Cupcake time with Limited Runs

The image for the Limited Runs progressive challenge this month is a wonderfully decorated cup cake.


Materials used:Limited Runs - Garden Cupcake
Scrapper's Delights - Cake (store moving so no link available)Apple Blossom - Sprinkled  With Love (from Creative Stamping Magazine)
striped designer paper
X-Press It card
7x5" card blank
doily die
spotty tissue paper
black archival ink pad
Copic pens:
pink flowers - R81, RV32, R83, RV34, R85
yellow flower - Y17, YR15, YR16, Y13, Y15, Y19
lilac flower - V0000, V000, V01, V04
red flower - R22, R24, R27, R29
peach flower - YR00, E93, YR61, E95, YR02, YR68,      E08
leaves - G21, G24, G94, G99
cake - E31, E33, E35, E57
cake case - R29, R39, R59, R89

The candle on the cake was left over from another card I did a while back and came in handy for this one. I used a craft knife to carefully cut around the leaf so that the candle would slot in behind it.

The tissue paper was wrapping from a present and has been in my tissue draw for a while. I thought it would make a pretty doily to frame the fussy cut cake.

The sentiment came from the Apple Blossom set.

Thank you for popping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
Limited Runs Progressive Challenge #17
Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #240 - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers #149 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft #59 - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #203 - Anything Goes
PIP Challenge #1825 - Anything Goes
The Library Challenge #10 - The Rose Garden (rose on the cake fits the title and the tea shop)
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination #153 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes

Wimbledon ready

The progressive challenge image from LeAnne's World 101 is just right for this time of year especially with Wimbledon starting next Monday.



Materials used:LeAnne's World 101 - Racquet Randi
Scrapbook Gems - Tennis Match Clip Art and Papers
Joanna Sheen - Aged Sport acrylic stamps from Creative Stamping Magazine (still available from CraftStash)
printer paper
X-Press It card
black archival ink pad
5x7" card blank
Copic pens:
skin - E00, E11, E13, E15
hair - YR14, YR18, E08, E18
hat, dress and shoes - G02, G17, G29, G99
C01, C03, C05, C07, C09
grass - G21, G94, G99
sky - B000, B00

I tried a different skin tone blend for this card but only because one of the pens in my usual blend is running dry and needs a refil which I have yet to order! I was a bit worried that she might come out too tanned but once the ink had dried she looked a lot better.

The red hair is also a new one, I usually go from brunette, blonde or black but I thought she looked like a red head so that's what I went for.

The sentiment is made up of words from the Joanna Sheen set and stamped with black archival ink.

Thanks for dropping by. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
LeAnne's World 101 Facebook Progressive #8
Inspiration Destination #153 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #369 - Anything Goes
A Snowflakes Promise #52 - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything Goes
Creates and Makes #22 - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread #70 - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #203 - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35
Crafting From The Heart #212 - Anything Goes
PIP Challenge #1825 - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #210 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Chicks #409 - Summer Is Here
Little Red Wagon #452 - Summer Fundays!
Hiding In My Craft Room #358 - Any Holiday (Summer Holiday)

Playing at being artistic

Ike's World Facebook Progressive challenge has a lovely panda this month. Thanks to the teaching talent of Alyce at Kit and Clowder I was able to colour the image using tips and techniques from her All About Animals class. If you want to improve your colouring skills whether using markers or pencils I would recommend taking a look at Kit and Clowder.  Anyway back to the issue at hand, having coloured my panda I loved it so much that I did not want to make it into a card. So instead I had a rare brainwave and created a double spread in my very seldom used art journal. My aim was to document the process of colouring the image and the inspirations I used. As it is an art journal entry I had a dabble with water colours and pencils as well as the Copic colouring of the main feature.







Materials used:Ike's Art - Panda (free from Facebook Page)
X-Press It cardblack card
printer paper
That Special Touch Mica Mask - Leafy 6x6
Distress ink pads - shabby shutters, mowed lawn
Copic pens:
fur - C0, C01, C03, C05, C07, C09
paw pads and claws - W05, W07, W09
bamboo stems - Y26, YR23, YR24, YR27
bamboo leaves - YG21, YG23, G21, G94, G99
grass - G21, G94, G99
sky - B000, B00, B12

Copic pen 0.3mm

Sakura white gelly roll pen

watercolour palette

Polychromo pencils:
bamboo stems - 185, 109, 183, 169
bamboo leaves - 171 +101, 170 + 101, 167, 174
sky - 145 +101, 146 + 101

On the left hand side I painted the bamboo and sky with watercolour paints and then stenciled on the leaves with distress inks. The right hand side is coloured with Polychromos.

On the left side I have put little print outs of the pictures I used from the internet to help with getting the colours and shading for the bamboo and panda along with some colour blend and drawing practices. The right side is just the pencil coloured background and the panda image.

I usually avoid drawing at all costs because I am not very good at it but even I managed a bit of bamboo and some leaves and they don't look too bad, at least not as bad as some of my past drawing attempts!

I know that in the future I shall look at that page and wonder how on earth I managed to do it!

Thank you for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
Ike's Art Facebook Progressive #4
Inspiration Destination #153 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #369 - Anything Goes
A Snowflakes Promise #52 - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything Goes
Creates and Makes #22 - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread #70 - Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #203 - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35
Crafting From The Heart #212 - Anything Goes
PIP Challenge #1825 - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #210 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes

A New Progressive Challenge

I love progressive challenges, they are a great way to build up your stash especially when on a tight budget. But also it give you a chance to try out new to you artists. This is such an opportunity from LeeAnne's World 101 who have a progressive challenge on Facebook.



Materials used: 
LeeAnne's World 101 - Kate at the Beach
Scribbles Designs - A Taste of Summer Collection
5x7" card blank
printer paper
X-Press It card
Copic pens:
skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 R20
hair - Y21, YR23, E15, E18
eyes - B12, B24, B28
bikini - V05, R66, RV69, V09, V99
tree trunk - E21, E23, E25, E29
leaves and grass - G21, G94, YG67, G99
sand - E40, E41, E42, E43
hat - YR23, YR24, YR27, E08
sea - B000, B00, BG01, BG45
pebbles - W1, W3, W5
towel - YR23, B12, B24, B26, B18

I have deliberately left the bottom of the card bare so I can add any greeting when I come to use it.

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
LeeAnne's World 101 Facebook Progressive Challenge
Crafting With Friends #70 - Anything Goes
Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #239 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft #58 - Anything Goes
C.R.A.F.T Challenge #473 - Summer
Crafting With An Attitude #40 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes
LeeAnne's World 101 #3 - Anything Goes
Addicted To Stamps And More #297 - Make Your Mark
Crafty Gals Corner #138 - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination #153 - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #385 - Anything Goes
A Snowflakes Promise #52 - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread #70 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft Extra - June Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Monthly Colour Inspiration Link Up #35
Artistic Inspirations #202 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity Midway Reminder

We are half way through Challenge #60 at the Path of Positivity with the optional theme of neutrals. For my card this time I chose an image from Mari's Digis, one of our challenge sponsor, which work so well with a neutral palette.

The story of the Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson, is such a bitter sweet story so using bright colours would not have been fitting. If you do not know the story then you can find a telling of it here: http://www.online-literature.com/hans_christian_andersen/981/



Materials used:Mari's Digis - The Little Match GirlX-Press It card
brown and black card
7x5" card blank
brown bow
blending tool and felt pad
Copic pens:
skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04  R20
hair - E42, E43, E47, E49
dress - E81, E84, E87, E89
wall - E31, E33, E35, E37, E39
step and wall base - E30, E31, E33, E35
sky and snow shadows - C0, C1, C3, C5
lamp and match glow - Y21, Y35, Y11
lampost - C5, C7, C9
matchbox - E50, E51, E53, E34, E08
eyes - YR12,E15, E37

card base - various inks refils - E39, E35 and blending solution

I think I used almost every pen I have in the E range! The base of the card is coloured using Copic ink from refil bottles dabbed on with a blending tool and felt pad. The brown bow came from a box of chocolates, quite by chance it has the same texture as the bown card of the mat.

I hope you will join us on the next stage of our year of colour at Path of Positivity. As always we have two wonderful sponsors offering great prizes. If you follow the optional theme make sure that over half of your colour scheme is neutral colours. Entries that follow the theme have the opportunity to win the Most Inspirational Creation prize, just remember to add FT after your name.

We’d also love to find out how this month’s colour grouping makes you feel, if you’d like to share that with us. What kinds of feelings do neutral colours evoke in you? You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you’d like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month’s prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don’t need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $12 gift certificate from A Day for Daisies, one of our guest sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of the same three digis used by team members, provided by Mari Digis, the second of our guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
Mari's Digis #67 - Anything Goes (Must Use Mari's Images)
Crafty Creations #368 - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #384 - Anything Goes
Crafting With An Attitude #40 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft #70 - Anything Goes 
Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #238 - Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends #69 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft #58 - Anything Goes
Crafty Friends #86 - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers #148 - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #84 - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create #210 - Anything Goes/Optional Twist Buttons and Bows
PIP Challenge #1824 - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations #202 - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination #152 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft Extra - June Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35

Time For Tea?

The image for the Limited Runs progressive challenge on Facbook is this adoreable little mouse in his cup.



Materials used:  
Limited Runs Stamps - Cuppa Mouse
Clever Cut Stamps Away - Verse -A-Tiles
heart die cut (from snippets box)
circle frame die cut (from snippets box)
backing paper (from snippet box) a mop up sheet from playing with Brushos a while back
clear flat-backed gems
black archival ink pad
X-Press It card
Copic pens:
mouse - C0, C1, C3, C5, C7    ear - YR00, E93, E95
cup and saucer - V0000, V000, V12, V15

I have a box which is just full of bits, all those bits that you don't throw away because you might find a use for them one day. That box is now getting over full, almost to the point where the lid will not close. So I decided it was time to raid the box and purely by chance I found some bits I could use with my already coloured image.

The backing paper fills the circle and is a bit of mop up paper from a Brushos session. I think I just dabbed the paper repeatedly on my craft mat to use up the Brusho paint that was still on it. The camera has not really picked up all the colours except the darker parts in the top left section. It acutally has a very subtle mottled colouring of purple, pinky purple and some yellow on it.

The black circle frame and the heart were cut for a project and then discarded as not needed. Although the roses in the heart are more pink than purple it doees work for the project.

Once I had assembled all the elements the card did look a bit flat so I added the gems to give it some dmension.



              

I also made a couple of ATC's with smaller versions of the image I had printed out to practice on, that used up a couple more bits.








Thanks for stopping by. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
Limited Runs Stamps Facebook Progressive Challenge #16
A Bit More Time To Craft #69 - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Chicks #406 - Love Is In The Air
Inspiration Destination #152 - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #383 - Anything Goes
Ike's World #109 - Anything Goes/Song Inspiration (Hello, is it me you're looking for? Lionel Richie. Ok I know it's not that puny!)
Artistic Inspirations #201 - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35
A Bit More Time To Craft Extra - June Anything Goes
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #83 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft #58 - Anything Goes

New Privacy Laws

Just to draw your attention to the new policy on my Blog. Any experts out there will probably realise on looking at it that I have no idea what it all means. However I hope that I have covered the essentials to protect you and also to protect myself. If there are any experts reading this I would love to know if I have got it right, and even more importantly if I have left anything out.

Thanks for looking. Take care.

Pippa

The Neutral Path

Time for the start of a new challenge at Path of Positivity and this month the optional theme is 'Neutrals'.

In the photographic world there has been a resurgence of black and white and sepia photography recently. While I prefer colour for most photographs, especially scenery, a good black and white portrait does have something special about it.

The other trend has been to have one part of an image in colour with the rest in black and white. When my eldest daughter got married she had a couple of photos like that in her album.

For my card I have taken the idea of having one bit of colour. I thought the sentiment just went with the image.



Materials used: 
A Day For Daisies - Painted Mushroom Top
X-Press It card
black card
white 5x7" card blank
flower embellishments from stash
Copic pens:
mushroom - C0, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9  black
skin - E000, E00, E21, E11, E04  R20
paintbrush - R29, R39, R59, R89
wings and outfit - G000, G00, G02
BV000, BV00, BV02

The sentiment is from the internet and printed with the image.

I hope you will join us on the next stage of our year of colour at Path of Positivity. As always we have two wonderful sponsors offering great prizes. If you follow the optional theme make sure that over half of your colour scheme is neutral colours. Entries that follow the theme have the opportunity to win the Most Inspirational Creation prize, just remember to add FT after your name.

We'd also love to find out how this month's colour grouping makes you feel, if you'd like to share that with us. What kinds of feelings do neutral colours evoke in you? You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you'd like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don't need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $12 gift certificate from A Day for Daisies, one of our guest sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of the same three digis used by team members, provided by Mari Digis, the second of our guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

Entering the following challenges:
A Bit More Time To Craft #69 - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Creations #48 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft Extra - June Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends #68 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft #58  - Anything Goes
Jo's Scrap Shack FFC #236 - Anything Goes
Hiding In My Craft Room #355 - Use 4 Different Colours (grey, green, lilac, red)
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #83 - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - June Anything Goes
PIP Challenge #1822 - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart #209 - Anything Goes
My Creative Scoop Colour Inspiration Link Up #35Artistic Inspirations #201 - Anything Goes