Make It Dark Skin

I am official away on vacation with the family. I will be back next week to see and comment on all of your gems. Thanks for stopping by.

Warning, I took this photo at night and now matter how I played with the exposure, brightness, and etc in PS, I still look too bright and wonky to me.

This is for the Make it Colourful Challenge - # 28-Colouring Dark Skin. I have seen a few tutorials how to do this, but have never given it a try myself until now. It will, as per usual, take some practice.


This cute little fellow is Tiddly Inks - Going Swimming. I paired him up with Echo Park - Splash collection. The bottom DP, I followed the line of the pattern and layered it over my frame otherwise you wouldn't see the cut out waves.

I tried to colour this little fellow so that he'd have a Budha belly, but I'm afraid he ended up looking like he had man boob's.

I suppose this could also qualifies for Tiddly Inks Tuesday Challenge #59 Tag or Ticket Me too.

TI Basement - Soccer Thanks

Every Thursday, Deconstructing Jen has a new sketch challenge. I have a couple of days left to squeak this one in. This weeks challenge #11 inspired this card & Dutch Dare Card Challenge #122 inspired the fun summer colour combo:

This sweet little Soccer Star card is for my daughters soccer coach. This week is our last game and I wanted to give a little thank you something. The coaches are all volunteers and they put in a lot of time. My hubby coached for our daughters team last year, so to be fair, he coached our son's this year.

Our daughters team wore what they called "gold" jersey's, I would call them yellow myself, and her number was 8. So I coloured up this Tiddly Inks (Basement) - Soccer Star to look like my little cutie.
I distressed the edges with baby blue ink, kind of regretting it now, oh well. The DP and stickers are Echo Park - Splash.

Next week, I am on Holiday's with my family. I do have some items that will auto publish, but I won't be around to comment on your blog until I get back. My apologies for the delay, I am not trying to ignore anyone.

Kraftastic Retirement & New Artist

Welcome back to another Squigglefly's Kraftastic project - Challenge # 108, use Kraft paper in your Squigglefly project.

I have two cards today. Originally I made the BBQ Retirement card for this challenge, but then decided I wanted to try my hand at colouring on Kraft paper, which I have NEVER done before. We have a new artist at Squigglefly too, so what better then to showcase one of her images in my first Kraft/Prismacolour pencil attempt. This image is Secrets by LuLu Lancaster.

I have a very select amount of Prismacolour pencils, in fact I had to run out and get the colours needed for skin tone just for this project. It's a medium I haven't used, it will take some practicing on my part, but it does look lovely on Kraft paper. The pencils are nice and creamy so blend well together. If only I had more colours to have done a proper job.

Unfortunately, my one little secret friend looks like she is naked up top, it's actually a creamy yellow colour, but didn't photograph that way.

Here is a great Tutorial by Dorcas Designs on how to colour skin tone on Kraft paper using Prismacolur pencils. I followed her instructions and colours, but was not able to get all the dimension and shading she does. I suspect I coloured each colour too hard on the paper? Her KRAFT work is STUNNING.

Card #2: Squigglefly's - Kiss the Cook by Chesney Young.

For my original submission for the Kraftastic Challenge, I used SU - Manchester DP which is a perfect match for Kraft & Baja Breeze cardstocks. I paper pieced the apron and pants with coordinating Manchester paper then shaded areas with W3 and W5 Copics. Double Scallop SVG border by Life On the Lamb.
This card was made for my very wonderful next door neighbor who just retired as the Fire Chief for our local Fire Department. Now that he is The Man of the House, he'll have lots of time to grill.

Best of the Web Feature

I am over flowing with excitement, I can hardly contain myself. I'm honestly blushing from head to toe. I was chosen as a feature artist for the "Best of the Web - Be @Home #32 - Crafty Bloggers" on the PocketChange Shopping Blog.

The PocketChange website is a very versitile shopping blog set up like an online Life Style Magazine. Like a great Zine, they feature an @Home section, Fashion, Pets, Baby's, computer, and Beauty segments etc. Not just shopping, but what's hot and how to's.

In this @Home issue, they are featuring Paper Crafters and other interesting crafty bloggers. I was thrilled to be asked to participate.

Drop on by and have looksy, our very own Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog was also highlighted. How fun! We all love recognition. Sorry for gushing, I'm done now ;)

Article found here.

Not Normal Hair - Mojo

I know I recently coloured a guitar chick with blue hair, but I decided I could do it better for the Make it Colourful Challenge # 26 - Not normal Hair Colours. I used the gorgeous Annabelle from the Make It Crafty Steampunk release. She reminded me of Moulin Rouge, so I chose a sentiment from one of the songs "My gift is my song." I have seen a few wavy sentiment banners lately and adore them, so I gave it a whirl myself, not that you can see it terribly well from my camera angle.

I used the Mojo Monday Challenge sketch #200, but instead of a bow, I used border edging from K&C.
I love the colours and the Echo Park - Splash DP on this card, but I think it's missing something.

For any one who is striving to improve their colouring abilities like I am, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you try the Make It Colourful challenges. The DT works are incredibly inspirational and I use them often to figure out how to do different techniques. Just zoom in on their image / images and you can get a better look at how they used their markers to create shade, or shine etc. Zoom in on the hair, or the dress or whatever it is that you are trying to master with your colouring. Works for me, any way, and I really do feel like I am improving. I've said it before, it's like taking a free Copics class.

TI Movie Month Cont'd

Today's very fun and clever challenge over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog is still following the Movie Month theme. Challenge #58 is to create a "Nature" movie inspired card. I am showing my nerdiness with this one, but immediately thought of all the gorgeous, panoramic views of lush green New Zealand from the Lord of Ring movies.

I can't help all this LOTR nerdiness. I grew up with it. My father was a MASSIVE fan of the books in the 70's. He had ALL the books, even the ones that went into all the dialects and such. He even forced us to see the cartoon version of The Hobbit when I was knee high. I of course in turn read them out loud to my then pre-teen daughter when she was in Jr High. She as an adult is now a huge fan too, so it's in bred.

Doesn't this Katrina image remind you so much of Arwen - played by Liz Tyler. I thought so, although I admittedly coloured her dress much darker green then the in the flick. She is available in The TI Basement, so she is discounted - hurray!

In Adobe Illustrator I made a text circle around lovely Katrina reading part of the "Ring" legend quoted by Gandolf at the beginning of the first movie.

Everything was distressed with my handy dandy scissor blades then stained with Chocolate paper stain. Katrina is coloured with Copics, and adorned with Dollar Store gems. I used Bo Bunny - Vicki B Collection, and Sizzix flourish die cut. The quilled paper flowers are hand made, as are the leaves. Oh and the little leaf charm and rawhide rope were on a scented candle I purchase eons ago and saved in my craft stash.

This card is being submitted to the following challenges:
Bo Bunny Card Challenge - Handmade Paper Embelishment (my quilled flowers & leaves)
Cute Card Thursday Challenge - #173 - Going Round in Cirlces
The Stamp Man Challenge Blog - #27 Anything By Tim - my stain and staining tool are by Tim Holtz

Steampunk Mix & Match

It’s finally time to release the big Mix n’ Match collection from Tiddly Inks and Make it Crafty!

Together they have been craftily plotting behind the scenes for months (making us drool in anticipation) to bring you a fabulous collection of Steampunk creations with a Victorian theme! You’ll find little steampunk houses, bits and bobs background scenes, flying contraptions, gorgeous characters and the finest selection of digital papers!

We could send you on a little hop, but they are getting a bit boring... so we knocked our heads together and thought up a game to play instead!

‘I SPY’ with my little eye...

... hmmm what do you spy??
Well to find out, head on over to where it all begins!!

CLICK HERE

PLUS 15% OFF NEW RELEASE IMAGES FOR A WEEK!!

Start Mix n’ Matching with Tiddly Inks and Make it Crafty straight away as you grab the super bargain of 15% OFF!!

Just enter the coupon code MIXNMATCH at checkout!

Don't forget to go HERE to play along.

I found it extremely difficult to choose which images to use, they are all so phenomenal. But a girl must choose, so I used Tiddly Inks - Precious, Make It Crafty's - Oliver, Rusty Can House, and the Metallic Flowers.

First off, my clothing is not at all Steampunk or traditional Victorian colours, but I wanted the images to pop out from the background.

Rusty Can House Close Up

Precious Close Up
Oliver Close Up

I used a Flower Frame by SVGcuts.com, but removed the flowers then cut out the two layers of the frame 3 times on cereal box. I did the same with the gears and Sprockets from the Steampunk Gears set by FreeSVGblogspot.com.

The top layer of the frame and the gear works are cut on silver cardstock that I then sponged with copper pigment. I also added rusty dots with E97.


I have to make a special thank you to a few fellow Tiddly Inker's for their help with this project:

Barbara - Forgotten Scraps; for always inspiring me to push my abilities. Her recent posts have challenged me try adding my own folds and creases to clothing for further dimension. She is ridiculously good at it.

Melissa - Melissa Made; for saving me time, money and energy by letting me know what her fave Copic #'s are for rust (E99, E97 & E09).

Donna - Popsicle Toes, for all of her wonderful and inspiring dimensional cards. I had to make a sculptural frame after seeing all of her awesome work.

Copic List (a lot)
House: 0, W0, W1, W3, W5, B000, YG06, YG11, E35, E33, E31, E42, Rust: E99 & E97, E29,
Precious: 0, R27, R22, R20, R00, V12, V04, Y00, Y38, Y15, Y21, E00, E000, E11
Oliver: 0, B97, B95, B00, W3, W0, E00, E000, E11, C9, C1, E35, E33, E31, E42

SVG's: Flower Frame - SVGcuts.com, Steampunk Gears - FreeSVGblogspot.com

Tiddly Reel Me In

It's not my week over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog, but I wanted to give it a go after seeing all of the wonderful inspirational samples by the DT Team. So here is my Movie sample for the Reel Me in Challenge #57. Can you guess the movie? The sentiment "As You Wish" is a quote from the Movie and the images TI name. How fitting for a movie challenge. The Princess Bride btw is one of my hubby's fave quotable movies, so I may save this for his B-day in August.

I didn't do this gorgeous image justice colouring wise. I am slightly disappointed with it. My Zero Copic ran out so I was unable to finish touching up the folds and creases in my images clothing. Especially Wesley's, so don't look too close. I am still going to submit it into the Make It Colourful Challenge #25 - Pleats & Folds, although I have a much better fabric colouring sample coming this Thursday with the Steampunk release. ;D Darn Zero Copic, why?

I also used Mojo Monday sketch #199 for this card, altering it slightly so as not to look too much like yesterday's Squigglefly post. The sketch #199 coincidently looked similar to what I made for yesterday's challenge even though that card was made last week.


I did however have a little extra help on this card. My little friend here is named JuJu. He is 10 weeks old. We brought home him and one of his brothers last week. JuJu has decided that he really likes to paper craft, but it's tiring work. He has of recently become my shadow.

Heavy Metal Rock Star

Dust out your brads, grommets and paper clips, it's time for the Heavy Metal Challenge #106 over at the Squigglefly Challenge blog. Add any or all of your metal bits to your Squigglefly creations and away you go. How easy is that, we all have a little metal somewhere in our craft stash. Choosing WHAT to use will be the challenge.

I went one step further and made mine a Heavy Metal Rock Star theme, well, punk rock, but you get what I mean.

I Copic'ed up Rock Star by Chesney Young and paper pieced her Guitar in DCWV - Blossoms and Butterflies paper pack. All the DCWV has metallic silver elements in it. I also used two different silver cardstock, one for the background mat, the other for the accordion fold. My mother-in-law gave me a roll of perforated metal which I used in the background. I have no idea what it's called.

The layout is a take on Deconstruction Jen Challenge #9. I didn't use a half moon piece as in the sketch because the metallic flourish on the brown DP formed a half circle. It's a bit of a short cut, but I suppose it's about being inspired and I didn't want to cover up the metallic flourish.

The sentiment is by Studio G Clear stamps.

Don't forget to check out the rest of Marlooney's Marvel's (that's our DT groups name, catchy) over at the Challenge Blog. Have a great Monday, I am off to stain the fence then take the kids to the splash pad.

Gear-reat Birthday

My son is extremely anticipating his friend's 4th birthday party this weekend. We went out today and picked out 3 Disney Cars 2 themed Lego sets. Both boys are crazy for Legos.

Have you been to the new Tiddly Inks Basement yet? There you'll find older and discounted Tiddly Ink digital stamps for a steal of a deal. Tiddly Inks has become so big that it needed it's own Outlet site. You'll find the gears featured on the inside panel of this card in the TI Basement; which is included in the Big Bad Dad digital set.

The BB Gears SVG is from FreeSVGblogspot.com, the DP is DCWV - Fall Match Stack.

Tiddly Inks / Make It Crafty Sneak Peak

Only one more week until the Tiddly Inks & Make It Crafty Steampunk colaboration. You WILL NOT be disappointed. This release is awesome!

Here is a few sneaks of what I created.




Sorry, it's not much, I had permission from Tiddly Inks to do some sneak peaks, not sure about Make It Crafty so I limited my shots to just Tiddly Inks. You have to come back though because the images are so cool.

Tiddly Wicked Challenge

Spread the word: On July 14, Zoe from Make It Crafty and Christy from Tiddly Inks will release a delightful combination of images, "Mix and Match with Make It Crafty and Tiddly Inks." an all Victorian and Steampunk inspired collection. What is Steampunk: An era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of HG Wells and Jules Verne ...

Since the spring of 2011, Zoe and Christy have been craftily plotting the coordinated release of this collection of images. Like all good things, creative genius takes time---and that last-minute spurt of deadline stress to make it come together. You'll have to check out what BOTH uber talented Designs Teams have created. Mark the date July 14, 2011. If you can't wait that long, some of the ladies are showing sneak peaks.

Now on to today's Tuesday Tiddly Challenge #56:

Today's very fun, very naughty challenge is Get Some Attitude: skulls, bad to the bone, etc. I used Tiddy Inks - Wicked Fun

I couldn't wait to colour up this digi. She is so sexy. Even my husband made a full stop to watch as I markered her to life. It reminded me of all the intrigue over Jessica Rabbit when Who Framed Roger Rabbit? came out. So what better sentiment then a quote from Jessica Rabbit herself. I can here Kathleen Turner's voice in my head right now, drawling "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way".


This is a pretty simple layout. I used paper from an old book which I inked the edges in RED (not pink like photographed) using SU - Itty Bitty Backgrounds and a cluster of circles by Studio G clear stamps. I added rick rack and a button to balance it off. The sentiment Journal Label is from Creativity Prompt.

Rocket Man Birthday

The week is just flown by and we have been busy busy buys. Fortunately the weather held out and it was another beautiful Canada Day here. The kids loved the fire works.

I needed to whip up a card for my Dad's b-day. I was quite happy when I came across this already printed and embossed Tiddly Inks - Big Bad Dad, in my paper drawer. Makes for quick work to have things just waiting for you.

I used October Afternoon - Rocket Age Coordinating Pack with some coordinating October Afternoon stickers. I can't wait to make a scrapbook page for my son with this set, so I used it sparingly.