful 'Winter Ragamuffin' from Saturated Canary and again coloured her with copics. I also used the 'Frosty the snowman' verse from Magnolia. The papers are from DCWA.  This has all been finished off with small pearl dots, silver corners, baby blue stickles, glossy accents and more stunningly delicate snowflakes from MIC.

I hope you like my starting point and see where things go from here.  I am already working on more images that I have more confidence in so I am feeling quite positive about this. 

Don't foget to check out the other DT members blogs and the Make it Crafty Gallery to see their amazing work and don't forget to enter!!  You never know you could be one of the lucky winners and who wouldn't want that??

See you all very soon with my next installment of  'Colouring snow'!!!
xxxx


Wednesday 12 October 2011

Halloween Black and Orange


Hello peeps.  Today I am showing you a halloween card I made using the grogous Lydia the living dead girl from Simply Betty Stamps.  I was lucky enough to win her in digi form and I have to say I love her!!!   I have used the Apothecary Emporium papers from Echo park to make this card. 
The papers have been ripped and layered to create a background.  I spent a long time (!) cutting Lydia and her cat out with a craft knife and then used the fabulous pinflair glue to add some depth.  The sentiment is made up of individual letters from K&Co.  The card is then finished off with 3 crawling spider charms.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges

Friday 7 October 2011

Saturated Canary- Gothica


Isn't this young lady just adorable??  She is available to purchase as a digi stamp from Saurated Canary's Etsy shop.  There are a collection of stunning images there to look through and every week a few more get added.... be prepared to want them all!
This is 'Gothica' and I fell for her as soon as I laid eyes on her.  I have coloured her using my ever faithfull copics and the papers are 'Summer Breeze' by First Edition.  I followed the sketch for the Saturated Canary- Sketch Challenge.

Challenges I would like to enter are


Have a lovely weekend xxx