Simply Betty Stamps- April Challenge

The Elaine image for this month's Simply Betty Stamps Challenge gave me a chance to practise colouring in folds in fabric- something I am still working on. The challenge asked for both swirls and ribbon to be incorporated into the finished piece.
I also wanted to have a go at colouring using shades of one colour as well as using many colours.
The papers used were from the Timeless range by Kaiser Craft. I won this as part of a door prize at a recent scrap camp!

Simply Betty's March Challenge

I loved using the image of Medusa as the digi stamp challenge for the month. There were so many great entries that I am keen to colour more of these images using different colours. I have also seen some great dies that I will hopefully be able to find at next month's craft show. Here is my entry in the challenge. The inside of the card reads But it's your birthday! Have a great day.
I was trying to stay in the Medusa theme as all who looked at her would turn to stone.

 

The Wizard of Oz freebie for Betty's fan group reaching 500 members was heaps of fun to colour. Any chance to break out the Stickles can't be missed. I managed to find an embossing folder that resembled the Yellow Brick Road, too!

 

March Madness

March was a hectic month and somehow I didn't manage to get time to blog but... I did have time to do quite a bit of crafting. The cards above are two that I completed for Simply Betty Stamps Fan Group. I asked for the boy image for the monthly challenge as I had not coloured any of these before.
This month I have been working at getting the folds in the fabric using my Copics.  I really loved these Easter images.



My addiction for ATCs continues. The first one was for a swap based on Mythological Creatures with the technique of using paint in the background. I chose a vampire and was lucky enough to find some little fang charms to attach. The tulle around the image was zapped with a heat gun.

 

If anyone knows a way to turn around a picture in a blog entry let me know because I have tried to rotate this before I save it in my images and on this entry to no avail- even got the kids to give it a go!!!!! GRRRrrrrr!

You are just going to have to turn your head sideways on this one, guys.

 

My next card was for a swap with the theme of pigs. I used a Tim Holtz wood background stamp, Goosebumps to put some speckles on the wood and then went over the background using Distress Ink. The banner is made using washi tape and I stitched a button on.

 

 

Last weekend, I completed another class with the very talented Linda Balldock. We made art dolls and I decided to turn mine into a Day of the Dead doll.

 I love all the patterns and designs on their faces. I did mine using acrylic paint and then added details using a black Sharpie and my Copics. What do you think?

Valentine's Bucket Swap

Another first this year has been joining in a gift swap with some other members of Simply Betty's Fan Group. I was thoroughly spoilt by my swap buddy. She went to great trouble to make me a beautiful heart shaped box to put all of the goodies in. Each gift was individually wrapped for a countdown to Valentine's Day. Like me, 'Emily' used the free image Betty kindly gave us on my gift. She is super at colouring.
 I really appreciated the owl items, embellishments and paper. I am looking forward to incorporating some of my new treasures into my projects.
I thank 'Emily' so much for giving me lots of ideas for the next swap and for being so, so, generous x
Thank you also to Betty and Corinne for all of your great ideas, challenges  and encouragement x

 Blog Hop List

SBS http://simplybettystamps.blogspot.com/
Betty http://scrappybetty.blogspot.com/
Trish http://www.scrappintillthecowscomehome.blogspot.ca/
Emily Candy http://toomanystamps.blogspot.co.uk/
Sheri http://www.mammasscrappin.blogspot.com/
Carrie http://carriescreativecards.blogspot.co.uk/
Erin http://elfiessparkleanddust.blogspot.co.uk/
Rachel http://rachelspaperwishes.blogspot.com/
Emily Shroom http://emilyshroom.blogspot.com.au/
Patricia http://preybueno.blogspot.com
Wendy www.jazzydoodledesigns.com
Katya http://www.kattyxotica.blogspot.com/
Stacey http://anastasiasarts.blogspot.com/
Roz http://www.wolfepak5.blogspot.com
Jackie M. http://www.apaperjem.blogspot.com.au/
Jo http://joscardsandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/

Secret Burlesque Release from Simply Betty Stamps

Last month, I purchased three new release Burlesque Images from Simply Betty Stamps. I was so pleased with all of the designs and couldn't wait to start colouring- but there was more!!! These stamps were released as a secret- we didn't know what the complete images were like but by purchasing them, we later got three bonus digis to get the complete set of six along with sentiments. Over the last month it has been great to see what everyone who joined in this group has made with these stamps. If you follow the blog hop, you will see how talented all of the people are.
Below are the cards I have made using the digis.

BLOG HOP LIST

Simply B Stamps Blog: http://simplybettystamps.blogspot.com/
Corinne - http://wishuponascrap.blogspot.com
Celina - http://scrapvamp.blogspot.com/
Irene - http://irenescardcreations.blogspot.com/
Trish - http://scrappintillthecowscomehome.blogspot.com
Rachel - http://rachelspaperwishes.blogspot.com/
Louise - http://louisescraftycards.blogspot.co.uk/
Veronica- http://www.artbyveronica.blogspot.com/
Pam - http://papillondigitaldesigns.com/
Patricia - http://preybueno.blogspot.com
Wendy: http://jazzydoodledesigns.com
Kaylou - http://kayloucraftyblog.blogspot.co.uk
Katrina - http://flutterbytrina.blogspot.co.uk
Karen - http://kraftykarensblogspot.co.uk/wordpress
Erin - http://elfiessparkleanddust.blogspot.co.uk/
Sheri - http://www.mammasscrappin.blogspot.com/
Carrie - http://carriescreativecards.blogspot.com/
Jill - http://cuddlyscraftycreations.blogspot.co.uk
Jo - http://joscardsandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/
Laura - http://craftylittlewoman.blogspot.com/
Katya - http://www.kattyxotica.blogspot.com/
Sharon - http://www.mrslumpys.blogspot.com/
Dena - http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Tress - http://colorcutandcraft.blogspot.com/
Jackie M- http://apaperjem.blogspot.com.au/

Project Overload!!

It has been a busy start to the month. I have been having fun joining in Artist Trading Card exchanges through Facebook. For each card below, I have made a minimum of 9 copies- one for myself and 8 trades.

The first card was for a Hearts swap. I thought I'd deviate a little from cutsie and went for a zombie girl with a shiny red heart. The background was a stamp but I wasn't happy with my masking so went back in with prismacolors.

 Art Deco threw me a bit but I found some great gold embossed paper in my stash and tried dry brushing it with red paint. The colour didn't really pop so I brushed over the paper again with Red Distress Ink which sunk into the paint and held well. The rest of the card is quite plain but I didn't want to cover up all of the background paper.

 Two of my swaps were to use wax as the technique this month. For the first one I thought I'd go for the look of blood drops to tie in the anatomy theme. After dropping blobs of wax on  red Lumiere background, I went over everything with several coats of cream acrylic paint. Once dry, I scraped off the wax and then distressed the card with Tea Dye Ink. I initially tried stamping on the card but it was difficult to see the image. I ended up stamping the image on white card and colouring it with copics before fussy cutting and adhering the image.

 I was pleased with this wax technique/anatomy ATC for another swap. This time I did both layers of paint using Lumieres. The eye diagram has been coated in Crackle Glossy Accents after distressing. I love all the colours in the background. (Apologies for not turning this image but something happened between My Pictures and Bloggers Download. Need to work on solving this one but you get the idea!)

This ATC is a favourite of mine as I love vintage images. After much searching through utube videos and experimenting I finally managed to successfully do a picture transfer using gel medium onto old book paper. For those of you who love books, I promise the ones I used were both second hand and in a poor state already! My friends and I have shared many pages already and I like to think of it at giving the book a new life.

I am having a great time joining in with others in the Simply Betty Fan Group on Facebook. There are some wonderfully talented ladies in the group and I am learning so much about colouring ideas and techniques for copics. I have only a few of Betty's beautiful rubber stamps and digis but ordered some in her recent sale and am looking forward to colouring. In the meantime I have a few challenges to do- one which will be revealed very soon!

The image below was for the January Challenge. It was a Steampunk theme. I had lots of fun with my Spellbinders cogs and good old Rub 'n' Buff. My colouring is getting there. My next thing to try and master is folds in clothing.

Look out for a  Secret Release Blog Hop for Simply Betty Stamps on my blog tomorrow (12.00 PST). You are going to LOVE these gorgeous images.

There is also a special Valentine's Bucket Swap Blog Hop post on the 20th February.

A New Beginning!

This year, I have decided to have a go at blogging for the first time. It has taken me until the end of January to give blogging a go but I have been reading other peoples' blogs for some time and love the idea of everyone sharing ideas and learning from one another. My aim is to complete at least one blog per month so we will see..
With the weather being so hot, it has been a great month for spending the day crafting. At the end of last year, I started to get into Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I love their size and the hunt for small embellishments. The swapping part is fun,too and my file is starting to have a nice collection of art and ideas in it. I have joined several Facebook ATC groups and made a Boat and 70's ATC set for some swaps.

 

This is my card for the Boat swap. I created the background first using Tim Holtz Distress Stains. I stamped the image from Artistic Outpost on a separate piece of paper and then coloured them with Copics before fussy cutting and placing the image on the card. The little heart brads had been in my stash for ages.



This is my card for the 70s swap. I used a photo as the base and painted over the image with a gesso wash. Next, I drew the outline with a fine liner pen and then got out the Copics, Stickles and Prismacolors.

 

A friend introduced me to Betty Stamps just before Christmas. I was after more images to colour now that I have some Copics and the images here are gorgeous.They are available as stamps or digis. It was my first time for using digital stamps. I also love her tutorials and the ideas I get from many talented people who create using these stamps. The card above was made for the December Challenge. Again, out came the Stickles and the Copics and of course, I had fun fussy cutting. The Copic markers take some practise and the hair on my image leaves a little to be desired but I am learning!