DAY 30

Thirty days of colouring? DONE. It's the last of September and the final day of The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge. The creation of expert colourist Kathy Racoosin, she encourages everyone to colour every day, even for as little as five minutes. After making it from start to finish for the first time, I think being creative in some way every day might work for me. Not sure I need to colour every day, but it does help hone the process. However, I'm still convinced some days it works, some days it really doesn't. :P 
I did go all out on my card today: 

  
Look at those cute little squirrels Emily picked for Angela and me to use this final day! I started by getting out what turns out to still be my go-to colouring medium, my Zigs, and using them on the squirrels and acorns. I had thought about doing a stencilled leaf background and having them on a central panel, but this morning I decided to get ambitious and make my own Impressionistic background using sponges and qtips. I'm pleased with how it turned out! So much so that I almost didn't put a sentiment on... what if I wrecked it? I'm glad I did though; I picked one that references the little heart tag on the one acorn. 
These squirrels are scampering off to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes challenge. 
Thanks to Kathy for the push to create all month, and to Ang and Em for the fun stamp sets they chose for the three of us to create with! 

P.S. This is my second post of the day... you can see my card for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, Pink Halloween, here!

Supplies: white & Neenah desert storm cardstock, Fabriano watercolour paper, My Mind's Eye Bohemia patterned paper, Neat & Tangled My Favourite Nut & Woof stamps & dies, Unity grab bag stamp, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass, mowed lawn, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, ground espresso & gathered twigs distress inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Zig markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine rectangle die, dimensionals

Pin It Now!

Spooky in Pink

It's time for that annual Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers tradition... PINK HALLOWEEN! I'm not a huge fan of pink, but I'd happily wear Edna's fine hat; I'm still deciding about the corsage. 👀

I try to do something a little different each year, so this is what I came up with: 

I am liking how that spooky sky turned out! It's a mix of pink and two purples, with some water droplets splashed on then soaked up, and finally some black sponging around the edges, then when most of the ink was off the blending sponge, a few wipes over the panel to darken it a bit. A spooky tree in the background, a couple of ghosts (I like how the little one looks afraid of the other) on a hillside, and an embossed sentiment. 
Each member of the sisterhood has her own pink take on the challenge, as does our latest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Gina! 

Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up smoky slate cardstock, Unity/Echo Park Fright Night & Imaginisce Happy Halloween stamps, Versafine onyx black & picked raspberry, shaded lilac, wilted violet & black soot distress inks, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, MFT scenic safari & wonky stitched rectangle & Memory Box ghost trio dies, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 29!!!!!

It's the penultimate day of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge! One more day, and then it's MY DECISION whether or not I feel like colouring. I've enjoyed this month a lot, and it's great practice, but also more of a commitment than I might have first realized. And while Kathy always assures everyone there's no pressure... there can be self-imposed pressure, especially when you've agreed to play along with others! 
All that being said... ;) 
Since I needed to be quick yesterday, I went a little more all-out today: 

Dark and rainy = dark photo. :(

I must be getting mentally prepared for my Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers post tomorrow, since I added a little more sass to these Lawn Fawn cuties than normal. :D Such a mean way to keep the little reindeer mushing! One of my own challenges today was to keep the sky as light a blue as I could, and while it means it's not very even, I think that's okay for a wintry sky. The sled, bossy penguin and overworked reindeer are watercoloured with Zigs, while the evergreen (a mostly solid stamp) is embossed in green glitter powder. The toboggan rope is gold ink, and the sentiment and snowball trail are pearlescent ink. I may come back and add a few sparkles or sequins later, but I still have a couple of months to decide. ;) 
Another card going into Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes challenge! 

Supplies: white & blue cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together stamps & dies, Hero Arts Family & Friends sentiment stamp, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, Brilliance pearlescent sky blue & galaxy gold & tumbled glass distress inks, Ranger clear & green tinsel embossing powders, Zig markers, MFT wonky stitched rectangle & Paper Smooches border dies, icicle Stickles, white gel pen

Pin It Now!

Merry Colouring

Day 28! And while I'm later than I'd like to be, I do have something coloured for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring challenge. It was a day spent mostly out of the house, but I took the time to make a tag for the Christmas stash: 

I watercoloured this whimsical evergreen, then added snow marker for some fun texture and dimension. That's kind of like colouring too, since my snow marker tends to burp — I usually just let it belch a puddle onto a scrap of paper then paint it on where I want it. I cut the tag from patterned paper as well as cardstock, then added a snowy slope and a sentiment. I even found ribbon and twine to match my tree. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Fabriano watercolour paper, Doodlebug Design Frosty Friends patterned paper, Essentials by Ellen Tree Farm & Tis the Season stamps, Versafine onyx black & Ranger lily pad inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Zig markers, Marvy Uchida snow marker, Winnie & Walter Katharine dies, May Arts ribbon, Twinery twine, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 27

For Day 27 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring challenge, I have watercoloured a fun, balloon-carrying birthday fox! When I see balloons, I think Twinkling H2Os, so I used them on the balloons and the fox's neckerchief, and watercolour pencils for the fox himself. I managed to capture just a bit of the shimmer in this photo: 

This also manages to show off my less than perfect use of watercolour pencils, of course. 😄 I don't like the hard line I have at the top of his head, but it didn't bother me quite enough to abandon him. Here he is on the final card: 

More patterned paper stash-busting. And yet my collection doesn't seem in the least diminished! 😉 And oh, look... the last week of the month means Simon Says Stamp has an Anything Goes challenge, so I'll link this card there. 

Supplies: white, black & Papertrey Ink soft stone cardstock, Crate Paper Random patterned paper, Altenew Hug Me stamp & die, Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, watercolour pencils, Twinkling H2Os, Quickutz heart, Spellbinders tag & Little B blackout dies, Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, The Twinery twine (coloured with a Copic marker), pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 26

Another day, another card! The distress markers are out again today to colour some planner-style images from Emily: 

Some fussy-cutting, patterned paper and a bit of vellum and I had a card! 

Today's ancient patterned paper has a travel theme, which I thought went well with the idea of planning something epic. This will be the perfect card for the next time my niece and I sneak off for a girls adventure. 😉

Supplies: white cardstock, Fabriano watercolour paper, vellum, Studio Calico Abroad patterned paper, Sweet Stamp Shop Epic Notes stamps, Versamark onyx black ink, Ranger clear embossing powder, distress markers, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Christmas Cards for the 25th!

I'm three months early, but I have two Christmas cards for the 25th day of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge! I coloured a couple of cute images from Taylored Expressions with Copic and Spectrum Noir markers. 

Hot again today, but cloudy, so cloudy pic, too...

I made the ice-fishing penguin into a card first.Breaking away from patterned paper, I stencilled a snowy background before using some watercolour powder for a background. 

I even broke out some twine! For appropriate holiday shine, I embossed with sparkle powder, added Stickles to penguin's hat and Nuvo glitter drops to the snowflakes in the sky and on the sentiment. 
My penguin qualifies this for the new Merry Monday challenge; embossing paste, Stickles, Nuvo drops and more puts this into Just Add Ink challenge #378; and the glitter added to the embossing paste, the sparkle embossing powder as well as the Stickles and Nuvo drops qualifies this for the HLS September Christmas challenge. 
Next up, the snowman got the card treatment: 

Back to using up some patterned paper (from my very first Christmas paper pad, no less!). I was using two rectangle dies to cut out the panels when I noticed the perforation die and thought it would be fun to use down the side. Nuvo drops again for the snowflakes, plus a couple of added red snowflake die cuts. 

Supplies: (let it snow) white cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Taylored Expressions Ready, Set, Snow stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic & Spectrum Noir markers, Simon Says Stamps falling snow stencil, Dreamweaver glossy white embossing paste, Martha Stewart fine crystal glitter, Magenta Nuance cerulean blue watercolour powder, MFT blueprints 24 dies, frosted lace Stickles, Nuvo clear glitter drops, yellow Divine twine, fun foam; (ready, set, snow) white cardstock, Echo Park Holly Jolly patterned paper, Taylored Expressions Ready, Set, Snow stamps, ? snowflake stamp and die, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red inks, Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic & Spectrum Noir markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway dies, Nuvo clear crystal drops, fun foam

SaveSave Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 24

Here we are at the 24th day of September, and in my part of Ontario, we have an unheard of heat warning. So weird! It was even too hot to colour out on my deck. (One month ago today, we were coming home from a baseball game and had the heat going full blast in the car, we were SO COLD from sitting outside.) 
But on to the colouring. I got to pick today's stamp set for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge, and I chose Tim Holtz's Hipster set. 

I do enjoy taking Tim Holtz stamps and using them as cleanly and simply as possible. 😉 I coloured my hipster dude with Zig markers, die cut the panel and added the speech bubble. (Who knew that colouring for a month would also be an opportunity to use some patterned paper stash? Win-win!) 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Hattie patterned papers, Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Hipster stamps, MFT black licorice ink, Zig markers, Paper Smooches word bubbles & MFT diagonal stitched rectangle dies

Pin It Now!

Day 23...Colouring and Tea

Day 23 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge! (I can't imagine anyone is paying the slightest attention, but if you happened to notice I skipped Day 22, It's only because it was an Instagram only post; I coloured but have yet to make a card from it.) Today Emily, Angela and I are using a sweet set called Welcome Home... a fireplace, cute critters, lots to inspire. I always think it should be a Christmas set and have to stop and regroup when I look at it. :D When I got home last night, I had some happy mail waiting for me with a fun tea-themed background set, so I thought I could use the tea-drinking bunny with the background and have my card. 

As you can tell, I embossed the tea stamp in white before using watercolour powder for an emboss resist. While the paint was still wet, I grabbed some with a small paintbrush to colour rabbit's cushion and tea cup. I like how I could get three distinct shades. Of course once everything was dry, I realized the boldness of the background totally overwhelmed the small and delicate tea-rabbit. So below you can see the finished Plan B:

Instead of cutting a circle from the tea stamp, as I'd originally envisioned, I cut an oval from some patterned paper, then found cardstock to complement the teacup and cushion colours. Bunny himself is lightly watercoloured with Zigs. A suitable tea-related sentiment and a few sparkly sequins complete the card. 

Supplies: white & purple cardstock, Fabriano watercolour paper, My Mind's Eye Cowboy patterned papers, Hero Arts Welcome Home & Viva Las VegaStamps Take Time for Tea stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black inks, Ranger clear & Wow white embossing powders, Zig markers, Magenta Nuance violet watercolour powder, Winnie & Walter Katherine & MFT layered label dies, Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 21

Day 21 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 20 Day colouring Challenge... and a day I thought I might have to give in and call a failure. Angela sent us a Harvest Berries image to work with, and I decided I wanted to halo the branches with green. I haven't used watercolour pencils yet, so used one to colour around the leaves and branches, then faded the colour out with a paintbrush. IT LOOKED AWFUL. It really did! I wet the watercolour paper and tried to soak up some of the colour, but it still looked horrible to my eyes. Then I tried adding a lighter green to the rest of the panel, and while it looked a little better, it was still not good. Vellum to the rescue! 

While it's still far from my favourite card, I think the vellum, frame and gold sentiment make it into an okay card. Wish me better luck for tomorrow! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Bazzill Basics textured pale green cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, vellum, Papertrey Ink Harvest Berries & Clearly Besotted Fancy Sayings stamps, Veramark & Hero Arts black dye ink, pirate's gold embossing powder, watercolour pencils, MFT diagonal stitched rectangle dies

Pin It Now!

More Hedgehogs for Day 20!

Day 20 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge, and today I've got another hedgehog card. I think hedgehogs are adorable (at least in stamp form, I've only met one once) and can't think why I don't have any hedgehog stamps of my own. So I'm grateful that Angela sent a couple of different versions. For today, I coloured just one from the images that Ang sent, so I'll have more to play with some other time. ;) 

I used distress markers to watercolour this time around — a few are starting to dry out, and I likely won't bother to replace them now that I have Zigs, but I do like them for colouring sometimes. I also couldn't resist giving my hedgie a little bit of a pink belly to go with his rosy cheeks. With the stump and wooden sign, I chose to keep to the theme with some patterned paper and wood veneers. 

Supplies: white & black cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Echo Park Everyday Eclectic patterned paper, MFT Happy Hedgehogs, Hero Arts black dye ink, distress markers, MFT blueprints 24 dies, Studio Calico wood heart veneers, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Tis the Season for Colouring!

Day 19 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge, and I'm sneaking in another Christmas card for the stash with today's colouring. Angela sent us three different choices of Honey Bee's pickup truck to use, but I knew I wanted to use the Christmas one. It took me a while to decide how to work around the black Christmas tree in the back, though. Then it came to me: stickles! 

I coloured the truck with Copic markers, adding a little silver glitter pen to the running board and wheel rims. I kept the green glitter just thick enough to turn the black evergreen green without adding too much dimension. The sentiment is heat-embossed in white, and I think by keeping my strip of glitter cardstock a darker silver, this qualifies as a great Christmas card for a guy. With the glitter times two, I'm linking this to the current Simon Says Monday challenge, Shimmer and Shine. 

Supplies: Craft Smith red cardbase, Canson watercolour paper, American Crafts charcoal glitter paper, Lawn Fawn patterned paper, Honey Bee Stamps Happy Little Pickup & Papertrey Ink Think Big Sentiments #5 stamps, Versamark & Hero Arts black dye inks, Hero Arts white embossing powder, Copics, Spica silver glitter pen, Recollections green glitter glue, pop dot tape, fun foam

Pin It Now!

Small Bird Colouring

Another day, another card made after some colouring for Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge! Today is one of my stamp picks, and I chose these two small birds: 

I tried to keep my watercolouring fairly loose, to go with the sketched look of the birds. It took a while to decide what else I wanted to do with the card, but eventually decided on this background stamp with lots of tiny hearts. After embossing it with sparkly embossing powder, I used some blue watercolour powder with a generous amount of water for the emboss resist. A sweet little sentiment finished the card. 
With the watercolour wash along with heat embossing and watercolouring, I am adding this to the current CAS Mix Up challenge.

Supplies: navy & Papertrey Ink soft stone cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, STAMPlorations Smallbirds, Holiday Artsy & Unity Layers of Love stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, broken china, spun sugar & chipped sapphire distress inks, Ranger clear & Hero Arts sparkle embossing powders, Magenta Nuance cerulean blue watercolour powder

Pin It Now!

Colouring Challenge Day 17

Happy Sunday! For Day 17 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge, Emily, Angela and I are playing with a cute Lawn Fawn set called Jump for Joy. I used Zig markers to colour the hedgehog, owl and rake, but then decided to use sponge daubers and distress inks to give less definition to the leaf colours. 

Lawn Fawn stamps always seem to want to be made into a cute little scene, so that's what I did: 

I didn't have any of the sentiments that go along with the images in this set, so I went digging deep into my Unity stamps for one of the few fall-related sentiments I have. While I was at it, I found that cute little tree for the background. I sponged an autumn sky but decided the grass could still be nice and green. 

Supplies: white & Bazzill green textured cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Lawn Fawn Jump for Joy & Unity (?) stamps, Versafine onyx black, Hero Arts black dye & fossilized amber, carved pumpkin & gathered twigs distress inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 & Paper Smooches stitched dies, MFT cloud stencil, Zig markers, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!

Santa!

My second post today! The new 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

challenge card is here. 

It's Day 16 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge and time to break out some funky Santas. :D 

Isn't he fun? I kept my design clean and simple to let Fabulous Santa steal the show. And once I made one, I had to make another! 

In both cases I coloured Santa's outfit in Copics, then used Zigs to add a few details. 

Supplies: (nice, naughty, fabulous) white cardstock, Craft Smith green card base, Stampin' Up Visions of Santa & Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey Oh, Deer stamps, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up garden green inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Copics, Zig markers, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle marker, green gel pen; (ho ho ho) white, black & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Stampin' Up Visions of Santa, Lil' Inkers Jolly and Joyful Sentiments & Unity Ho Ho Ho stamps, Versafine onyx black & Simon Says Stamp garden green inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Copics, Zig markers, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle marker

Pin It Now!

Lost and Found

Welcome to a brand new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge... LOST AND FOUND. Is there a technique you used to use all the time that has fallen by the wayside? A formerly favourite stamp that now is covered with cobwebs? It's time to bust out the forgotten and resurrect it! 

I decided to revisit a technique that I once used frequently before I discovered the joy of watercolouring... paper-piecing:

I decided I should at least use an image that I'd never paper-pieced before, and decided that the cozy sweater of this polar bear would be perfect. Of course, when paper-piecing, there are always details you don't really think about before you start; in this case, the tiny amount of paw sticking out from each long sleeve. Yikes. 
The Sisters have revived lots of different techniques and images, so be sure to check out all the inspiration! If you decide to join us, and I hope you do, please be sure to indicate your own lost and found item. 

Supplies: white cardstock, American Crafts silver glitter paper, Echo Park Winter Wishes patterned paper, MFT Cool Day & Viva Las VegaStamps Naughty or Nice stamps, MFT black licorice ink, Zig marker, frosted lace Stickles, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle marker, fun foam

Pin It Now!

Drink Coffee and Colour!

It's double the fun this afternoon, with Day 15 of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge also being the start of the Fall Coffee Lovers Bloghop! Somehow, Emily, Angela and I were able to end up with coffee-themed stamps for today. ;) I coloured my first two images red before thinking... oh right, FALL theme. So I coloured a few more...

Everything is coloured with my Zig markers, as usual, it seems. Then, trying to keep with autumn colours, I put together a card: 

I think I may have used this same sentiment last time I hopped along with the other coffee lovers, but it really is too much fun to not use. 
Happy Friday, and happy coffee-drinking! 

Supplies: gold, Stampin' Up naturals white & Bazzill kraft & brown textured cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Altenew Coffee Love stamps & dies, Viva Las VegaStamps Drink Coffee stamp, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe espresso truffle inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 stitched rectangle & Paper Smooches bam bubble dies, Zig watercolour markers, pop dot tape

Pin It Now!