a few more

As I said before, there are one heck of a lot of May birthdays in my life. Here are some more. Thought I would group them and just make one huge post since I am not completely through! This first one is done with NO coloring!! How odd for me. I used gold embossing and tried to make this a very classy card. It is done on black cardstock. the brown is the box I take photos in. There are no stickles on this one either! And I used pearls!!

This next one I colored the image with just a couple of copics. I found background paper in the colors this gal always seems to choose. She really liked the card as did the first lady.  Both of these cards were made with stamps from Gina K. I love the verses and usually use them on the inside. I guess I am getting hum drum with the layouts. It is quite a challenge for me to make these cards, which I guess is why I keep trying to find an easier way. I love flowers and bows and stickles. This next card has all three!! I knew she would love this paper so I put it on the inside also. The blue flower is stickled after I colored it.

This next one is for one of our sons. He loves to fish, so he usually gets some kind of card with that theme. I do need to find something else, but not this year! This one is a digital image. I have had a major breakthrough on those things. We bought a new wireless Kodak printer and the ink is absolutely perfect on any paper I choose to use! So here are the copics for the fishing card: R11, R14, R17, R20, E31, E33, E35, E37, E11, E15, E18, E51, E53, E57, E59, B91, B93, B95, B97, B99.

I added a touch of hemp and used a few buttons. The stickles are the dots between the buttons, the waves and the centers of the buttons. I decided after I got the card together, that I should have made his tummy a little pinker. It looks funny to me, but it is mounted and I am not taking it apart!! The striped paper is copper stripes. I love copper and was just dying to use it. 

So moving on to the last card for today, this one is for an adult grandson who loves to run! I thought it was adorable, even though he isn't heavy! He does have a tiny dog though! It is also a digital stamp. The colors I used are: W1, W5, C2, R29, BG000, Y17, R27, BG72, R59, E31, E33, E35, E37, E00, E11, R20. Sorry for the order, you get them as I write them down!!

I really liked the way this one came out. I can assure you that I will give a different layout a shot on the next card I make!! I need an anniversary card and a graduation card before the next birthday hits!! And that isn't long!! Hope you enjoyed these.
Now I have a special tip for those of you who actually read what I write! While watching some more videos on youtube (I don't know how I would know so much if it wasn't for all those videos!!), this gal was explaining about how the copics are numbered - the second number from the right can be thought of as: the higher the number, the more gray in the color. She said that sometimes you want to do shading and the colors seem too bright. That is because there isn't enough gray to tone them down. Look at the color chart and find another color with that second number much higher. I don't have my chart here at present so you will just have to know I am just giving numbers for an example - don't use this combo without actually checking first!! I haven't got any idea here!! So for example B11 ( the next B colors are a bit bright to shade with so you look at B74 (don't know if there is such a color) The 7 indicates the presence of lots of gray, the 4 indicates a deeper blue. See? The rv color family is one she used for her example and she showed you this using real colors. It made me understand that to shade, you need to use subtle colors, even sometimes going outside of the color itself - like using bv to shade b colors. All is acceptable if you like the results. You can always test it out on a scrap of the cardstock you are coloring on. If you like it, use it. I am not an artist and some of this stuff was difficult for me to grasp. So when I get a tip that makes it easier, I like to pass it on. Have a great day/night!!! Hugs to you all! Sorry my posts are so crazy timewise!! Barb F

DH Easter card

My DH loves bears enough to actually have a collection. I think his kids started it years ago as something to give him for gifts. I get tired of making fishing cards! However, there is a new fishing card coming -a birthday card for step-son. So this stamp is a real cutie from Wags and Whiskers. I used glossy accents on her purse. The greeting is from a double stamp set by Stampingscrapping.com. I ended up not having enough room for the outside of the stamp. We have a girl cat named Murphy who is super attached to DH, so this worked perfectly.

The stickles are on the bow on her arm and the centers of the roses in her hat, and her pearls - had to be careful here not to overdo! The copics I used are:C1, C2, C3, Y17, YG23, R17, B02, YR23, YR20, E31, E33, E35, E37, R59. Stick around. If I get the chance later today, I will post a couple of cards made with little or no copics! This chipboard sticker was terribly plain so I stickled it up! Made a nice simple inside. I have lots of birthdays coming up in May. The Cupcake fairy was for one of them. I can hardly wait for that granddaughter to get the card! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Please vote for me!! #85

Magnolia-licious Easter-Spring Extravaganza Contest
I am #85 and here is my entry:

This is category 1. It is the only thing I entered! The blog is found at  http://magnolia-licioushighlites.blogspot.com/. There are lots of awesome creations!!
Voting starts immediately and runs thru April 28th
Email   sjdean0574@yahoo.com (only this email address please) with your favorite choice (hopefully mine!)
*DT members on any of the Magnolia-licious DT's MAY NOT VOTE!
Hugs to you all, Barb F

Cupcakes

Thought I had better post this before I get swamped again. This weekend will be a busy one but not with my kids - with DH kids. Made this one for one of my granddaughters who will be 5 very soon. I sure miss her! I am thinking she will adore this one since what kid doesn't love cupcakes? I found this very pretty paper - bright and glittery! Just what a 5 yr old would adore! Perfect for this one. She is a digital stamp. Got interrupted while I was trying to figure out where I got the stamp. Forgot! So sorry. Stay tuned for an update to tell you where. Just looked it up - Mo's Digital Pencil !!! I do know the name of the stamp is "Sugar". It was a must have! I sized it pretty huge as I found out by how long it took to color! The circle I cut of the white background is 5" and the red behind it is 5 1/4". I used the Martha Stewart circle cutter (I am not real proficient with it, but at least its close to a circle!). I stickled the edges to help mask that fact - I am very good with stickles! Like I said, I wish I had stock in that company!. I don't usually do anything worth showing on the inside but I had to cover the ribbon, so I paper pieced on the left side and used a Gina K stamp on the right. It was looking a little plain - the right side, so I stickled it to death!!! There is yellow, orange, red, hot pink, lime and pink!! Told you I was good with them!  So here are the copics I used to color Sugar with:E00, E11, E21, E25, E29, R20, R000, R59, R32, R35, R37, RV34, RV95, YG03, Y15, Y17, Y21, YR20, YR07, YR04, YR23, C1. Found a lettering course online for fancy stuff and hopefully will get going with that and have some neat stuff on the next card!!  It may be a little bit before I post again. So Happy Easter, Happy Passover and Happy every holiday you might have going on now!! Hugs to you all, Barb F

First ATC cards

These are the very first ATC cards I ever made - or saw for that matter! I am hoping I chose the right materials. They are for a swap (which I don't usually do, but thought this would be fun). I am thinking, I will do this again!! I tried that Shrinky film and had a blast! That is the tulip part. Ended up coloring the background with Spica pens  before I shrunk it. Used my heat tool which I am now referring to as my blow torch!! You sure have to hang onto those little things! They fly all over the place! Then I decided that they were just too cute, so I had to try them with Tildas!! Of course my swap is "Flower of the month April-tulips, so I used Tilda holding tulips! I found out with the first one that it doesn't matter much if you shade stuff or not, so I only shaded the yellow one - it was first! What a blast!! Then I had to figure out what to do with  my little "charms"! I hated to stick them on anything, but I did. The background is a super fun technique where you stamp something and then emboss another image over it. I thought it still looked plain, so of course I stickled the tulip stamp!! Wish I had stock in that company!! The background is a french language stamp and of course I don't know what any of it says!! These were just so much fun to make. I asked the gal hosting the swap what she did with hers and she has an album. Think I will try to get them from all over the world!! Now that sounds like a winner!! Especially when you guys are from all over the world!! I could make each of you one and you could make me one, etc! Better stick to the groups though for now! There is a nice atc group I just joined on Yahoo groups. So here they are (finally)!! TADA!!

Add caption

 

Wish I could figure out how to place these photos so they wouldn't take up so mucu room! Sorry! Hugs to you all - Barb F

Requested info

The bear digi is from Meljens Designs. Cat with a flower was a freebe when I got it from Motivet. Gifts is from Elizabeth Dulemba at http://www.dulemba.com/ - not sure if it was free. This info was requested by a couple of you. Sorry I didn't take the time to find out before I posted them. I got them either from the image or the name of the file. Also I have been using the youtube videos to learn how to do all the stuff I actually do. Right now I am off to learn how to do more with the digis. Have a wonderful day! I am!!! Hugs to you all, Barb F   a little ps - I have a super mag card drying right now!!! Lots of glitz!!

3 for the price of 1

I made three cards this morning and then proceeded to get some more coloring done! My goodness but I am in a productive phase! Good thing as I have a bazillion cards I need for May!! Don't know how soon I will be able to post to my groups, but if you are following me, you will get to see these pretty quick! I tried to name this post something distinctive so you won't have to be coming and going to see the same thing!! First one is a birthday card for a quilter which is why the colors are muted. These are two digital images, both of which were free - sorry I don't remember where. Its done on some of that new Stella and Rose DP.  Hope you like it! It went together so easily - I think the secret is picking out the dp before you color. Then everything matches.

Here are the copics: YR20, YR23, BG72, G29,

E47, C2. The brown dp is just that - not kraft. All the roses are from Wild Orchid.

So here is a new Tilda from the butterfly dreams! She is my absolute new favorite! She is sitting on a kitchen cabinet that I got from Magnolia-icious quite awhile back. I found that I could mask the top part of it off and its much more useable. It is not the easiest thing to color either. But I have the stamp and wanted to find a way to use it. I do like the way it came out and realized that it wasn't quite as hard as I thought. It does take some thought before you color. I have "grounded" all the images I used on all 3 cards. You might not see this one as easily, but its there.

I made that butterfly before I started coloring Tildas! I used to make all of my embellishments as it was so much fun!. Here are the copics I used on this card: E00, E11, E15, E18, E29, R20, RV10, RV13, RV14, V12, V15, V17,V000, C0, C3, B000, B12, B14. Last sale at Michael's, I bought a bunch of satin ribbon 5/8" wide as I decided that I like the bows a bit wider than the ribbon I already had. Hope you like this one! You will have to let me know if you like one card better than the rest! And now I have saved the cutest one for last! This is a digital image also. The proceeds are going to a relief fund for Japan. Much as I would have helped out anyhow, I just had to have this image! I am going to try to get a kabuki type face the next time I color it - you know with the white face? Hope that is what it is called. I just thought how darned cute that would be - I am trying to figure out how to do that without just leaving the paper white - that doesn't have the effect I want. This one is another birthday. The nice thing about the digital is that you can include whatever you want it to say at the same time you print the image.

Isn't she just the cutest?? Here are the copics I used: C1, C2, E31, E33, E35, E37, E49, E77, Y02, YR31, R20, R22, YG03, YG06. I stickled her little fan, the outside of the umbrella and her shoes! That is shabby shutters distress ink around the spellbinders cutout. Now wouldn't she be the cutest with a little white face? How is the thing!! Maybe a very light gray for shadow would give the effect.  That's it for today. Will post these to the groups when I can. Hugs to you all, and thanks for all the nice compliments!!, Barb F

Just a quickie

I colored most of this afternoon so be on the lookout for some new stuff this week! Hugs to you all, Barb F

a digital image

Now this is a fairly new thing for me. It is my great grandson's birthday and somehow I didn't have exactly what I wanted to make him a card. So I got online and checked out the digis. We bought a new printer and it works wonderfully well with my copics on Staples cardstock! The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil - she has such cute things! But then so do a lot of sites. The really nice thing about digitals is the storage - they stay on the computer or a jump drive!! I am just beginning to get the hang of moving them around and really not into - yet- making scenes. But I found a whole lot of images that I purchased for cards looming in my future!! I put a whole lot of them on one sheet of cardstock and printed them with the file names above the images. That will go into my book so that when I am looking for just the right thing, I will have them to chose from as well as the other stamps I own. Well, I just love the way this card came out!! The stamp is called superduper boy. Soo cute and reminded me of our guy who is 3. Hope you enjoy it! I really appreciate you letting me know how you like the cards I post. Extra hugs for looking!!

 

Here are the copics I used: R37, R35, R32, Y31, Y35, E33, Y21, Y11, B12, B14, B91, E00, E11, C5, C2. I put red gems in the corners and glued them extra so they won't pull off. Cut the papers out with spellbinders dies. That blue paper is white cardstock colored with Tim Holtz' broken china distress ink. The next nice thing about this being a digi was that I typed in the Happy birthday Kai (short form of his name) and got to chose the font, color and size!! I had such fun making this one. I just love it!! Hope he will too. Hugs to you all, Barb F

Bunnies everywhere!

Believe it or not, this is the last card I made this past Monday! This is also the first chance I have had to post. I do not own this Tilda either. When I first began copics - little over a year ago, (I know, it doesn't seem that it could have only been a year!) I signed up for lots of swaps. Then I ended up with lots of stuff I didn't know what to do with!! I didn't make Easter cards last year. I intend to do so this year, which is why I colored so many images that were the result of a swap! All Tildas and Edwins are absolutely adorable to me!! I had this cute bunny paper that I absolutely destroyed trying to make a frame or something for my image - you know, one of those brain dead days! So to salvage part of it, I cut some bunnies out! Desperate, I was, to use that paper one way or another! Then they looked so plain that out came the stickles and some brads to fancy them up a bit. I made a whole lot of bunnies in a couple of different sizes - I just couldn't get anymore on the card!! Of course there had to be room for ribbon and flowers!! So here are the copics I used: E00, E11, E33, E35, E37, R20, BV02, RV000, RV02, RV04, RV06.

I am a huge believer that if you want to do something - anything- you can. You just have to keep trying until you figure it out. Sometimes you learn quickly, other times, it takes almost blood to learn! And then there is the element of practice. If you are doing something wrong, all the practice in the world won't get it for you. Books, videos, classes, friends, lots of questions. Those are the secrets to success. I misunderstood the reason for the certification classes when I signed up. Then when I got into the class, I was sooo excited!! There were people of all degrees of competentcy in that copic class, so I didn't feel too out of place. I did learn what I had been doing wrong and also some things, a lot of things, that I didn't even know about. After that class is when I began to really make strides! I have lots to learn yet, but at least I am not making sooo many mistakes and can use most of what I color. I hope this is helpful to the newbies reading this. Everyone is new at sometime!! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Lamb card

Told you I was on a roll making cards - just at a loss of time to post them! So I have a few minutes this morning and decided to post another card - hopefully for your enjoyment! Someone sent me this image ages back when one of my groups did an image swap. Quite a nice idea, except for the difference in the cardstocks. I was so much more inexperienced with copics and got to say, most of what I colored I never finished because I didn't like the way they were coming out. I did keep them for comparisons though. This one was very recently colored though. I can do that now - go from one paper to another. I know, good for me!! Pat on the back!! Ok so here is the card!



Don't you just love that sheep paper? The flowers are from a huge pack that had all sizes, plain and glittered and I found it on clearance somewhere! The brads are all pink stones (probably plastic) but I liked the combo. Here are the copics I used:C5, C7, C1, C3, E00, E11, R20, RV000, RV02, RV04, BV02. Took out my bow easy to make the bow. It is such a nice little thing especially when the ribbon you are using is hard to handle. I accidentally found out - I made several different bows before I decided to use this one - that the one sided ribbon comes out perfectly with the bow easy!! Lots of places sell them now. Are you sitting down? I did NOT use any stickles on this card!!! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Party

Well, it was a very productive day but I'm only posting one at a time! This card is made from a cute Edwin and a cute Tilda - are there any other kind? I thought they made a cute couple!! Hope you like Tilda's couch! I couldn't find anything for her to sit on so I tried to draw a couch. Found that it looked more like a couch with the criss-crosses. Used stickles (of course) for the fizzies on the drinks. Thought it was a cute touch!! Think I'm overusing "cute"?

 Those are Magnolia flowers, in case you didn't recognize them. I used one of those corner punches to make the frame around Tilda and Edwin. I just love Edwin and hope I did him justice. Of course I love Tilda also! Here are the copics I used: C1, C3, C5, C7, E00, E11, R20, BG15, BG01, BG10, E53, E57, Y28, Y11, YR23. I am doing much better keeping track of the copics since I began using the post-it notes to write them on. I just stick the note to the back of the colored image until I actually make the card and post it on my blog. They must use some wonderful glue as somehow it stays put! Hugs to you all!! Barb F

Surprise!

Made two cards last night and decided to post them both! Don't have time right now to do all the groups so I made the title easy to remember. I have been coloring right along, just haven't had time to make the cards. These two went together very easily- once in awhile that happens! But first - here is the setup I use to take photos - It is a color catcher made from brown cardboard. I colored a cheapo box from Michael's with Tim Holtz alcohol inks and perfect pearls. The card will sit on this to give me the height I need to take the photo. If you look, you will see a shadow - that shows that my light is coming from my left side - I am right handed and hold the camera with my left and do the controls with my right - so the light is out of my way. I aim it up above the whole set up so I don't get the direct light. I have an overhead light in that room and also try to take photos during the day. These are kind of on the light side but that is because of the glitter. You have to chose sometimes!  So this first photo is the setup, the second is not to show you the card, but show you the shadows from the light on the card.

Now to show you my "Touring Tilda! See the final background paper? It is supposed to be a map kind of thing and I thought how perfect! Used the spellbinder's dies for the cutouts. This is a Tilda that I colored awhile back and recolored with the lastest shadows and hair techniques I have learned. Amazing enough the only stickles on the image are the flower centers! I didn't realize you could go back and recolor things until I tried it - it does work pretty good! You do have to watch how the ink accumulates on your paper - each kind is different.





Copics I used were: E00, E11, R20, Y21, Y28, YR23, G000, G02, G05, G07, YG06, YG67, Y15, Y17, Y11, C1, C3, C5, C7, E33, E37, B02. Lots of stickles on this card, so what else is new?

 This next card is an image I have colored a lot - you would think it would be perfect by now. I just think its so cute and a real challenge. I love the girl's hair. Hope you like it, too!

The card is laying down so you can see the edge.  There is a red piece of cardstock on the inside of the card to showcase the edge. I cut it from some designer cardstock. Then I added another piece with the glitter between as the edge was purple and I didn't want that color on the card. Next photo shows this laying on a white background. I just wanted to show the border and couldn't decide which photo, so you got both!

Here are the copics I used: B23, B24, B28, B00, B05, E00, E11, E31, E33, E35, E37, R20, R17, Y21, Y28, YR23, YR20, G00, G02, G05, G21, G28. I can see now that I could have added some much darker color for the hair shadow. That would have made the hair much more realistic and shiny looking. I don't think it would be a good idea to recolor it now that it is on a card. If anyone has done that and was successful, please let me know.

Hopefully I will get to make a bunch more cards while I am in the mood! Have a nice weekend! Hugs to you all, Barb F

Classy? birthday card

Just had to replace all that contest stuff with the actual card! Hope you enjoy it. Colors for this are down farther in this post!

Now onto today: This is a card I made for a musical gal whose birthday just passed. I had a bit of trouble putting this one together at first. The image is from Gina K and I love this stamp set! I used a cuttlebug folder for the greeting and some of that wonderful Stella Rose (My Mind's Eye) paper. See that orangy-brownish paper? I used the Tim Holtz distress inks mixed a bit with the powdered pearls ( I just can't remember what they are called right now. I had a blast making that paper and it happened to be the perfect color for this card!) There is a lot of stickles on the outside and the inside is glitter paper with music symbols, so it was a bit of a challenge to photograph. I found that if I place my light - which is a floor ott lamp - so it is way over my head and not immediately directed at my card, I get truer colors and not so much reflection from the flash. I have an older digital camera, and never really learned the fancy stuff as it does pretty good all by itself. 
Here are the colors for the homepage card:
E000, E02, E11, E40, E43, E47, R20, C1, C3, C5, E31, E33, E35, E37, BV17, V12, V15, V17, V000, RV29, RV000, RV21, RV23, B000, E11, E15, E18, G21, G28, G29, YG63, YG67, Y28, Y11, Y15, Y17, Y21

WOW! So many colors!! Now here are the colors for the jukebox card:
YG00, YG03, C1, C3, E000, E00, E11, E15, E18

I almost forgot to add the photo!! I also did the inside of this one.So here goes.

Hope you enjoy these two. For those of you who don't already know, the groups on yahoo are free to join. I have gotten so much in the way of learning and friendship from belonging to several - even got to meet some of the people for real! Hugs to you all, am looking forward to hearing from you. I do answer my emails if there is an address. Sometimes when you make a comment, it comes to me without an email. I think it has to do with how you set it up. I love to answer your questions but can't do it without an email. I guess by now you have figured out that I don't post often without a photo. Barb F

Happy Easter

This is for a Magnolia challenge. I will ask you to vote for me (no kidding!!) towards the end of April. But for now, before my old brain forgets about it, I am going to enter. I colored this image especially for the contest. I was thrilled with the way it came out. I have been devouring tutorials on youtube as to how to color and shade. I realize that my coloring was ok before I decided that I could do better. Now that I am watching real artists (people who get paid to paint, draw or color), I can see a difference in how I am actually looking at things. I took a whole lot of photos as I wanted the colors to photograph at least close to what they actually are. The big reality check here was in realizing I didn't need all of those copics! So to pass on what I have learned - buy 2-3 in a color family (light, medium and dark   not the darkest either as you can always color it again and darken your color). Then before you buy any more, buy the refills for those colors. Pretty soon you will realize you are having a major storage problem. That is when you figure out that you don't need every color copics makes! I am trying to buy the refills now and wow - they do take up a lot more room than the copics! So here is my springtime card for the Magnolicious Highlight challenge. Hope you like it and decide to vote for me when the voting begins! I will post on the blog to jar your memory!!

I love Tilda with tulips (I think that is the stamp name. I am supposed to add a link to the store that I bought her from, so here it is http://www.magnoliastamps.us/store2/

  I used a huge amount of copics on this - that is pretty unusual for me. I had to add stickles so check out the greeting! It is a girlie card so I got to add ribbon and flowers for a change. I used Tim Holtz inks for the background as I wanted to mix colors so it would blend with the copics I used. They are E00, E11, E18, BV02, BV04, BV00, BV08, Y11, Y28, Y17, Y15, Y21, YR23, RV000, RV02, RV04, RV06, YG63, YG67, G28, G21, R20, W0, W3, W5, W7, C0, C3, C5, C7. The Happy Easter does match a spellbinder's die but I stamped it directly on the card. It came from stampingscrapping.com. Told you I used a lot of colors! Hope you enjoy the card. Please let me know what you think of my coloring. I am trying to improve and it will help if you guys let me know what you think. Hugs to you all!! Hoping to be posting another birthday card pretty quickly as its my sister's birthday next Monday!!Barb F
Just realized I neededto add that these are full sized Tilda and wall images.

A couple of new birthday cards

I just gave this card away yesterday! I can't believe how fast this month has gone by. DH is back to work and I am pretty close to being caught up on my stuff! I have a lot of cards to put together (and post)! I think my coloring is improving some. I know that I am thrilled with our new wireless printer. It prints in no time and best of all, I can use my copics right away and on Staples cardstock! It is a Kodak and was super cheap and so is the ink. I am now buying digital stamps which brings me back to this part of my post - this stamp is from SomeOddGirl.com. I think it may have been a freebie but I met this gal at my certification class and she is the one that told me about Staples cardstock. She designs some adorable stamps! This stamp is about Tia. Soo cute!

I can't believe how much fun I had making this card - its one of those that comes together in a flash! Copics I used are E00, E11, E37, R20, R37, R39, C7, Y21, Y28, Y02, Y08, YR23. My friend loved it!

This next card is made for one of my sons. He was such a happy child, always laughing so I called him my Sunshine! He is now 39 and not quite so happy, so I thought I would remind him! He has a little girl of his own whom he adores and somehow this image (Victoria Case) was just perfect. It was very difficult to color as I kept trying for realism! Whoever heard of a real monster? When I tried blue, I began to see that this wasn't real and to just have fun with it. I kept the other two tries so I wouldn't do it again "realisically"! The inside is the Sunshine part. Hope you enjoy it!

Copics I used are B00, B02, B05, B000, E00, E11, E33, E35, E31, R17, R20, Y11, Y15, C1, W5.
As you all know by now, I love stickles and somehow just have to find places to use them. I recently bought yellow and love how it comes out. Used the red and yellow stickles on the red background paper for the sparkle. Thanks for hanging in with me! I appreciate all your wonderful comments. I am hoping to post much more soon. Hugs to you all, Barb F



Finally a new card!

DH has been keeping me busy! I was ahead on the birthday cards, and now I am behind! This one is for a grandson who loves and rides motorcycles. Graphically it is very different from anything I have ever colored. It took me several sessions and thankfully it is digital so I could print more than one image at a time. I can't tell you how many partly colored images I have, but I am keeping them as reference so I can see what works and what doesn't. This is the one and only completely colored image. I hope that the man who drew him wouldn't cringe at my attempt to color this. KennyKdownloads.com. This man can really draw! I have been devouring all the coloring youtubes, including fashion design. I will be making some cards rather quickly as the images are colored. I have 3 birthday cards to get sent before the end of March, so you just might be able to see how far I have come. I am really pleased with this one. It was the most difficult image I had done at the time. One of the hardest parts was figuring out what things were! So enough gab, and here's the photos I took. Hope you enjoy this real change of pace! That glittery strip is Christmas ribbon! Hugs to you all and thanks for hanging in there with me! Hugs, Barb F

Happy Valentines Day

This one went straight to my DH heart, I hope! Just think Tilda is so cute. He calls them the stamps with no faces! I finally splurged and bought an air brush or gun - I get mixed up what it is really called. I do call it a gun because of the way it is shaped. I tore paper for the sky/ground mask. It was fun! I have mostly ciao pens so it was a bit tricky. The photo really stinks to tell you the truth! I can't seem to get the colors right on the photos. And there is the problem of the red reflecting on the white stickles. The greeting is from an old stamp set by Cindy of Stampingscrapping.com. It has a bunch of specific greetings as well as some of the stamps fit certain spellbinder's dies. I am not sure who made the valentine stamp. I love it and added stickles around it. I did the skin a little differently. I used E000 for my base which is brand new to me. I also wanted Tilda to be more blonde than ash blonde, so I added Y11 to the usual blonde mix that I use. I used mostly R27 and R29 for the reds but in the end added the ciao R that is a deep burgundy. The green is yg63, I think. This is the simplest card I have made in a long time. No embellishments to speak of. Hope you like it. It was not one of my best days - I was a little shakey, but all in all, I think its ok and DH enjoyed it. Hugs to you all, Barb F

2 scenes for you

First I need to give the credits for these. The stamps are from Victoria Case. She designs for Susanascustomartandcarddesign.com. I just love her creations! They could be really easy to color if I wasn't trying to make my stuff look so realistic. I have been practicing a bit on these as suggested by Zoe of Makeitcrafty.com.au   She is my model!! I have watched her youtube videos a million times and everytime I see something else!! One day maybe. I do want you to know before you look real close, that these are done on Staples brand cardstock - not the best paper in the world - but certainly not the worst. It doesn't bleed. I used a lot of ink on these trying to get the colors and shading just right. It does, however, build up and get shiny and blotchy. Just remember when you are looking real close, that the background is pure white so the colors didn't photograph super wonderfully. But you will see the difference in depths. I am particularly proud of the Tea for two hair and the Nuts for you squirrel. I think they came out really good and I still can't believe I did them! It took me two afternoons to do that hair!!! I got half of her head after about 3 tries on other papers. I stamped off a bunch of images as Zoe suggested. It really helped to do those. I think I am beginning to understand this shadow stuff!!! Thanks, Zoe!!! So here are the photos. I did keep track of the copics. Next time when I need to go back and add more depth, I will use prismacolors! I see the reason why now. By the way, these are not "scenes" that I created - they are actually all in each stamp!!

Stamp is "Nuts to you" Copics are:
Y21,28,15; YR23; E00, E11, E15, E18; R20; YG11, YG17; G14, G17; RV10, RV13, RV14, RV29; B02; C1

Stamp is "Tea for two". Copics are:
B14; YG63, YG67; Y11, Y15, Y17, Y28; YR23, YR00, YR02, YR04, YR07; V01, V05, V09, V06, V04; G21, G28, G29; C2; W1

Here is another one of the first photo. The color is better, but it cut the top of her head off!!

Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think. How did I do? Hugs to you all!! Barb F