New goodies

I've been led astray yet again by my bloggy buddy DottyJo.  You'd think I'd have developed a bit of willpower by now! Ha!   If you've more resistance than me you should pop over to see her fab creations :)

So the object of my desires was this little dude she had used from Purple Onion Designs.  I've coloured him with polychromo pencils and added a bit of sparkle to his bauble and the snow.  Paper Smooches snowflake dies; not sure of the make of the sentiment.

• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #322
• Crafting by Designs May - anything goes
• Christmas with the Cuties #26 - feature a creature

And this sweet little tree was my other purchase, I fear there may be others when my crafting budget recovers, I've been a bit spend-happy recently haha.  

The very first, and only, real Christmas tree me and Greg had was a bit like this!  We only had a little apartment and the space for the tree had a sloping roof, so we had to cut a whack off the bottom and then some off the top too to get it wedged in.  And then after Christmas I dragged it down 4 or 5 flights of stairs and then dragged the hoover down to vacuum up all the pine needles!!  I bought a fake tree after that LOL

• Addicted to CAS #159 - horizon
• Creative Knockouts #298 - fave embellishment - mine's definitely gemstones, I've used a load of little tiny ones on my tree
• Addicted to Stamps #341 - anything goes

Blue hair!

uggh Sunday evening already, weekend time definitely goes quicker than it should!  It was a lovely sunny bright day and I got some of my pots tidied and a bit of planting done.  Still plenty more to do though!

I've been practising my colouring again and had a look today at a few hair tutorials -  I would never have thought of using dark blue in her hair!  I think I need to invest in a few more browny shades though, my little dog ended up looking a wee bit samey.

Things I learned in this card ... stamp your sentiment BEFORE sticking down the image!  I'd masked off my sentiment so that it could go on two lines, but it's quite sticky and when I stamped the 'thank' the stickiness of the 'you' bit took off some of my pencil work and it needed a bit of a fix.  Grrr.

• Layout from CAS(e) this sketch #321
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - for a special lady
• Crafting by Designs - girls
• Just Us girls #487 - bold letters

Here's a peek of my practice book.  I had been just using it as a record for blending colours but find it more useful to have a go at colouring actual stamped images.  I need lots more practice so I know I'm going to use this loads.

• As You Like It - favourite non-card project

Going for Gold

A couple of 'quick' cards this evening.  Well, when I say 'quick' ..... both cards I ended up taking apart and spending waaaaay more time than they should have taken!
I've been watching polychromo tutorials again, so tonight's theme is colouring Gold!

This first one I'd put my bunny in a pink circle, stuck everything down and then decided it just didn't work.  Luckily my bunny had been stuck with foam pads, so I just had to get my craft knife in under to scrape them off!

Bunny is an oldie from Stamping Bella that I bought in their sale and think I've stamped once.  Coloured with polychromos.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #563
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Pile it On #154 - beverage

And this one I'd originally had my central panel in white, decided it wasn't right and needed a bit of colour, and things got a bit messy in the dismantling process -  I had originally planned to have my bunny a bit higher up but his butt is covering a big ripped bit!  

Bunny and bear from an old MFT set; gold stars from stash.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #436
• Time Out #135 - stars

Butterflies and critters

Well that was a bit of an icky damp dark old day.  Every time we thought we'd take Rubydoo out for a walk it started to rain, and our little princess puts the breaks on if a raindrop hits her nose!  
Good weather for spring cleaning though - I got lots of 'silly' stuff done that doesn't quite fit in to my normal cleaning routine.  And it cleared my conscience for some crafting this afternoon so I didn't feel one bit guilty using my day off work to colour in and faff about hahaha.

This first card uses an oldie from Eat Cake Graphics.  Hopefully we get more butterflies visiting our garden than last year, they were definitely few and far between.
I usually just colour my butterflies all the same shade, but Mr Google kindly supplied some pics of beautiful butterflies to inspire me.  I've added a Gumiapan butterly die and little punched ones too.  If I was making this card again I'd flip my base and have the darker shade for the frame.

• Stamp Ink Paper #198 - wings of wonder
• Make My Monday #95 - wings
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #113 - how does your garden grow
• Tuesday Throwdown #431 - frame it

So for the rest of the afternoon I went YouTube-ing to look at polychromo tutorials and found a couple on skin and hair colouring.  So this little LOTV girl was the result.  I need lots more practice - she has a bit of a 5-o'clock shadow thing going on there ;)

I added in a little metal heart and red metallic embellishments.  Clear gloss to their noses and glitter to the girl's hair baubles.  Elizabeth Craft square dies and (I think) Gumiapan sentiment die.

• Layout from Die Cuttin Divas #419
• Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday April - pet project

New Goodies

Just a quick visit tonight, it's the big finale of Line of Duty and I can't wait to find out what happens.  They better reveal whodunnit or I'll be a bit P'd off if they drag it out to another series!!

Anyway, here's some more of my new Stamping Bella goodies.

This little bunny and his bear is an absolute sweetie - coloured with polychromos and some sparkle added to the white strips on his hat and glitter to his bauble.  Gummiapan flower die.

• Layout from AAA Cards #139
• Addicted to CAS #158 - contrast
• Die Cuttin Divas #418 - anything goes

I got my watercolour pencils out for a change for this one. Sparkle added to the carol sheet and glitter to their baubles.  I think I'll add in a few enamel dots for falling snow, it needs a wee something.

• Layout from Power Poppy
• CHNC #436 - any Xmas
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Baby Blooms

I've been kinda spoiled just recently with time off from work with the Easter holidays and now the Bank Holiday weekend ... didn't stop me booking off Tuesday too though, so I've a lovely looooooong weekend ahead :)

I treated myself to a wee shopping spree recently and this cutie from Stamping Bella fell into my shopping basket.  We've a few babies due in work shortly so I thought I'd get ahead of the game.
Coloured with polychromos and I added a dot of clear gloss and glitter to the centre of the flowers for a little bit of sparkle.

• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #501
• Creative with Stamps #38 - Baby
• Love to Scrap #121 - anything goes
• Your Next Stamp #113 - how does your garden grow

Spring flowers and a hungry crow

Just a quickie post tonight.  Line of Duty is on and it's confusing enough without paying proper attention!

I've always thought that wild flowers are the nicest flowers of all, especially this time of year when the bluebells and primroses are in their full show.

I've added in a touch of blue colouring to the background so the die cut stands out a bit better.  Gummiapan squares die; Whipper Snapper floral image.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday #579 - sequins, brads or gems
• Moving Along with the Times #96 - floral

And here's a wee silly card, using this fab crow from High Hopes.  It was inspired by the cover of 'All Creatures Great and Small', this week's book over at the Library Challenge #32

I think it still needs 'something' so I'll have to have a wee think.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Pile it On #153 - lots of layers