Better late than never!

 Hello everybody!

A couple of months after I posted my Stag Christmas image I was diagnosed with PVD (Posterior Vitreous Detachment) which affected my vision and I had to stop drawing. 

I am now thankfully able to get back to doing what I love, albeit I'm taking it slowly.

Back in April 2020, Caroline McFarlane-Watts from Tall Tale Productions released a free colouring page - she set it as a #talltalescoloringchallenge during lockdown.

Oh well, I'm only 4 years late!

 I had such fun colouring this and I even remembered to take some photographs along the way.

It features some of Caroline's characters, including Hortense with her creepy stole.

 I was a little rusty at first but it soon started to click again. The picture is highly detailed and it was far too fiddly for Copics alone, so I enhanced my colouring with coloured pencils (Caran D'Ache Pablos and Luminance)

As I have done in the past, I printed the image in pale grey so I could achieve that "no lines colouring" look. 

I can even see my technique improving as I moved down the page, the lower half definitely has more depth and richness of colour.

 Maybe that's why Hortense is not looking too happy!

Nearly there!

The owls were a "hoot" to colour!

But, oh boy, those curls took ages to complete.

I am pretty chuffed with the end result and it feels really good being back in the studio.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Until next time

Happy Colouring

Scientifically speaking.....

As promised, here is the second scientific card.

"Shelve it" by Clearly Besotted

I truly couldn't believe my luck when I saw this stamp was being released......the image was perfect for Hannah's card!

It was stamped with medium grey ink and coloured with Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft pencils on kraft card, one of my favourite combinations.

Clean, simple and ideal for the scientist in our family!

Thanks for visiting today, I will be back soon with some of the stitching projects I was working on during harvest.

MFT WEEKLY SKETCH CHALLENGE #WSC409

It's that time of the week when the Design Team invites you to join in with the new Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch we have for you this week:

and this is the card I made for the Challenge:

Well, as it's Halloween today I thought it only fitting that the adorable witch from Witch Way is the Candy should be on the card!

She's coloured on Kraft card with Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft pencils, but their non-water-soluble Pablo pencils would have worked just as well.

Why not join in with this weeks challenge, you never know you could be the lucky winner of a $50 MFT Store Voucher.

Until next time
Happy Colouring

P P PICK UP A PENGUIN

If you're a Brit 🇬🇧 like me you'll be thinking about Chocolate Biscuits right about now!

(a Penguin is a chocolate coated biscuit, similar to an Australian TimTam)

As promised, here is another card I created using

Sweet Holiday Penguins by Stacey Yacula

Today, I decided to swap my Copics for Caran D'Ache Luminance pencils.  I stamped the image with Cement Grey Hybrid ink on to Neenah Desert Storm 100lb cardstock, which I then cut using a Stitched Tag Corner Square Stax Die-namics.

Once coloured, I created a top folding card base from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb.  The rest of the card was made from layers of the same Neenah white card and Red Hot card, to mirror the stripes on the candy cane. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today

Happy Colouring

MFT RELEASE DAY - MAY 2018

Oh yes, the time has come for you to go shopping and grab all those crafty goodies you've been drooling over for the past few days...........but before you go I just wanted to share this:

 I have fallen in love with the new Birdie Brown Little Buddies stamp set - it's so cute!

I started with a piece of 80 lb Desert Storm cardstock and cut out a stitched rectangle using the A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax 2 die set.  Then stamped the little boy off centre with Hybrid Cement Grey ink and coloured him with Caran D'Ache Luminance pencils.   

You can just about see the paw prints I stamped once all the pencil work had been completed.  In hindsight I should have double stamped them as the Natural Hybrid ink became far too pale as it dried on the card - but if like me you have a Misti, double stamping will prove no problem and alleviate this issue.

The sentiment, from You Make My Tail Wag balanced the composition. I used Versamark ink and heat embossed with White Embossing Powder.

OK, you've been good and read the blog post..................

But before you go, please don't forget to leave a comment on my blog in the section below - you never know you could be the lucky winner of a $100 MFT Stamps gift voucher!

NOW YOU CAN GO SHOPPING!!!!

(and please share what you create  #mftstamps )

SUPPLIES USED:

MFT APRIL RELEASE - JUST ADD COLOUR

Hello there and welcome to a new monthly feature at MFT:

We will be sharing images from each months release, with colouring as the main focal point - just my kind of post!

 Oh this was such a fun project, not only because I got to draw all the foliage but I had to work out how to use the new Birdbath Die-namic to make a stencil that I could then colour.

I cut a piece of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock with a Stitched Tag Corner Rectangle die and then stamped the two birds with Cement Grey Hybrid ink.  Both birds were then covered with masks.

As for the birdbath, I started by cutting out the main die from a large piece of masking tape.  I set aside the die cut and adhered the negative space to my piece of Neenah and proceeded to sponge Cement Grey Hybrid ink on to it.  Once the masks were removed, I was left with a solid grey outline of the birdbath, with both birds perfectly placed.  Then I simply coloured on top of the solid inked image using Supracolor Soft pencils, with images on my iPad for reference.

I adopted the same approach for both the birds and foliage, using a combination of both coloured pencil and Neocolor II crayons, whilst referring to images on my iPad.........remember "Google, don't Guess!"

As Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft pencils are as the name suggests "soft" they do tend to smudge more readily than the Pablo's I usually use, so once I had finished colouring with both them and the Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons I made sure that I sprayed the finished piece with fixative.  I use Winsor and Newton Professional Fixative, but a fine mist of hairspray will do the job too (it's what I used as a student)

Finally I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with White Embossing powder.

The card base is a tent fold card, cut using the largest Stitched Tag Corner Rectangle.  I wanted to keep the card simple, after all the colouring is supposed to be the focal point!

Thanks for joining me today, until next time

Happy Colouring

SUPPLIES USED:

MFT APRIL RELEASE - COUNTDOWN DAY 4

Here is my card for Day 4 of MFT's April Release Countdown.

The central image was stamped on to Kraft card with Hybrid Cement Gray ink - and coloured with a combination of Caran D'Ache Supracolor Soft pencils and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons.

I loved using the crayons, they really made colouring the puddle a pleasure.

The Supracolor Soft pencils come in the exact same colours as the Pablo's I normally use, however, these are water soluble and a tad softer, making blending a breeze.

Once coloured, I cut the image out with a die from the A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax 2, mounting it on to two layers of blue cardstock cut using A2 Rectangle Stax 1 & 2.  The cardbase itself is an A2 tent folding card made from MFT Smooth White.

I will be back on Monday with another creation from April's new release.

Happy Colouring

SUPPLIES USED:

(NB some links will not work until day of release)