I have copics !!!!!

and I must confess, after having a play, I am not too sure they are for me  ;-(

The work differently than watercolours, or painting with a brush using inks, don't they .......

This is the first image I tried to colour in.  Sarah Kay was stamped with Stazon and coloured with copics.  I realised straight away that Stazon is not a good medium to use copics with.

The next thing I realised is that in order for me to get the delicate shading I am used to, I will need to buy more copics.  I understand it is recommended to get a light, medium and dark in each of your preferred colours.  ............. mmmmmm  $$$$$

I tried using the blender to soften various bits, but realised that my cardstock was not suitable for this type of colouring either.

mmmmm, not having a very good experience for a first attempt.

Next I tried stamping with Versamagic, Midnight black with clear heat embossing.  This worked better, but I noticed the heat embossing went a bit dull. 

Once again, I couldn't get the gradient of dark to light the way I wanted it without damaging the cardstock using the blender.

The embossing came back to shiny again, once I reheated it ;-)

This one is a bit more successful, but once again, I am going to need many more copics to get the same effect as my watercolour pencils/inks.

Here they are, side by side, and don't look too bad in the photo, but in real life, I am quite disappointed with them.

The iris image with the heat embossing has turned out the best.  I will have a bit more of a play during the week when it is nice and quiet at home, but me thinks they may be appearing on ebay some time in the near future. 

A little something .............. in pink

I was in a pink mood ;-)

Bizzzy Becs' current challenge is 'to make a little something' so I made this little thank you card.  It is small, 7.5 cm x 10.5 cm

It also fits in with the onestopcraftchallenge - optimistically pink
and flourishes - flowers

Now I really must get back to my tidying up.

Stamping Vacation Card Maze - Just Magnolia - OneStop

Hubby has been doing some work at home, so I have been left to my own devices ;-)
Ofcourse, I have been spending some time in my craft room.   I was originally doing a 'tidy up', but you know what that leads to .............. ;-)

I decided to give stampingvacation Card Maze a try and this is what I finished up with:

Tilda was recycled from an older card that I was never happy with my choice of card that I had placed her on.  ;-(  I think I like this layout much better for this particular image.

Had to get a close-up of these lovely flowers from bizzybecs

I even gave the inside some special treatment.

I am submitting this card for the following challenges:

stampingvacation - Card Maze #2

justmagnolia - birthdays

onestopcraftchallenge - optimistically pink

flourishes-timeless-tuesday-challenge-fttc55 - flowers

allsortschallenge - for mum

Photo Competition

To my Australian blogging friends... I have entered an Olympus Photo competition and would like your votes and comments please :) (if you like me that much to help out!!) Voting closes soon.

You can find my photos on:
page 82 (two photos - single red rose and sun shining through gum trees)
Page 83 (two photos - group of yellow roses and morning glory with bee)
thanks in advance :)

site address is http://www.testdrive.olympusimaging.com.au/

EDITED:  thanks for letting me know the link did not work Cheryl
I have attempted to fix the link, but am having difficulties.


Check out the site, it has some amazing photos submitted.

I would love to hear what you think of my pics, so please leave a comment on the Olympus Photo site.

Irises - my favourite flowers

Here are some more of my efforts with my Flourishes - A Year in Flowers Calendar set.

Image stamped with Versamagic Midnight Black and heat embossed with clear - this gives a beautiful gloss to the black.  Flowers were hand coloured with SU inks and paint brush.

This card is submitted for the following challenges.
I changed the layout just a bit to suit the proportions of the stamp - I really like this CAS look!


cleanandsimplestamping - sketch

StampSomething - a touch of spring

I also made up another card along the clean and simple lines.

This image was heat embossed with Black embossing power and hand coloured with inks & paint brush.

Panels were cut & embossed using cuttlebug and spellbinder dies.

having difficulty uploading images ;-(

I seem to be having problems uploading images, so my planned post for today is not going to happen - **sad face**

I will try again tomorrow - stay tuned!

Sunshine Award

The lovely Merry has passed on this Sunshine Award to me - thank you Merry, right back at ya!



OK here are the rules-

• Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
• Pass the award to six other bloggers and link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
• Give mention to the person that gave you this award and link to their blog.

OK - so, here are the recipients of my Sunshine Award (in no particular order) - to thank you all for your wonderful inspiration and support and regular comments on my blog

Cheryl -  mycardmakinghaven
Bec - bizzybecs 
Abby - abbysgarden 
Linda - lfcards 
Sue - a-consuming-passion
Denise - stampingvacation 

Stamp Simply #126 and Build-a-sketch

As mentioned in my previous post, I have recently won some Flourishes stamps and have been having fun colouring them in.

I was stuck for a bit of inspiration as far as layout goes, so I used my Build-a-sketch tools - and guess what?  I came up with a layout!

I knew exactly which Flourishes stamp I wanted to use next.

I saw the perfect colour combination challenge of StampSimply it all came together fairly quickly ;-)

so here is my card

DP from my stash (I think it is Flavia), Flourishes A Year of Flowers image heat embossed with black and coloured in with inks.  Gold peel offs used for border and sentiment.

Pretty butterfly sticker added.

This is what happens when you heat emboss and don't use your anti static pillow!  black dots everywhere!

I love this image - we have this Morning Glory in our garden.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge 52

Over on Flourishes they are having an anniversary challenge.

I have recently won some Flourishes stamps (Calendar set) and couldn't wait to colour them in!

FTTC52A is a sketch

FTTC52B is to 'pop it up'

FTT52C is to use a citrus colour (mine is orange)

FTT52F is to use your favourite Flourishes set - this calendar set is my fave

I hope you are able to combine challenges - if not, then I guess I will submit this one for the A-sketch challenge.

Ribbed white card used as a base, Flourishes Tigerlily embossed with black embossing powder and hand coloured.  Centre panel, squares & strip cut & embossed using cuttlebug & spellbinder & Birch dies

Sentiment & Kaisercraft white pearls added.

My playdates ;-)

I have had a few playdates with some of my crafty friends just recently.  I thought I should post some pics of what I have made.

Some of my CraftMad friends got together and had a play!

This card was inspired by a card in the current Australian Cardmaking Stamping & Papercraft magazine - Vol 15, No. 10

The paper is just gorgeous - it is already highlighted with kindy glitz - just perfect for me!

I also recently had a SU playdate!  We all got to make this lovely fantasy box!  When I first saw it, I thought it would be really hard, but  Linda's instructions were great.

Such beautiful paper to work with.

My folding leaves a bit to be desired ;-)

Kerrie gave us instructions for the following two cards.

I would not have thought to do this particular colour combination, but I think I like it.

Kerrie & Linda do a class each fortnight.  I can recommend the class, especially for people new to stamping - it is at a nice relaxed pace and the girls are great.  

Happy Birthday Cathy!

another birthday!

Happy Birthday to Cathy!

Another one of our dearest friends is celebrating a birthday!

Sarah Kay image hand coloured with watercolour pencils and highlighted with kindy glitz.

cuttlebug used to emboss background with 'victoria' folder and cut ovals with spellbinder dies.

Vintage lacey ribbon and new satin bow added.

Yellow chicks coloured in with yellow tombow marker - nice & bright.

I am so pleased with how this card worked out and am looking forward to give to her in person later this afternoon.

I love you

It is so hard for me to make a male card!  I always want to add some 'girlie' stuff!

Here is a card for a male - I really want to grab the kindy glitz and 'sparkle' it up  LOL

Items Used:  Bella Grace paperz for the background, black crossgrain ribbon, red bling.

Image from Dustin Pike/Doodle Dragon hand coloured with watercolour pencils. 
I love the cheeky expression on the elephant!

This card is submitted for the following challenges:

doodlepalace - something new (new digital image)

digitaltuesdaychallenge - make masculine card to make him smile

bee-crafty - romance (with a digital image)

doodledragonstudio - sketch

dareu2digistamp - hearts/romance

Sweet Things - 10 things that make me happy

I have received this lovely award from Merry.  Thank you so much!


Now for the rules...I am to tell you 10 things that make me happy and pass onto 10 friends and they are to do the same.


My 10 things that make me happy in no particular order:

1. Catching up with friends over a nice meal and glass (or two!) of wine.
2. Spending time in my craft room being CREATIVE
3. Seeing the expression on people's faces when they open up one of my cards.
4. Browsing the blogs I follow and leaving comments
5. Receiving thanks/comments on my work ;-)
6. Having a nice clean kitchen.
7. The thought of travelling overseas - I may not actually get there, but the thought of it makes me happy.
8. Finding and chatting to old friends via Facebook.
9. Trying a new recipe and hubby liking it  ;-)
10. My husband ;-).

My blog friends I am passing this award to (in no particular order) are:

straight back at ya, Merry
Cheryl
Linda
Annamaree
Sue
Bec
Denise


I can see some of you already have this award ................. so I guess it is true .............. great minds think alike ;-)

As with Cheryl, I also wanted to thank all of my followers.  I would like to follow all that follow me, but there are some profiles that do not link up through the followers widget.  If I haven't followed your blog as yet, please leave me a comment so that I can follow your blog (if you have one).


 
Have a happy day everyone!