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Monday 28 February 2011

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight on ... Silhouettes

That's right. This week, we want to see your silhouettes. And we're sponsored by Stitchy Stamps who has some fabulous silhouettes among her fabulous creations.

I've used one of Stitchy's silhouettes - she comes from a set called 'A Touch of Class'.
I printed the silhouette, some leaves and the frame onto film. The background includes some files from Crafty Image Emporium CD, and some PSE generated trees and shadows and is printed on paper. I've layered them with foam pads to get some depth. The backing paper is from the same CD, but I've changed the colour to give the yellow background. The flowers were cut with Marianne Creatables dies and the ferns were punched.

And some news about the Spotlight Challenges! They'll be moving to their very own blog as of next month. That's right, Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight Challenges has a new home, all of its own! Challenges on both the main and the Spotlight blogs will continue to run for a fortnight, starting on alternate Mondays. So, bookmark or follow the new blog so you don't miss the exciting new spotlights we've got in store for you!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Incy Wincy where they want punches or dies (fern punches and flower dies)
Lexi's Creations where they want flowers,
Tuesday Digital where they want punches (ferns)
Do You Stack Up where 'anything goes'
Papercrafting Journey where 'anything goes'
Stamp Something who want us to 'use flowers',
Crazy 4 Challenges who want us to 'use flowers'
My Grafico where 'anything goes'.

Sunday 27 February 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 51

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're previewing the March collaboration - a great free gift if you spend $10 in the Stitchy Bear shop during March.  The theme of the challenge this week is 'Mothers'! Remember, Mother's Day is coming up at the start of April, and that's only one reason to make a card for a mum.

I cheated a bit with my image. It was intended as an Easter image - complete with Easter greeting, but I thought it'd be ideal as a Mother's Day image, so I used the magic of digital images to remove the sentiment.

Isn't it a lovely image? I coloured it with Promarkers, then added some further shading with my Coloursoft pencils blended with Baby Oil. I dabbed a little Versacolor ink in Cocoa in the background with a shaving brush. The paper came from a CD called 'Flower Power', but was originally in two varieties - black on white and white on black. I used PSE to change them to brown/peach tones. I've used some Spellbinder labels and the In Spades medallion die, as well as some Spellbinder swirls, and made the flowers using some Marianne Creatables dies, all in my Wizard.

We're sponsored this week by Bunny Zoe who's offering a gift voucher to the lucky winner.


Hope you can join us this week, and don't forget to check out the other DT creations!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Do You Stack Up where 'anything goes',
Papercrafting Journey where 'anything goes',
Stamp Something who want us to 'use flowers',
Crazy 4 Challenges who want us to 'use flowers',
My Grafico where 'anything goes',
CD Sunday who want Art Nouveau - well I think that pretty much sums up a lot of Hope Jacare's work!

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Promarkers Challenge on Going Buggy

The image is a Ching Chou Kuik image from Sweet Pea stamps, and she's coloured with Promarkers. I added a little Glamour Dust to her wings and necklace. The paper is from Personal Impressions, and the flowers were made using Blossom nesties and Promarkers, and finished with some pearl strings and more Glamour Dust.

The mats were white coloured with Promarker (in Cobalt Blue) around the edges.

Promarker Colours Used: Pinks - Antique Pink, Cocktail Pink, Salmon Pink, Baby Pink
Blues: Cobalt Blue, Powder Blue, Arctic Blue, Pastel Blue
Greens: Mint Green, Pastel Green (for the background) with Vanilla over both to change the colour a little.
Skintones: Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Almond

I used a lot of blender in this one - fading out the blues in her wings and the pinks in her lower sleeves.

This card is made for the Letraset challenge on Going Buggy.

Sunday 20 February 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 50

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to show us your shapes! And none of them are to be squares.

We're sponsored this week by Joanna Sheen who's offering a £10 voucher to the lucky winner, and she offers free worldwide postage!
The theme this week was Natalyia's bright idea - no squares. Definitely something that takes me out of my comfort zone. So ... what did I do? I turned a square into an octagon!
The inner octagons were cut with my Nesties, but the scallopped one is the largest in that range. So, to cut the card, mat and paper bigger than that, I had to use some Maths! (I'll put a bit of that at the end of this post so as not to  bore those of you who're not interested!)

The gorgeous image is from Delicious Doodles and is available at the Stitchy Bear store. I coloured it with Promarkers, but added some extra shading with my new Coloursoft pencils. The backing paper is from the Flower Power CD which I got from Crafty Emma's store. The butterflies are die cut - not sure whose die maybe Quikutz? I've covered the lower layer with some fantasy film and used the fact that the die doesn't cut too well, leaving all the cut out areas in place. The upper layer is thin card which did cut properly, coloured with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday who want die cuts (the various nesties used in layering and the butterflies)
Bunny Zoe who want Spring Flowers
Creative Cottage whose theme is Fabulous Florals
Charisma Cardz whose theme is 'Spring has Sprung',
Totally Papercrafts who want digis
Digi Doodles where 'Anything Goes',
Mami Doodles who have a Flower theme,
Allsorts who have a 'nature' theme.

Now, the Maths. I'd be really interested to know if this is useful to anyone. And if you spot a problem or don't get what I'm doing, please let me know.

I started with a square card - I measured it at 148mm square.

To cut an octagon with sides all length a mm, we need to find out the measurement b mm. The external angle of an octagon is 45`as marked.

We know that a + 2b = 148mm.
From basic trigonometry, we know that sin(45`)= opposite/hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle = b/a.
or sin45=b/a
which gives b=a x sin45.

Substituting this value for b into the first equation gives:
a + 2(a x sin45) = 148 mm
a(1+2sin45) = 148 mm
a= 148mm/(1+2sin45)
Using a calculator, a=61mm (rounded)
Therefore, from a+2b =148 mm,
b= (148-61)/2 = 43.5mm.

So, to cut an octagon with 61mm sides, you need to cut the corners off your square, 43.5mm from the edge of each side.

Doing the same calculation for different square sizes gives the cut points for different sized octagons.

In general, a= L/(2sin45 +1) and b= (L-a)/2 where L is the length of side of the square in mm.
Or, if you don't like the look of ths trig function,
a=L/2.41, and b=(L-a)/2.

Saturday 19 February 2011

Doing Things Back to Front

I was working on a DT card a couple of days ago, and I had some leftover bits. Then, I spotted an image stamped for me by a Secret Santa in a cardmaking group, and I thought it'd work well with the leftovers. I can't show you the original card yet, but here's the 'extra' one!
Because it was stamped for me, I don't know whose image the girl is. Sorry! She's coloured with my Coloursoft pencils. The papers are indirectly from the Flower Power CD I got from Crafty Emma's a while ago. I say indirectly, because I've recoloured them in Photoshop Elements. (They were originally black and white.) I love the result so much, I'm really using them as a feature rather than just a backing. I've used one of my Label Nesties, and a Marianne Creatables die for the flower. The sentiment is a sticker from a previous Secret Santa.

No challenges for this yet - I may come back in the morning and add some.

Hope you're all having a great weekend. I expect you'll hear from me a bit more than usual this week since it's Half Term, so I'm at home all week.

Monday 14 February 2011

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight on ... Plastic!

Whose idea was this? Oh, yes, it was Judie's! This spotlight is about using plastic on your creation. And I had loads of good ideas which promptly fell apart when I tried to put them into practice. Still, I tried some different options, and came up with this.

So, where's the plastic! Well, there are several bits here. First, the silhouette image (a freebie from My Grafico) was printed onto film. Then, it was backed onto some 'Shimmer Paper' from Craft Creations which definitely has a plastic coating on the front to give that gorgeous shimmer. Next, there are the flower shapes. I stamped a background stamp onto shrink plastic, coloured it with Sakura Stardust pens, cut out the flowers using my nesties and trusty wizard, punched a hole in the middle and shrank them. They're finished with some flower brads. The background (which isn't plastic) is some card given the same treatment (except the shrinking, of course) as the plastic. The butterfly is a (plastic) peeloff stuck onto some white gauze which I cut out, and the whole thing is finished with some card (Martha Stewart border punch) and some ribbon which, given I'm sure it's a manmade fibre, I'd be inclined to call plastic too.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Sir Stampalot who want 'All Creatures Great and Small'
Digi Doodles whose theme is 'Nature'
Delightful Sketches whose theme is 'Get Punchy' (border punch and die cut flowers)
My Grafico where 'Anything Goes'
So, what're you waiting for? Get out your shrink plastic, your friendly plastic, your sweetie wrappers or whatever else you can think of.

Sunday 13 February 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 49

One Stitch at a Time is having a birthday! And to celebrate, there's candy on some DT blogs, and loads of prizes for this week's challenge. And the theme for the challenge is 'Pretty Things'.

Sponsors this week: The Stamping Boutique, Robyn's Fetish, Copic Markers, Hobby Habitat, Dezina World, and Robin's Nest. How's that for a lineup?

'Pretty' is one of those words that describes so many possiblities. For me, it means lovely colours, shiny things, lace, flowers, butterflies. I loved the image I chose for this challenge. It's a silhouette from Floppe Latte which is available from the Stitchy Bear shop. In fact, I liked it so much, I used it in two different ways!

This first project is fairly traditional - except that I've used Twinkling H2Os instead of my usual Promarkers. I thought the 'pretty' tag suggested adding that bit of sparkle. I adjusted the colour of the silhouette in Photoshop Elements before printing it onto watercolour paper. Then, I tried to reproduce a gradient effect using the paints. The papers are from the Papermania Capsule collection, and I've coloured some Prima flowers with the paints I used in the image.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Pear Tree Designs where it's a 'Free for All',
Craft Your Passion where 'Anything Goes'
Charisma Cardz where the theme is 'Myth and Fantasy'
Sweet Stamping where the theme is 'Love Bug' or an insect on your card (butterfly in image).
Little Claire's where 'Anything Goes'

And now for something a bit different. This time, I've gone for a largely digital effect.

I coloured the image in Photoshop Elements - the sky is a pale lilac shading in to turquoise but doesn't show well. Then, I printed five copies on polyester film. I cut panels to size, and cut out rectangular apertures using my nesties to make the 'fairy light'. The card uses the last printed image, and I've mounted it on holographic card. Here, I've also used my borderabilities and some ribbon, and on both, I've added a die cut butterfly.

Here's a picture of what I'm calling my 'fairy lights' where you can see some of the shading.

I'd like to enter this into the Simon Says Stamp challenge which is for 'Anything but a Card.
And a close up of the card so you can see the detail.

I'd like to enter this card and 'fairy light' into the following challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday where the theme is 'Frame It',
Stamping with the Dragon whose theme is 'Anything Goes'.

Hope you can join us this week, and don't forget to check out the other DT members' beautiful creations..

Saturday 12 February 2011

Blue and Pink, This time!

I know, I go all week without a peep, and then I go mad! Ok, some would say I'm always mad, but I don't like to listen to them too much.

Another outing for my Coloursoft pencils - this time on a Sarah Kay image, again stamped on Cartridge paper in Memento ink. The paper is from Papermania, edged with a Martha Stewart border punch, and I used my Spellbinder's Lotus medallion die in my Wizard. The sentiment was a gift from a crafty friend, and the hearts were punched, coated in 3D glaze and then dusted with Glamour dust.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Friday Sketcher whose sketch I followed,
The Stampman whose theme is 'Hearts' ,
2 Sisters whose theme is 'Hearts'
For Fun Challenges where the theme is 'Hearts'.
Stampin' Royalty where the theme is 'Hearts'

Blue with Yellow

So, this week I splashed out and bought myself a set of Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I've heard good reports about them - both as a means of colouriing mages, and as a way of achieving more subtle shading after colouring with Promarkers. So, I've been playing.

For this card, I've only used the pencils, and I stamped the image in Memento ink on fairly heavy weight cartridge paper.

The image is a Ching Chou Kuik from Sweet Pea Stamps, and the papers are from Papermania. The sentiment was one given to me by a crafty friend, and I finished the card with some blue flower gems.

I don't think the pencils will replace my Promarkers, but they do give a different effect, so I expect I'll use them whenever I want something a little different.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Sweet Pea Stampers where the challenge this time is a sketch,
Charisma Cardz where the theme is 'myths and fantasy'.
Little Claire's where 'Anything Goes'

Sunday 6 February 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 48 - Digi Fun!

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're challenging you to have fun with digis!

We have two sponsors this week,
Robin's Nest who're offering a $25 gift voucher
and




(Creative Craft World) who're offering Five Promakers to some lucky winner.


This week, I had the chance to play with some images from Stitchy Stamps, and when I had a look through the shop, I spotted the ideal images for my daughter's birthday card. (She'll be 17 next month.)
I've used three images, from left to right, Short Shorts, Bashful and Hippie. They're intended to represent my daughter (in the middle) and two of her best pals. One has a tendency to wear shorts that emphasise her already very long legs, and the other isn't particularly a hippie, but she's got very long, straight hair, and the rest has to be left to the imagination! I've added names on the card, but brushed them out of the photo to protect the innocent!

I combined the three images in Photoshop Elements, then printed and coloured with Promarkers. I tried to get three very different skin tones - my daughter, like me, is a west coast Scottish pale, the girl on the left has a much stronger tone, while the one on the right is dark. It's definitely a challenge when I drag myself away from my standard dusky pink/blush/ivory combination!

I shaded the background with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink applied with a shaving brush, and added some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. The papers are from a Flower Power CD I got from Crafty Emma's.

Hope you can join us this week with your digis! And don't forget to join us at One Stitch at a Time next week because we're One Year Old!
We've got lots of extras in store for the celebration. Don't miss it!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday where they want 'Anything Girlie',
Papertake Weekly where 'Anything Goes plus Flowers'
Lothian Crafts where they want pastel colours,
I Love Promarkers where 'anything goes',
Stamp Something where they're having their February Digital Day,
Totally Papercrafts where the theme is Friendship (My daughter and two best friends.)
Paper Sundaes who want more than one image (three, combined before printing).
CD Sunday who whose theme is 'Friendship' (my daughter and two friends) combined with something from a CD (the background papers).

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