Happy Hoppy Day Series | Easter Pop-Up ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a super fun pop-up card using Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. If you're like me you see the Lawn Fawn releases and you just have to have it all. Exercising restraint when it comes to Lawn Fawn is sooo hard. I legit have sets that I haven't even opened. Shhh don't tell. I will use them at some point.

I love using the pop-up die because it's always such a surprise when you open the card. It's so exciting to see such a plain looking card and then you open it and SURPRISE!!! there's something super fun on the inside.

For the outside of the card I stamped this bunny image from Lawn Fawn's "Eggstra Special Easter" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured it with Copics and used the Scan N Cut to cut it out.

I wanted to keep it all simple and used some of the pieces of cardstock from the inside to create an accent bar across the front.

For the inside, I stamped all my images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut them all out with the Scan N Cut (I actually cut these out at the same time as the one on the front). I coloured all the images with Copic markers.

 The thing I love the most about the Scan N Cut is that I can stamp and mask images to make single layers and cut them out as a single piece. Just one more reason to pass on the die sets!

I used Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Hillside Pop-Up" die to cut the base and sponged it with Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink to create the grassy look. I sponged the inside top of the card with Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick to create a soft pink sky.

I had some stitched clouds left over from another project and adhered them in place. I used some super sticky two-way to put all images in place.

To finish off the card added a couple butterflies that I had laying around placed them in the sky to fill up some of empty spaces.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook, and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in  the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Product Review Series | Irojiten Coloured Pencils by Tombow

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

To wrap up the year, and because it's Sunday I have a final product review for 2017. As many of you know I received a bunch of stuff for Christmas and I promised some reviews. Today I am doing the Irojiten Coloured Pencils by Tombow. If you haven't heard of these before, do some Googling and then come back here. I'll wait.

For those of you that have seen them and are interested in more information, sit back and relax, grab a cup of coffee and read on! As always, this is a lengthy post with lots of pictures and information.

• Wax-based
• Made by Tombow
• White barrel with painted end for colour identification
• Each pencil has a number and name directly engraved
• Each box has a list of colour numbers and names included
• Each set contains three volumes of 10 pencils (30 per set, 90 in the collection)
• They are pre-sharpened

Set one contains:

• vol 1 Pale tone 1
• vol 2 Vivid tone 1
• vol 3 Deep tone 1

For the purposes of this demonstration I will be using this set for the examples as I feel it gives the widest range of colours as well as what I consider to be "true" colours. Vivid tones is what I expect rainbows to be made of. 

I tested on my three most common papers - 110lb white cardstock, 65lb kraft cardstock and 65lb black cardstock. The stamped image is from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows", stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I used P1 and P2 (Orchid Pink and Coral Pink) for this example. Basically, I'm testing to see how they lay down on each of the papers and how much they stand out from the background.

As you can see on the white cardstock that the colours are very pale - which I expected coming from the pale tones. They continue to be quite soft on the kraft but not so much that I would choose not to use them. They stand out magnificently on the black - obviously you cannot see the stamped image, but the colours stand out very nicely. Again, colour choice is important on a darker cardstock, and it will take some experimentation before you find what works for you.

Observations:

• Core is a medium hardness - definitely harder than Prismacolor Premier pencils, but softer than a Faber-Castell Polychormos.
• I found that on all three papers the pigment lay down evenly without a lot of effort and they layered very nicely.
• It did not hurt my hand to use them. I didn't feel the need to grip the pencil tightly nor did I have to apply a lot of pressure to lay the pigment down.
• The colours I chose for this were very close together so it didn't entail a lot of blending at this point.

For the blending test, I lay down V1 (vivid tones 1) Cherry Red, V7 King Fisher (the blue) and then over top V3 Dandelion. On the left of the swatches is blending with the pencil. On the right I am blending with Gamsol.

Observations:

• The colours do less blending and more sitting together. You can see this specifically in the green area, where I lay the yellow over the blue. It seemed to fill in the gaps between the blue streaks causing the colour to appear green. 
• This is very different than the Prismacolors that seem to blend and mix together on the page.
• These seem to just work "together" to look the way I wanted it to.
• On the right where I used Gamsol, you can see that the blending is smoother and there is less visibility of the tooth of the paper - the Gamsol reacts as expected with these as they are a wax based pencil.

For the erasability test, I lay down the V1 Cherry Red in two layers over the paper. On the left I used a regular white eraser and on the right I used the Tombow Mono Sand Eraser. I chose red as it is the hardest colour to fix errors with or to blend. Red is a nightmare in pretty much any medium from coloured pencils through to nail polish.

Observations:

• Both erasers did a decent job of pulling up the pigment. I wasn't expecting perfection as it is red.
• The regular eraser (left) was able to lift more pigment than I expected and if I should have a tick or a mistake in a piece I suspect it would work nicely.
• The Tombow Mono Sand eraser was able to pull up a lot more pigment as expected due to the nature of the eraser. If you haven't gotten one of these I highly recommend you check them out in the link above.

Set two contains:

• vol 4 Pale tone 2
• vol 5 Deep tone 2
• vol 6 Light Grayish tone 1 

I found their naming of Light Grayish tone 1 interesting as there isn't another one, but maybe in the future.... who knows?

This set rounds out the pale and deep tones that are found in set one and expands into muted tones. I would naturally gravitate towards the Light Grayish tones for background or shadowed areas in a forest or floral scene.

Set three contains:

• vol 7 Fluorescence
• vol 8 Very pale tone
• vol 9 Dull tone

If you are not buying the full set, this is the last I would recommend, and maybe that's why they put these together as they did. I don't tend to use very bright colours and I'm still searching for a reason to use the Fluorescence pack. 

The very pale tones (vol 8) just screams baby cards or Easter cards and I definitely cannot wait to use these in that way.

Vol 9 Dull tone reminds me of a swamp or a forest at night and I will likely use them as such when a project comes my way with those things. I highly suspect that this third set will be the least used.

Here I have completed my swatch pages for all the colours - I'll have an entire post about swatching and why it is important in the future but this will give you a basic look at the colours and how they have set out their palettes for this collection.

Overall Conclusions:

• These pencils are super pretty to have in my craft room. They just look classy. So far the packaging has held up quite well, but I haven't taken them to travel yet. Regular use in the craft room, they take up a lot of space when they are all laid out. If you aren't into the pretty packaging I would recommend a pencil case of some kind.
• The pencils feel good in the hand. They have a smooth round barrel that is comfortable and I don't feel like I have to hold tightly.
• They lay down very nicely overall, the pigment quality is quite good. If find them comparable to Prismacolor Premier pencils - though the core is harder.
• The colours are true - One pencil is called "apricot" and when I lay down the pigment I am not disappointed when I see the apricot colour. They also match their painted ends rather well, so well done there - no sneaky surprises when grabbing a pencil. We've all been there and it's a dark, angry place.
• The colours are very unique which is not something you see with a lot of other pencil brands. 
• There is a disgusting lack of grays. Out of the entire set of 90 pencils there are two grays. TWO!! I happen to like to use a lot of gray in my pieces for shading and animals and it was incredibly disappointing to find only two. Both of which are in the first set - another reason why I recommend that set the most.
• They sharpen nicely and I did not have any breaks. As always the sharpener I use and highly recommend is the T'GAAL multi-sharpener by Kutsuwa

If you are looking to expand your coloured pencil collection I highly recommend them. The unique colours and the range in which they come with this set will make an excellent addition to your pencil collection.

However, if you are looking for your first "Artist" grade pencils - these are not the way to go. I would only recommend these to people who already have or are planning to have another set, such as the Prismacolor Premiers or the Faber-Castell Polychromos. 

I hope you enjoyed today's review. If you have any questions about these pencils or a suggestion for a future review, please leave me a note in the comments section below. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook so you don't miss any future posts.

Have a Happy New Year

*disclaimer: I am not sent products to review nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I have, that I find interesting and that I have paid for (or in this case received as a gift). I receive no payment, reward or incentive by the company to review the product. All reviews are based on my experience with the product and are my opinion only.

Happy Holidays Series | 4x4 ft. Lawn Fawn "Mini Wreath"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I typically do all my cards in the standard A2 (4 1/4 x 5 1/2") but every now and then I like to mix things up a bit, so today I have a sweet 4x4" card. This could easily be done in the standard A2 size format, and give you room for a greeting.

To begin, I used the "Mini Wreath" die from Lawn Fawn and cut 4 wreaths from dark green cardstock and 4 from light green cardstock. I used the mini bow that comes with the set to cut two silver and two gold bows, then used the little berry dies and cut those from red glittering cardstock.

I assembled my wreaths using liquid glue and then set them aside to dry.

I then cut a piece of 65lb kraft cardstock down 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 and used the Wood Grain Backdrop stamp with CTMH Chocolate ink, then sponged Gathered Twigs Distress ink around the edges to darken them up.

For the next layer I used the same dark green cardstock and adhered that down to the front of my card base. I then added the wood grain layer and added the wreaths.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Coloured on Kraft Series | Floral Thoughts of You ft. Stampin' Up "Birthday Blooms"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I want to share a floral thinking of you card, coloured on kraft cardstock with Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils. The more I work with these pencils the more I absolutely love them. I like to look back through my work and see how far my colouring has progressed. As with any other medium the key is practice, practice, practice.

This image from Stampin' Up is perfect for practicing in any medium, and if you don't have it, I highly recommend getting one, or one like it.

To begin, I stamped the floral image from Stampin' Up "Birthday Blooms" and the greeting with VersaMark ink on 65lb kraft cardstock. I chose this particular ink because it doesn't have the harsh lines that stamping in black has, and it is easy to cover up with pencil; creating this beautiful "no-line" look.

I then coloured the blooms with only three shades! All the petals are coloured with PC1032 Pumpkin Orange, PC1002 Yellow Orange and PC915 Lemon Yellow. I start with my medium shade in the areas where I know I want the shadows to be the darkest. I then go to my lightest shade for the for the rest of the petal with an incredibly light hand, finally I add in my darkest shade to deepen those shadows and start to bring out the depth of the flower.

I work back and forth, doing one petal at a time from start to finish until it looks just how I want it to. Each of these petals has 8-10 layers of colour so it is very important that you use a very light hand, as Prismacolor pencils are waxed based there will come a point where you just can't add any more layers because of the waxy build-up. So it will take a while, but with the layers you can get almost any shade between your darkest and lightest pencils.

For the stamen in the centre of the flower I used PC923 and highlighted with the Lemon Yellow.

All of the leaves are coloured with PC988 Marine Green, PC1096 Kelly Green and then PC1089 Pale Sage, working the same as the blossoms, one leaf at a time until it looks just right. Because many of the leaves have texture from the veins, I ignore those until I'm adding the final details, then I gently go over them with the medium and then the darkest shade of green.

I have found that I get the best results from keeping my tip as sharp as possible all the time. This typically means a lot of sharpening, so I use the T'GAAL Multi-Sharpener on setting one to keep a low but sharp point. I can avoid losing a lot of pencil material, because let's face it - coloured pencils aren't cheap.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. If you have any questions or just want to let me know what you think, please drop me a line in the comments section below. I love to hear from you!

Coloured on Kraft | Dogwood Birthday ft. Hero Arts "Dogwood"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a soft floral card featuring the "Dogwood" stamp by Hero Arts with Prismacolor Premier Pencils. This image has large florals that are perfect for practicing your colouring in any medium. My stamp is mounted on wood, but can easily be taken off to turn it into a cling stamp for an acrylic block or the MISTI.

I think this design would work for nearly any occasion and can be used for a top fold or a side fold card. Let's face it, stamps are not cheap and if it can be used year round, all the better.

To begin, I stamped the large Dogwood floral image from Hero Arts with VersaMark ink on a standard A2 sized card base made of 65lb Kraft cardstock by Recollections. I masked off the image and stamped again so there would be no overlap. I chose to use VersaMark ink as it creates a lovely tone on tone look without super harsh lines.

I then used white and cream to colour the petals. I added a soft yellow for the middle and a very light green for the leaves. I didn't colour in the stems or branches as there was enough texture in the stamp to look shaded and I wanted the blossoms to be the star of the show.

I stamped the birthday greeting with CTMH White Daisy ink, then cut that down to a banner and adhered that to the top right corner of the card. My original plan was to have the greeting straight on the card base, but there was an incident and it needed to be covered up.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | Gingerbread Wishes ft. Lawn Fawn "Sweet Christmas"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today's card was super fun to make. I always feel intimidated at the beginning of the season. It feels like a lot of pressure to have ten or twelve or twenty new cards to share every year, but once I get started the ideas just start rolling in. Even without getting a bunch of new supplies.

Once you hit that mode it can be frustrating to keep them all straight, I've started keeping a sketchbook nearby for when inspiration hits. That way I can get the idea out of my head and not feel so overwhelmed when I sit down to start something.

To begin, I die cut a tag using Lawn Fawn's "Tag, You're It" die set from 110lb Copic-friendly paper. I stamped the gingerbread couple from "Sweet Christmas" using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, the "To and From" are from the "Thank You Tags" stamp set.

I used Mowed Lawn Distress ink to add a bit of colour to the edges and coloured the two images with Copic markers.

I used the same gingerbread people and a bunch of the candies from "Sweet Christmas" with VersaMark ink to create a tone on tone background on a piece of 65lb kraft cardstock by Recollections.

I wrapped a length of 1/8" red ribbon around the top of the panel and threaded that through the tag. I created a tiny bow and adhered that in place.

I mounted the whole thing to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To stop the tag from sliding back and forth along the ribbon, I just secured it down with a piece of two-way tape.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Christmas Cards All Year Round

November Challenge

Candies, Cookies or Gingerbread

Coloured on Kraft | Troll Party ft. Your Next Stamp "Insanely Happy"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I'd like to share this super cute birthday card I created using the "Insanely Happy" stamp set by Your Next Stamp. This is a new (to me) stamp company with super cute images and clever sentiments. Given the popularity of the Trolls movie that recently came out, I thought that this set would be a perfect one to start with.

The images can work for both a boy or a girl; don't have to be for birthdays and are super fun to colour.

To begin, I created masks of all the trolls in the "Insanely Happy" stamp set by Your Next Stamp. I then used the MISTI to stamp the two outer trolls, masked them then stamped the third, masked her and finally the last troll.

I removed all the masks and coloured the images in with Prismacolor Premier pencils (you can see my review of those here). I'm still having trouble with natural skin tones when using the coloured pencils, so colouring these trolls was super fun!

I used three shades for each of the different colour skins, four shades for each of the hair and two shades for all of the clothes. Typically, I would use more shades for the clothes but these are very small areas and don't require as many shades to get a good blend.

Once I was certain I liked the colouring, I put the panel back into the MISTI and stamped the greeting. All of the stamping was done using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Not because it's required, but out of habit.

I then traced the "Have An Insanely" portion of the greeting with my Quickie Glue pen by Sakura and sprinkled Lawn Fawn's fine Prisma Glitter over the letters. Since the Trolls movie, all trolls must have glitter! Sadly, the writing is obscured in the picture, but in real life it sparkles and you can read it. WIN!

To finish it off, I used the Imaginisce i-Rock heat tool to add the coloured embellishments around the greeting. I've had this tool for ages, and I keep forgetting that it's around. Then adhered the kraft panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Seize the Birthday

Kraft Card Base

Product Review Series | Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I have been promising this one for a very long time, and I'm happy to say I'm finally ready to deliver. Perhaps it is the cooler fall season, but I've been using the Prismacolors a lot more often in my work. I've also been using Kraft cardstock more often and honestly the two just go together like tea and biscuits.

Prismacolor Premier pencils have been around for some time, established by the Eagle Pencil Co. in 1938 in New York City.  The company has changed hands a few times since then and now has a total of 150 vibrant colours in it's palette.*

• High Quality - Artist Grade Pigment
• Widely available in stores or online
• Available in sets or open stock
• Soft core - allows for smooth application of colour
• Wax based
• Blending pencils available

I personally have the 72 set, and for the purposes of this review I will be using them on 65lb Kraft cardstock from Recollections.

If you shop around, you can certainly find a set that fits within your price range. Don't get me wrong, these pencils are not cheap. In Calgary, I can purchase them open stock for about $1.90/each plus tax. This is not a grade-school investment. I ordered my set off Amazon (Canada) in the spring as they were having a sale and I just couldn't pass it up.

The pencils come pre-sharpened, however there seems to be a lot of extra room in the tin so during shipping there was some damage to the tips.

I expected this. I have long been reading reviews from other colourists and pencil artist discussing how the quality of Prismacolor has been declining. Perhaps this is true. I bought my first set nearly a decade ago, and from my experience the quality is the same now as it was then.

I have personally had some trouble with a couple I have purchased open stock, as they get touched by people and knocked about by children and dropped on the floor.

These are a soft core, wax based pencil so they are more delicate. I found that with the few I had breakage issues with, by changing my sharpener I was able to greatly reduce my frustration. For a while I had been sharpening with an electric sharpener as it gives more stability and control - basically you just hold the pencil there; then I switched to the T'Gaal manual sharpener. I've since put away all my other sharpeners. There will be a review of this sharpener. (Spoiler - go buy it!)

I have also had one or two instances where the casing has split down the length of the pencil. Again, I expect something like this when you ship wood through dry areas. If you use a piece of thin washi tape and wrap it tightly - but carefully avoid as much overlap as possible - you can stabilize your pencil and still sharpen right through the tape. It may be annoying but in my opinion it is a small price to pay for the quality of pigment.

If you get a set and there are a significant percentage that are damage, split or broken then by all means send them back, that only makes sense.

I stamped these images from MFT's "Our Story" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink (out of habit) on 65lb Kraft cardstock by Recollections.

Each object has a minimum of two shades (for the books) and a maximum of four shades (chair and side table) for shading.

Observations:

• If coloured pencils aren't your typical medium they require practice. I normally colour my scenes with Copic markers and my technique for laying down the colour is completely different. With Copics I start with my medium shade, then darkest then lightest. However with pencils I start with my lightest and work to my darkest shades. You have to find what works for you.
• You must use an incredibly light hand. Unless you are working on high-end artist paper with lots of tooth, you have a limited number of layers before you just can't put down any more colour. The pigment in the pencil sticks to the little bumps (tooth) of the paper, once those are smoothed out - there is no more layering.
• Keep your pencils sharp. There is literally nothing worse than trying to colour with a dull pencil. I don't know how I used to do it. I don't know how my kids do it - I can't even look. Find a sharpener that works for you and stick with it. 
• If you are colouring stamped images such as this one, and you like that bold black outline, your multi-liner or pigment pen will not work over this. The wax and the ink aren't friends. They don't like each other and they don't want to play together. Use the black pencil and carefully go over your lines. I used this technique in the example above and you would never know that it wasn't the original stamped lines.
• Pencil colouring takes way longer than colouring with alcohol markers. I'd say this little scene took me about an hour to do. Had this been with Copic markers, I could likely have been done in 10 minutes. Maybe less.
• Do away with the blender pencil (in my opinion). Take the time to learn how to get the blend you are looking for with just the colours that you want to use. I found the blender pencil added an additional waxy bloom to the area with no real benefit. All it did was mash down the tooth of the paper and stop me from adding more layers. I tossed it and forced myself to learn how to blend without it and I'm happier and feel more accomplished for it.
• Pencil colouring is a labour of love. If you are in a hurry or have a lot of copies to get done this may not be the medium to choose at the moment. I don't mass produce cards that are in pencil. They are reserved for close friends and family members.

Overall, I feel Prismacolor Premier pencils have been getting a bad rep for no real reason. Sure there are a few out there that were missed by the quality inspectors but tell me a product that has never had a problem. I can't think of one. For the dozen or so sets and brands of coloured pencil (both wax and oil based) I have, I still reach for my Prismacolors first. 

They layer well, there are an amazing number of colours and they are easily accessible. I haven't come across a wax based pencil with a higher pigment quality, so really the price is not that ridiculous. Shop around. 

There will likely be one or two in the bunch that are damaged, maybe repairable but maybe not, but think about the number of pencils that are being produced. Should there be a tighter watch on the quality of the pencils as they come off the line? Probably, but that can be said of any company with nearly any product. 

Despite the shortcomings and horror stories that you read floating about the internet, these coloured pencils are a fine addition to an artist's craft room. My only regret is not purchasing a larger set when the sale was going on.

I hope you enjoyed today's review, if you have any questions about this product or a suggestion for a future review please leave me a comment in the section below. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts.

Click here to see the card created with this example.

**disclaimer: I am not sent products to review, nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I use, that I find interesting and that I have paid for with my very own money. I am given no incentive, payment or reward for a review. All reviews are based on my experience with the product and are my opinion only.

*reference

Coloured on Kraft | ft. Clearly Besotted "Forever Friends" Gladiolas

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

With all the Halloween and Christmas stuff being posted, I think I'm still longing for the lazy days of summer. The temperature here is still quite warm - which makes me completely not ready to post my winter stuff, and I need to spread out my Halloween posts so that we actually make it to Halloween. LOL.

But it is getting crisp, especially at night and most noticeably in the mornings as we are getting ready for school. Today I want to share the next in my Coloured on Kraft mini series - which to be honest is really turning into a "not-so-mini" series.

Working with Kraft, for me, is all about the warm feelings. There is such a difference between the stark white of my regular cards and the coziness of a Kraft card. This just feels rustic, which reminds me cozy days by the fireplace when it starts to get nippy outside.

To begin, I stamped the Gladiola (I think) from Clearly Besotted's "Forever Friends" using VersaMark ink on 65lb Kraft cardstock. I opted to not use the standard black ink as I find it takes away from the warm florals when working on Kraft.

I then coloured the image in with Prismacolor Premier pencils (review coming, I promise) in shades of yellow. It wasn't until I Googled the actual flower that I discovered that this can be how they really look. I just liked the combination. And really, that's what the art is all about. Do what makes you happy. If you start worrying about what everyone else wants, you'll lose the reason you started in the first place. Stay true to you.

I then stamped the greeting from CTMH's "Sending Smiles" set using Memento Tuxedo Black. I wanted a high contrast between the image and the greeting.

Next I used some orange twine to create a bow, then mounted my Kraft panel to a piece of coordinating yellow cardstock. Then I adhered the whole piece to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Crafting from the Heart

Challenge #176

Coloured on Kraft Series | ft. Clearly Besotted's "Feeling Fruity"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I'm back with another Coloured on Kraft! While I'm still hanging out in the Clearly Besotted playground for my Kraft projects, I'm doing a critters today instead of flowers. Weird, right?

This set is just too cute and those little faces will make the most perfect Thanksgiving cards. Like a bunch of little fruity mice hanging out around some harvest flowers. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that sometime soon.

To begin, I stamped the strawberry mouse from Clearly Besotted's "Feeling Fruity" stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black in on 65lb Kraft cardstock, then masked him off and stamped the berry mouse on either side. The greeting is also from the same set in Memento ink as well.

I then coloured all of the mice with Lyra Rembrandt coloured pencils. These pencils are an oil based core that layer wonderfully (there will be a review on these in the future because they are awesome and not nearly as expensive as Polychromos).

I used a length of red and white twine to add a little accent bow on the side.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge

Challenge #6

Coloured on Kraft Series | ft. Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine & Smiles"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

It occurred to me that I hadn't done a colouring on kraft in a little bit, so I thought today I would do that. I mean we were dangerously close to having a streak of Halloween cards. Like in a row; and while that would be fantastic, I can't put them all out now, there would be nothing left for closer to Halloween. So think of it as like an intermission; the first of many.

To begin, I stamped the floral image from Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine & Smiles" set with VersaMark ink on 65lb Kraft cardstock. I used this particular ink because I didn't want the harsh black ink lines of regular stamping. As we all know, Clearly Besotted is fantastic at keeping their lines thin and crisp, but even still, there is a difference. Maybe I'll show you one day (foreshadowing? Probably.)

Next I stamped the greeting from CTMH's "Sending Smiles" in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I coloured in the image using Prismacolor Premier pencils. These are a soft core, wax based pencil that lay down beautifully on nearly any paper. While I have my issues with this particular brand, they remain my favourite of the wax line.

Then, as I went to line the panel up on my standard A2 sized card base I discovered that I didn't line up my stamps at all. These images weren't even a little bit straight. Like I was on a canoe at the time or something. Maybe deep into the cups. I have no idea what happened. Initially I tossed it. Then I was sad about tossing it because I was really pleased with how the colouring had turned out.

So I fished it out, layered it at an angle on a piece of blue cardstock and then adhered it to my card base. Now, no one will ever know that I had messed up, right?

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar. You can also follow me on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

CAS On Friday Challenge

#116 Color Me Pretty

The Flower Challenge

#12 Tic-Tac-Toe

(Sentiment, CAS, Colour - Blue)

Mostly Monochrome Thanks | ft. Lawn Fawn "Love you a Latte"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Sometimes when the challenges get to be too much (shocking, but it does happen) or I have spent hours working on a product review for an upcoming post, I really like to just play around with my favourite stamp sets. The "Love You a Latte" from Lawn Fawn is by far one of my most loved sets.

I also really like coffee. A lot.

I'm on cup #2. I've been up for just over an hour.

Anyway, today I thought I would share one of those cards that was just a play around and decompress after working on a lengthy DIY (you have to wait until Sunday!)

To begin, I cut down a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock so that I could use it as a strip across the middle. I then stamped the travel mug from the "Love you a Latte" set with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I wanted it to look like patterned paper.

I then coloured it with Copic markers. I knew this would be on a Kraft background so I wanted the little sleeve to match as closely as I could get it. Once it was coloured in, I felt it was a little bare, so I stamped the coffee bean to fill up some of those white spaces using CTMH Cocoa ink. Then I sent that aside.

I created an A2 sized card base using craft paper, and stamped the large mug in VersaMark ink randomly to get a great tone on tone look. Once again, I used the coffee bean to fill up the space.

Then I adhered the strip to the card base and totally realized I had no greeting. So I cut a piece of vellum using one of my Spellbinder Oval dies and prepped it with my powder tool. I stamped the Thanks from the "Love you a Latte" set with VersaMark ink and embossed with black embossing powder and used tiny little dots of liquid glue to hold that in place.

It then occurred to me that I have these awesome "Lift the Flap" dies, and it would be super fun to give a gift card with this! So I ran the largest of the dies through my die cut machine on a second piece of Kraft cardstock. I then used the little "Life the Flap" saying from the "Push Here" stamp set with the mini arrow, and stamped the mug (same as on the front) using the Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink with the little steam sentiment "For You".

I coloured the mug in with PrismaColor Premier pencils to add just a splash of colour on the inside since the front is very monochromatic.

To make it so that the flap can be opened and reclosed I used a bit Tombow Mono Multi Glue (green lid) and let it dry. Once this glue dries it becomes repositionable; which is perfect for hiding a gift card!

To get the inside panel to stay inside the card, I used some 1/4" two-way tape to tape around the gift flap opening (wouldn't want to have the flap stuck for real!) and laid it in place.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss any future posts, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Coloured on Kraft Series | ft. Clearly Besotted "Fresh Flowers"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

If today's card looks a little bit familiar, you aren't mistaken. After I created the Orchids in my Floral On Kraft post, I could not stop thinking about doing more like it. I just love the way the pencils look on the Kraft cardstock and since I have several of the floral sets from Clearly Besotted, it was only a matter of sitting down to colour.

And then I thought, why not make a mini series?!?!?! So while the other one still counts towards this, I'm way to lazy to go back and change the post to indicate that. Anyway, welcome to the Coloured on Kraft Series! YAY!!

To begin, I stamped the large flower from Clearly Besotted's "Fresh Flowers" stamp set on 65lb Kraft cardstock using VersaMark ink. I chose this ink because I didn't want the harsh lines of the black, the VersaMark ink creates a soft tone on tone effect that is brilliant for colouring with pencils.

I then coloured the flowers in with Lyra Rembrandt oil based pencils. (I'll have a review for these in the future. Spoiler: They're great!) I then stamped the greeting in black as I wanted the contrast to really stand out against the softness flowers.

Finally, I took a very light twine and tied a bow (Tie One On, get it?) I then mounted that on a piece of light purple cardstock for a border and adhered that to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Daisy Chain Challenge

Anything Goes

and

Seize the Birthday Challenge

Tie One On

These are both brand new to me challenges and I'm super excited to be taking part in them both!

Floral on Kraft | ft. Clearly Besotted "Thinking of You"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I wanted to share another image that was done with coloured pencils on kraft cardstock. Orchids are my absolute favourite flower, though many of them have the same structure their colours vary greatly. It seems to be one of those flowers that can work with any palette in the home, and with a little care and patience, they make an excellent housewarming gift.

To begin, I stamped the large orchid image from Clearly Besotted's "Thinking of You" stamp set using VersaMark ink, on 65lb Kraft cardstock from Recollections. While VersaMark is typically used for heat embossing (as you can see with the greeting, above) it can also be used to create a soft tone on tone effect. I chose to do this because it takes away the harsh lines of stamping in black, and is easier to colour over when using pencils.

I then used my Faber-Castell Polychormos pencils to colour in the image. There is a light, medium and dark shade for both the purples and the turquoise, two shades for the green as well as the soft shadow behind the flowers.

For the greeting I prepped the paper with my powder tool, and stamped the greeting using VersaMark ink again, and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I didn't want anything to take away from the vibrancy of the flowers.

I then wrapped some purple and white baker's twine around the panel and tied a bow. I don't know if it is just me, but I cannot seem to tie a bow with the right side up. Whenever I have to tie a bow, like this one, I have to turn the whole piece upside down to get it to look right. To secure that, I just used a piece of clear tape on the back so that the wrapped twine wouldn't move.

I then mounted this on a piece of turquoise paper that matched the medium shade of my pencils; and mounted the whole lot on a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View Web Version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

CAS(E) this Sketch

Challenge #323

and

Muse Challenge 227

Anything Goes

and

Time Out Challenge #89

Home Sweet Home

Because a potted plant seems to be the cliché gift for a new home, I felt that this would be an acceptable submission. (I hope they think so as well)

Thank you all for your votes, support and encouragement; with these, I was selected as a "featured member" through this post on the Muse Challenge. I cannot begin to tell you what this me.

This card was also selected for Honorable Mention over on CAS(E) this Sketch! I'm so excited to receive this recognition!