Red Gem Toppers

Hello all, as you can see I have been having a little crafty fun this weekend and I thought I would show you all what I have been up to.  I decided to use different papers to colour some of my digi stamp images.

• Charles or Cherie the Owl
• Elle the Elephant
• Peanut the Pony

I used Rey Text and Graphics 160gsm paper to print all the images on.  It is a good stiff paper, that gives bright and clear images when printed on.  I used 4 sheets of paper, 2 were perfectly blank sheets that I printed out the digi stamp images onto.  The other 2 I printed out backing papers on from the gorgeous Dreams Come True crafting CD-Rom, part of the Papercraft Factory range from Funky Hand. I then run the already printed on sheets back through my printer, printing the digi stamp images onto those as well.

Now comes the fun part, deciding what to cut out from where to make up coloured version of the images.  I first of all cut out the plain digi images leaving a small border of white around each.  I then cut up the background papers, using different paper for the different parts, and stuck them together.  I used Crafters Companions, Spray and Sparkle on some of the cut pieces, to give an extra wow factor. Promarkers were used to colour the blank paper beaks, eyes and feet. I also used 3D Crystal Lacquer to highlight the eyes and feet and then added a red gem on each one.

I was really pleased with the finished toppers, so I wanted to show them off, even though I haven't got round to putting them on a card yet.

Thanks for reading,

Happy Crafting,  Janie xxx

Milly Mack - The Card

Hi all, it's been a little while since I made a card, guess I have been to involved with creating graphics lately, but I set to and made this one.  It was no hardship though, I don't mean to crow about my own work, but I do love the Milly Mack Image, she is definately a favourite.

The card was very easy to do as well, I have a new printer now, the 'Canon MP640', and one of it's remarkable talents is to be able to print on card up to 300gsm  So I popped a card blank into the back, did some measuring, and faffing (a technical word) on my graphics program and was able to print directly onto the 260gsm greeting card. 

The backing paper I printed was a quilt effect paper I made, and which I used to make Milly's quilted coat, so the paper and image match perfectly. I cut out a circle using my 'Cricut', and bordered it with a lovely chain effect bronze peel off.  I coloured inside each of the holes along the chain with a blue 'Sakura' glaze pen, having to go around twice to get the lovely deep blue colour shown. I then placed this and slightly raising it, using 'Pinflair Glue', onto the card base.

Milly was coloured in using Promarker pens, I chose the Digi Stamp with the quilted coat as you can see. I used a white pen to highlight some places on the image and then placed her onto the circle, raising her up once more with 'Pinflair Glue'.

I went through my button box and found some that matched really well with the buttons doing up Milly's coat, so I placed one in each corner. I also edged the card in bronze straight line peel offs, blending in with the chain border around the circle.

I hope you like Milly Mack - The Card, I had a great time making it.

Happy Crafting,

Greebs..xx

Stitched Just For You

Hi all, yesterday I went out to visit 'Pondskipper Crafts' in Peterborough, and had a great time looking through all the crafty things.  I was lucky enough to come across a set of unmounted stamps by 'Creative Expressions', that I had loved when I saw it on 'Create and Craft' on TV. The stamps come on a rubber sheet and are from the U-Mount series, and this set is called 'Stitches'.
When I got home I mounted the rubber sheet onto 'EZ Mount', and carefully cut out the images.
For this card I used a large corner stamp from the set, the stamps measures just over 11.5 cm x 12 cm, and is a lovely size.
I stamped out the image using a 'Memento - Tuxedo Black' inkpad and then coloured in using promarkers, but decided to limit myself to three colours for the actual stamp.  The colours I chose were Burnt Orange, Olive Green and Aubergine. I did use the colour Cool Grey 1 to shadow around the image, but everything else was coloured with the other three.  I then matted the image onto a deep purple paper and then onto a lovely bronze mirri board, placing the final topper by foam tape to raise it, onto a 15.5 cm square card.  I then did fake stitching around the outside of the card with a black pen, to blend with the stitched effect of the rubber stamp.
The greeting was from a set of 'Fairy Doodles' clear rubber stamps by 'buzzcraft', which was stamped and then matted and mounted on foam tape.
I liked making this card very much, and really loved the effect of using the three colours, I hope you all like it to.

'Til next time, happy crafting,

Greebs xxx

Secret Time...  When I was at Pondskipper I was told a little secret, on the 16th October, Pondskipper with be unveiling their very first craft collection on the 'Create and Craft' tv shopping channel , they are needless to say very excited about this and I really wish them well.  They gave me a sneaky peak at what they were going to show, and it was lovely, so remember to put the date in your crafty diary.

Messing Around With Messy

Hi again, today there is no freebie, just a card to show off to you all. I made this over the weekend, though I had been thinking about the idea for a few weeks.
The main part of the card is made from Joanna Sheen's 'Messy Rabbit' papercraft CD Rom.  On disc one of this two disc set there is a section called, 'Bonus! Sketches'. These are line drawings of some of the fabulous artwork on the disc, and just right I thought for colouring with my promarkers.
I choose the sketch of Messy looking at a ladybird on the leaf of a huge sunflower and had a fine time colouring it in. The colours (Pumpkin and Cool Grey 1), I used for the border of the topper was also used for the paper I stamped on for the sentiment.
The backing paper also came from disc one, under the title, 'Bonus! Messy Rabbit', you will find the sketch I used but this time it is pre-coloured, clicking the image you find a couple of wonderful backing papers, that go perfectly with the coloured images, and of course my promarker coloured sketch.
 I printed out the backing sheet, and then copied the sunflower in the bottom right corner two times, printed them and cut them out to decoupage up.
The sunflower in the top left corner is a button,  I tied the green ribbon to the shank at the back and then threaded wooden beads on, leaving a nice length to dangle. I used 'Art Institute' Dries Clear glue at either end of the beads to make sure they didn't move to much and didn't drop off either.  The sunflower button was stuck on using a large amount of 'Pinflair' glue, which when dried allowed for no movement of the button at all.
The topper and the sentiment are both raised using foam tape. The backing paper is matted onto orange mirri card, and the topper and sentiment were both matted onto a deep brown leather effect card, and then matted onto orange mirri.
I hope you like my card, take care all and Happy Crafting,

Greebs..xxx

That Chilly Feeling

I have been busy over the weekend, but still had time to make a couple of cards.  One was a A4 sized card for Stuart's workplace, they wanted one for the wedding of an upcoming member of staff, I was quite pleased with the result and hopefully after the wedding I will show you a picture.
The second card I made was the one on the left, a simple but I think pretty christmas card.
The image came from the Tales From Pollycraft Blog, which runs a Friday Freebie every week.  I coloured her in with Promarkers, using the colours, Blossom, Lilac and Rose Pink for her clothes, Cocoa for her shoes and hair, though I did add some lowlights to her hair using the colour Cinnamon. Her skin colour is Blush and the cheeks are Pastel Pink, I thought you were bound to have bright cheeks sitting any length of time on a snowball!!! Talking of which, was coloured using Cool Grey 1.  I then outlined the image in Pastel Blue.
The image was then matted onto deep purple paper and then onto silver mirri board.

The card size is DL, and the paper affixed to it comes from Do Crafts, 'Daisy & Dandelion' Christmas Collection, 'A Winter's Tale'.  I ripped the paper, and then coloured the white ripped part with the Silver colour from Do Crafts Shimmer Chalks 'Festive' collection. I placed a silver fine-line border peel off down the  left side of the card, slightly in from the edge, and then finished off the card with a 'Silver Pearlescent Tag' from Do Crafts.

Thanks for reading, Happy Crafting,

Greebs..xx

Weekend Bargains

Hi all, I had some crafty fun this weekend, went out and came back with some good 'ole crafty bargains. Our local Garden Centre has been running a 50% off sale for several weeks now, so every time we go we have a look at the offers.
They have a large craft section in-store so amongst the bargains are several craft items. Last time we went we came away with four packs of 'Bind-It-All' Wires in various colours. This time we found Pee Wee Glitter sets and a couple of Christmas 'Forever Friends' 6x6 Paper packs by 'Do Crafts'.
Also by 'Do Crafts', in the main craft shop they had one of their 'Goody Bags', now I don't usually buy these as they are only a bargain if you actually want most of the items offered. Well this one I did, so we bought it, and it gave me the inspiration for the above card.
Firstly the main star of the card is the robin perched on it's branch. This is a stamp called 'Robin' by Anita's, which has been coloured in using ProMarkers. The colours I used were, Poppy, Red, Terracotta, Cocoa, Yellow and Pumpkin. I also used a white pen to highlight the eyes. The tree I drew myself, coloured in once more using ProMarkers in Burnt Sienna, Cinnamon and Cocoa, then cut it out.
The Snow background came from the 'Forever Friends' Christmas Snow paper pack, but I glittered it using 'Spray & Sparkle' Silver from 'Crafter's Companion'. The Sentiment is from 'Do Crafts' and I stuck a red gem from my craft stash in the corner just to round off the card. I hope you like it.


Actually after looking at the Robin stamp for a while I thought he might make a jolly nice penguin, so again using Promarkers I gave it a go, and was rather pleased with the result. I didn't use black, but several shades of grey, the feet and beak are pumpkin and yellow. He has not found his way onto a card yet, but give me time.


Well that's it for now, take care all,

Greebs..xx

ProMarkers and Brads

Here's a picture of two brads that seem very different upon first glance. They are not, they are the same type of brad. The one on the left is the original silver flower brad and the one on the right has been coloured using a ProMarker pen and then triple embossed with clear embossing powder.

The method is simple, first choose the brad you want to colour, I used silver as I thought it would show the colour better. You could always experiment with other colours. I then chose my ProMarker, the colour is Pumpkin, as this was the colour I needed for my finished topper, for the card I am working on.

I first picked up my brad with a pair of tweezers (do not try this using just your fingers, heat guns get VERY hot), I then coloured in the head of the brad. Immediately you have finished colouring place the head into the clear embossing powder and then using a heat gun melt the powder. I powdered and embossed a further two times, the finished result is what you see above. As the embossing cooled it took on the shape of the brad itself, looking like a little pumpkin coloured gem.


This is the project I wanted them for, a rather nice Bee digi-stamp by Dustin Pike. See how the colour of the brads matches the colouring on the bee's body. Using the same pens for both image and brad you can get perfect colour match, giving you a lovely professional finish.

Now all I have to do is finish off the card.

Have a great weekend,

Greebs..xx

Birds of a Feather Freebie

Finally I managed something that wasn't a butterfly. My second freebie to you are four sweet little birds, put together in a little kit called 'Birds of a Feather'. They are in PNG file format, so you can use them in your graphics programs for card making or scrapbooking. I have also an outline JPEG version for those who like colouring in, but have just noted it has green eyes, so will have to remove the colour before posting it. Something for you to look forward to I guess.


I have been busy card making, this time using the ProMarker coloured image of my butterfly and I thought you might like to see my finished card.
I used a 15.5x15.5 cm base card and covered it with a colourful butterfly paper (this could be a sneak peak of a future freebie). I then matted a printed paper design from Glenda Waterworth's soon to be released 'Decadent Brocade' cd with some silver mirri board, sticking the matt straight onto the base card. On top of that I placed my butterfly, the wings are slightly raised up to add more depth.
I am still pondering if I need to add any embellishments, but I think not. It works as it is, I hope you like it.

'Decadent Brocade' should be on general release in a couple of weeks time, I managed to get my copy on Pre-Order through being in the 'Graphicus Guild'. Hopefully I will be showing off some more cards made from the papers on this cd. If you want more information you can go to the 'Graphicus' website, but as I said it not released just yet.

Well that's about all for today, happy crafting all.

Greebs..xx

Been a Busy Wee Girl

Hi again, been happily trying to create stunning things on my computer for the last couple of days. I was very pleased with the number of people who downloaded my freebie butterfly, hopefully some of you will find it useful for something.

As you can see I have decided to colour in one of my butterfly designs. This is the same critter as I used in my title graphic, but this time it was a line drawing printed out and then coloured using my ProMarkers.

The colours I used were Amethyst, Lavender, Lilac, Blossom, Coral and Terracotta. The nice thing about these pens is they blend so nicely and do not leave streaks unless you want them to. The highlighting on the body was actually done with the lilac on top of the terracotta. The lilac took away the colour and looked rather nice.

Oh and one more thing before I sign off for today, I was reading Glenda Waterworth's blog, Artylicious, when I noticed she had a ONE WEEK FREEBIE which started week commencing Saturday, August 8. If you are anything like me you just love Glenda's design's and this 12x12 paper is no exception, well worth a download, but you have to be quick before it's gone.

Take care all,
Happy Crafting.

Greebs..xx

Time For A Freebie

This rather cute Butterfly is my very first creation. If you would like to download it just click on the image. It is very similar to the one I used in my blog title, but this one I didn't colour in. As I said I am still learning, but having fun.

I enjoy colouring with ProMarker Pens, so I want to do a few line drawings for that purpose. At the moment is is very much trial and error with my creations. But I will enjoy colouring this one in, and putting it on a card, such excitement.

Letraset ProMarkers contain alcohol based inks and come in a range of 92 colours. They are wonderful to use, and give you a lovely proffesional finish. They are available from many stockists, though one of the cheapest I have found is from Joanna Sheen, who stocks a wide range and has FREE P&P!!

Anyways, have a great day,

Greebs xxx